| A Grand Day Out | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Nick Park |
| Produced by | Soozie Mealing |
| Written by | Nick Park Steve Rushton |
| Starring | Peter Sallis |
| Music by | Joe Raposo, Julian Nott |
| Studio | National Film and Television School Aardman Animations |
| Distributed by | BBC Warner Bros. (Australia) CBS/Fox Video (USA) |
| Release date(s) | 3 June 1989 |
| Running time | 23 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
A Grand Day Out (full name A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit) is an award-nominated 1989 animated film directed and animated by Nick Park at Aardman Animations in Bristol. This was the first adventure featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace and his quiet but smart dog Gromit. Its sequels are 1993's The Wrong Trousers, 1994's A Close Shave, 2005's The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and 2008's A Matter of Loaf and Death. In the film, Wallace and Gromit spend a bank holiday by building a rocket to the Moon to sample some cheese.
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Nick Park started making the film in 1973 as his graduation project for the National Film and Television School. In 1975, Aardman Animations took him on before he finished the piece, allowing him to work on it part time while still being funded by the school. To make the film, Park wrote to William Harbutt's company, requesting a long ton of plasticine. The block he received had ten colours, one of which was called "stone"; he used this for Gromit. Park wanted to voice Gromit, but he realised the voice he had in mind – that of Peter Hawkins – would have been too difficult to animate to.[1]
For Wallace, Park offered Peter Sallis £50 to voice the character, and his acceptance greatly surprised the young animator. Park wanted Wallace to have a Lancastrian accent like himself, but Sallis could only do a Yorkshire voice. Inspired by the way Sallis drew out the word "cheese", Park chose to give Wallace large cheeks. When Park called Sallis six years later to explain he had completed his film, Sallis swore in surprise.[1]
Gromit was named after grommets, because Park's brother, an electrician, often mentioned them, and Nick Park liked the sound of the word. Wallace was originally a postman named Jerry, but Park felt the name did not fit with Gromit. Park saw an overweight labrador retriever named Wallace, who belonged to an old woman boarding a bus in Preston. Park remarked it was a "funny name, a very northern name to give a dog".[2]
According to the book The World of Wallace and Gromit, original plans were that the film was originally planned be 40 minutes long including a sequence where Wallace and Gromit would discover a Fast-food restaurant on the Moon. Regarding the original plot, Nick quoted:
| “ | The original story was that Wallace and Gromit were going to go to the Moon and there were going to be a whole lot of characters there. One of them was a parking meter attendant, which was the only one that remained - the robot cooker character - but there were going to be aliens, and all sorts. There was going to be a McDonald's on the Moon, and it was going to be like a spoof Star Wars. Wallace was going to get thrown into prison and Gromit was going to have to get him out. By the time I came to Aardman, I had just started doing the Moon scene and somebody told me, "It's going to take you another nine years if you do that scene!" so I had to have a check with reality and cut that whole bit out. Somehow, I had to tie up the story on the Moon and finish the film.[3] | ” |
One night, Wallace and Gromit are relaxing in the living-room pondering where to go for the upcoming bank holiday. Wallace gets up to prepare tea with cheese and crackers, only to discover they are out of cheese. Making the most of their situation, Wallace decides they should go somewhere where there is plenty of cheese, ultimately choosing to go to the moon, since "Everyone knows the moon is made of cheese." The two use a saw, a hammer, a drill, and paint to build a moon rocket in their basement, complete with easy chairs and a wallpapered cabin. Once the two complete packing provisions for the journey, Wallace lights the rocket's fuse. With only thirty seconds out of a minute left in the countdown, he discovers that they have forgotten to pack crackers. He rushes out of the rocket and hurries up to the kitchen to get crackers, making it back to the rocket a few seconds before the engine ignites the rocket. Even with the engine running, the rocket refuses to lift off (the rats in the basement are watching the whole thing and with the fire coming from the rocket they put on different kinds of glasses - they forgot the sunglasses). Gromit realizes he has forgotten to release the hand brake and does so, allowing the rocket to lift off.
Upon reaching the moon, which is indeed made of cheese, Wallace and Gromit set up a picnic. They try out the lunar cheese, trying to determine what kind it is, but realize it's like nothing they've ever tasted before. They decide to try another spot, where they find a mechanised storage facility, with exceptional television coverage and a strong resemblance to an oven, called "the Cooker". Wallace puts a coin into the machine, but nothing happens (he even pulls a dial off while trying to get it to activate), so he and Gromit continue on their way. Once they’ve left, the Cooker grows robotic arms and springs to life. It discovers Wallace and Gromit’s picnic site; agitated by the mess, it cleans up the mess of dirty dishes. It then discovers a magazine advertising skiing holidays lying on the picnic blanket, and develops a desire to travel to Earth and go skiing. He then spots their rocket and is amazed by it. He gives them a parking ticket and is annoyed by an oil leak.
Shortly afterwards, the Cooker notices Wallace. Aggravated by his littering, illegally-parked and leaky rocket, and unrestrained consumption of moon cheese, the Cooker approaches Wallace to hit him with a truncheon. Gromit notices the machine and at the last second before the truncheon can hit Wallace's head it runs out of money and shuts down. The previously-oblivious Wallace notices the Cooker, decides to take the truncheon as a souvenir, and inserts another coin into the Cooker in exchange for the truncheon. As Wallace and Gromit leave for the rocket, the Cooker comes back to life. At first he is angered at his failure to hit Wallace, but sees the rocket. Realizing the rocket can take it to Earth where it can fulfill its dream of skiing, the machine chases after Wallace and Gromit, who, noticing the Cooker and thinking that it's angry with them for taking the cheese, prepare for an emergency takeoff. At the same time, the Cooker breaks into the rocket with a tin cutter (it couldn't get up the ladder due to a lack of legs). Blundering about in the dark interior of the rocket (even knocking a pipe out of its place), the Cooker lights a match near the fuel tank, causing an explosion. The Cooker tries to hang on, but eventually is thrown across the lunar surface as the rocket launches, tearing off two strips of metal from the rocket. Initially crushed by its failure to get to Earth, the Cooker realizes it can use the two metal strips as a pair of skis. While happily skiing on the lunar surface, the Cooker waves goodbye to Wallace and Gromit, who return home.
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film, but lost to the short "Creature Comforts", which was also a creation of Nick Park.
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