I doubt if there is a person on this planet (or any other) who doesn't love Wallace and Gromit. The adventures of this cheese-loving inventor and his long-suffering canine have become a worldwide phenomenon; threatening to turn even the Japanese into avid anglo-files. Finally (and I suspect due in no small part to the amazing success of ‘Chicken Run’), we can enjoy all three Wallace and Gromit adventures ‘A Grand Day Out’, ‘The Wrong Trousers’ and ‘A Close Shave’ on R4 DVD - and on the one disc no less!!
Nick Park was still a student at the (British) National Film and Television School when he began Wallace and Gromit’s first adventure 'A Grand Day Out'(his graduation project) in 1982. Before it was finished in 1989, he had accepted a position at Bristol-based Animation studio Aardman Animations.
In their first adventure on film, Wallace and Gromit are trying to decide where to go for their annual bank-holiday picnic. In terms of appetite, cheese is their specialty and it doesn't take long to make up their minds. Wallace's penchant for inventing and Gromit's hard work mean they're soon blasting off in a homemade rocket and heading for the moon.
In their second adventure 'The Wrong Trousers', Wallace bestows on Gromit a peculiar birthday present - a pair of ‘techo-trousers’ (ex NASA) to help with daily walkies. Struck with financial troubles brought on by the expensive gift, Wallace is forced to take in a lodger – a curious and sinister penguin. Soon our heroes find themselves embroiled in a nefarious plot to steal a valuable diamond.
In 'A Close Shave', their final adventure to date, Wallace and Gromit become involved with an evil group of sheep-rustlers. With Gromit framed for the crimes, and Wallace falling in love with a beautiful wool merchant, it falls to Wallace and his new gang of, well, sheep, to free Gromit and clear his name.
Each of the films has been greeted with worldwide critical acclaim. All three have won BAFTAs and both 'The Wrong Trousers' and 'A Close Shave' have been honored with Academy Awards for Best Animated Short. ‘A Grand Day Out’ was nominated for the same Academy Award in 1990 but was pipped by another of Park’s Aardman shorts - the very funny ‘Creature Comforts’. All in all, 'The Wrong Trousers' and 'A Close Shave' have been presented with over 50 international awards.
Of all the animation media, there is something very appealing about clay-mation’s accessible, low-tech approach. And in each of these shorts, Park and Aardman have managed to push the state-of-the-art of clay-mation further and further and further. I often sit in wonder at the effects that they manage to create, and the numbers of concurrent movements the animators are able to control. From raindrops on a window, to things flying through the air, to background motion blur, Park and Aardman have turned low-tech animation into an exact science. Park extracts great performances from his characters, whilst the majority of them remain mute. Grommit says so much in a glance, whilst the penguin in The Wrong Trousers exudes sinister foreboding with simple blank stare!
After years of repeatedly viewing my VHS copies of 'The Wrong Trousers' and 'A Close Shave', the transfer provided by Village Roadshow looks absolutely fantastic. All three episodes are very sharp, with rich colours and dark blacks. The level of detail, found primarily in the elaborate set design, is outstanding; the shadow detail similarly. No aliasing or MPEG artefacts are evident.
The two older films do display some film artefacts, primarily in 'A Grand Day Out', and on the odd occasion in 'The Wrong Trousers'. Although at times these artefacts are badly placed, they do not detract from the beauty of the transfer. No such artefacts were evident in 'A Close Shave'.
If I had to find fault, I could say that there is a little grain on some of the fades. But all in all, this is the best Wallace and Gromit have ever looked, at least on my television.
The films appear in their original aspect ration 4:3, and the dual layered disc is not 16x9 enhanced. No layer change is evident.
Only one Dolby Digital 2.0 encoded audio track (English) is provided. At all times the dialogue is clear and nicely integrated. In all other ways the audio is fine and the stereo soundtrack provides good accompaniment to the films.
Understandably, the scope of the sound track increases remarkably from 'A Grand Day Out' through to 'A Close Shave' – in direct proportion to the production budget. 'A Grand Day Out' features a very simple soundtrack – mostly dialogue and some foley effects. It is limited to the front sound stage and does not utilise the subwoofer.
'The Wrong Trousers' however, features a tense and well-matched score that underpins the drama. The sound stage is much wider, with the music and some effects mixed subtly to the rear. 'A Close Shave' improves yet further, with an even more engaging score and better use of the surrounds for atmospherics. The subwoofer is used only sparingly but does provide some subtle accompaniment to the more dramatic scenes.
