The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

One of the things I'm loving about films right now is the competition in the animated film market. Driven partially by the onslaught of family-friendly, holiday entertainment, partially by the attempt to generate Oscar buzz, and partially by an interest in working with CGI/digital animation's potential when combined with traditional animation techniques, studios are releasing a fair number of animated films which are of interest to animation buffs and scholars alike. We may be experiencing another golden age of animation!

Now that Corpse Bride has been released to largely positive reviews, audiences can look forward to an even more promising film--Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. As much as I enjoyed Corpse Bride, I believe this film will be even more popular and well-received.

The folks behind Cartoon Brew, whose thumbs-up recommendations act as the animation world's Ebert and Roeper, has given the film high praise. I concur. After all, these are the folks behind the Wallace & Gromit shorts [A Grand Day Out (1989), the first Wallace & Gromit and a six-year effort; The Wrong Trousers (1993), a penguin-heist film with references to The Great Train Robbery and Hitchcock thrillers; and A Close Shave (1995), where a love story collides with a sheep-assisted jailbreak), the Creature Comfort series, which has just been released on DVD; and Chicken Run (2000), an animated Great Escape which features chickens. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is Wallace and Gromit's feature-length debut.

Nick Parks, the mind and motivation behind Aardman Studios, is a bit of a perfectionist. (The film is co-directed with Steve Box, who worked as an animator on Chicken Run and other Wallace and Gromit films.) This personality quirk is a real plus for stop-motion animation (and for all animation, actually). What's more, Parks is on record, as with this NPR interview, in saying he waited for the right story and kept to the appropriate look for his trademark characters. Further, although Parks is willing to experiment with his characters, for instance adding lips to new characters, he's not afraid to resist the conventions of big-budget films and to keep the the original small-studio aesthetics. Aardman teamed with Dreamworks to produce this film, and word is that Jeffrey Katzenberg--one of the men behind The Little Mermaid (1989)--support Parks's vision and remained very hands-off. All this portends well for the film. Like with Corpse Bride, this will be a film I see opening weekend.

A side note for those who are interested: Wallace and Gromit are models made of plasticine, a soft and moldable material which allows the animators to manipulate the figurines in subtle ways.