Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Wallace & Gromit:
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Poster featuring an inventor and a dog. A giant pumpkin reads "WG" and looks behind them. The title "Wallace & Gromit The Curse of the Were-Rabbit", the text "Something wicked this way hopes.", and the names of director, producer, music composer, and screenplay appears at the right.

British theatrical release poster
Directed by Nick Park
Steve Box
Produced by Nick Park
Claire Jennings
Peter Lord
Carla Shelley
David Sproxton
Screenplay by Steve Box
Nick Park
Bob Baker
Mark Burton
Based on Wallace and Gromit
by Nick Park
Starring Peter Sallis
Ralph Fiennes
Helena Bonham Carter
Peter Kay
Nicholas Smith
Liz Smith
Music by Julian Nott
Cinematography David Alex Riddett
Tristan Oliver
Edited by David McCormick
Gregory Perler
Production
company
Distributed by DreamWorks Pictures1 (United States)
United International Pictures (United Kingdom)[3]
Release date
  • 4 September 2005 (2005-09-04) (Sydney)[4]
  • 7 October 2005 (2005-10-07) (United States)
  • 14 October 2005 (2005-10-14) (United Kingdom)
Running time
 85 minutes[3]
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget $30 million
Box office $192.6 million

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a 2005 British stop-motion animated comedy mystery film produced by Aardman Animations[1][2] in partnership with DreamWorks Animation. United International Pictures distributed the film in the United Kingdom, and it was the last DreamWorks animated film to be distributed by DreamWorks Pictures in the United States.1 It was directed by Nick Park and Steve Box as the second feature-length film by Aardman after Chicken Run (2000).

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is part of the Wallace and Gromit short film series, created by Park. The film follows eccentric inventor Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and his intelligent mute dog Gromit in their latest venture as pest control agents, as they come to the rescue of a village plagued by rabbits before an annual vegetable competition.

The film features an expanded cast of characters relative to the previous Wallace and Gromit shorts, with a voice cast including Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes. It was a critical and commercial success, and won a number of film awards including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, making it the second film from DreamWorks Animation to win (after Shrek), as well as both the second non American animated film and second non computer animated film to have received this achievement (after Spirited Away). It is also the only stop motion film to win the award.

Plot

Tottington Hall's annual Giant Vegetable Competition is approaching. The winner of the competition will win the coveted Golden Carrot Award. All are eager to protect their vegetables from damage and thievery by rabbits until the contest, and Wallace and Gromit are cashing in by running a vegetable security and humane pest control business, "Anti-Pesto".

As the event draws close, Wallace finds themselves running out of space to cage the rabbits. He is inspired to create the Mind Manipulation-O-Matic machine to brainwash the rabbits and remove their appetite for vegetables. On his first attempt, a rabbit is stuck to Wallace's head as he uses the machine's headpieces, and Gromit destroys the machine to protect Wallace. The machine appears to have worked as the rabbit shows no interest in vegetables though appears to have gained some intelligence. They name the rabbit Hutch while Wallace begins rebuilding the device.

Over the night, several townsfolk report a giant Were-rabbit tried to eat their vegetables. Wallace suspects that Hutch may be the Were-rabbit and keeps him caged up. Lady Tottington holds an emergency town meeting, in which the hunter Lord Victor Quartermaine offers to shoot the Were-rabbit. However, Lady Tottington persuades the rest of the town to continue with Anti-Pesto's services. Victor, who really seeks to woo Lady Tottington, becomes jealous of Wallace, and later corners him in the forest. But to Victor and his dog Philip's shock, Wallace transforms into the Were-rabbit under the light of the full moon and bounds away. Gromit, who also witnessed the transformation, lures Wallace back home to protect him. Victor obtains three "24 carrot" gold bullets from the town's reverend to use against Wallace the next evening.

The celebration begins the next day. Gromit convinces Wallace that he is the Were-rabbit, and Wallace hides himself away. Lady Tottington, who has come to like Wallace, comes to visit and tells him about Victor's plan. But when the moon rises, Wallace, beginning to change into a Were-rabbit, shoos Lady Tottington away to avoid seeing him. As she leaves, Victor arrives and attempts to fire on Wallace with the golden bullets. Gromit creates a distraction to allow Wallace, as the Were-rabbit, to escape; the hunter gives chase to Wallace as he heads for the competition. Gromit, with the help of Hutch, plans to sacrifice the giant marrow he had been growing as bait to lure Wallace back to safety.

Wallace, as the Were-rabbit, creates chaos at the fair, and Victor eventually runs out of bullets. Desperate, he grabs the Golden Carrot trophy to use as ammo for his blunderbuss. Wallace grabs Lady Tottington and climbs onto one of the towers of Tottington Hall, where she discovers Wallace's connection to the Were-rabbit. Victor gives chase, revealing that he only wants to impress Lady Tottington for her money. When Gromit arrives, Philip attempts to prevent him from interfering, leading to the two into a dogfight using aeroplanes taken from a fairground attraction. Gromit gets the upper hand, sending Philip's plane to the ground, then steers his plane into Victor's line of fire just as he is about to shoot the Golden Carrot at Wallace.

The plane takes the hit and starts to go down, whereupon Wallace jumps off the tower, grabs Gromit and sacrifices himself to cushion their fall into a cheese tent. Victor gloats about his victory, but Lady Tottington hits him with her giant carrot, knocking him off into the cheese tent as well, and goes to check on Wallace herself. As the townspeople begin to form a mob to learn the Were-rabbit's identity, Gromit quickly disguises Victor as the Were-rabbit, who is subsequently chased away by the mob.

Wallace transforms back to his human self and appears dead, but Gromit uses some Stinking Bishop cheese to bring Wallace back to life. Lady Tottington awards Gromit the Golden Carrot for his sacrifice of the giant marrow, and later converts the grounds of Tottington Hall into a safe habitat for Hutch and the other captured rabbits.

Cast

Helena Bonham Carter at the film's North American premiere at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival[5]

Production

Director Nick Park at the film's premiere

The directors, Nick Park and Steve Box, have often referred to the film as the world's "first vegetarian horror film". Peter Sallis (the voice of Wallace) is joined in the film by Ralph Fiennes (as Lord Victor Quartermaine), Helena Bonham Carter (as Lady Campanula Tottington), Peter Kay (as PC Mackintosh), Nicholas Smith (as Rev. Clement Hedges), and Liz Smith (as Mrs. Mulch). As established in the preceding short films, Gromit is a silent character, communicating purely via body language.

The film was originally going to be called Wallace & Gromit: The Great Vegetable Plot, but the title was changed, as the market research didn't like it.[6] The first reported release date for The Great Vegetable Plot was November 2004.[7] Production officially began in September 2003, and the film was then set for release on 30 September 2005. In July 2003, Entertainment Weekly referred the film as Wallace & Gromit in The Were-Rabbit.

Park told an interviewer that after separate test screenings with British and American children, the film was altered to "tone down some of the British accents and make them speak more clearly so the American audiences could understand it all better."[8] Park was often sent notes from DreamWorks, which irritated him. He recalled one note that Wallace's car should be trendier, which he disagreed with because he felt making things look old-fashioned made it look more ironic.[9]

The vehicle Wallace drives in the film is an Austin A35 van. In collaboration with Aardman in the spring of 2005, a road going replica of the model was created by brothers Mark and David Armé, founders of the International Austin A30/A35 Register, for promotional purposes. In a 500 man hour customisation, an original 1964 van received a full body restoration, before being dented and distressed to perfectly replicate the model van used in the film. The official colour of the van is Preston Green, named in honour of Nick Park's home town. The name was chosen by the art director and Mark Armé.

For the United States edition of the film, the dialogue was changed to refer to Gromit's prize marrow as a "melon". Because the word "marrow" is not well known in the United States, Jeffrey Katzenberg insisted it be changed. Park explained "Because it's the only appropriate word we could find that would fit with the mouth shape for 'marrow'. Melon apparently works over there. So we have Wallace saying, 'How's your prize melon?'".[10] This version is also heard in the United Kingdom bootleg DVD release, and when viewed on Netflix in the United Kingdom. However, the original marrow line can still be heard on Cartoon Network US airings of the film.

Release

The film had its worldwide premiere on 4 September 2005, in Sydney, Australia.[4] It was theatrically released in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and the United States on 14 October 2005. The DVD edition of the film was released on 7 February 2006 (United States) and 20 February 2006 (United Kingdom).

Home media

In Region 2, the film was released in a two disc special including Cracking Contraptions, plus a number of other extras. In Region 1, the film was released on DVD in Widescreen and Fullscreen versions and VHS on 7 February 2006. Wal-Mart stores carried a special version with an additional DVD, "Gromit's Tail-Waggin' DVD" which included the test shorts made for this production.

A companion game, also titled Curse of the Were-Rabbit, had a coinciding release with the film. A novelisation, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit: The Movie Novelization by Penny Worms (ISBN 0-8431-1667-6), was also produced.

It was the last DreamWorks Animation movie to be released on VHS. It was re-released on DVD on 13 May 2014, as part of a triple film set, along with DreamWorks Animation's Chicken Run and Flushed Away.[11]

Reception

Box office

Wallace & Gromit grossed US$192,610,372 at the box office, of which US$56,110,897 was from the United States,[12] where it opened in 3,645 cinemas and had an opening weekend gross of US$16,025,987, putting it at number one for that weekend.[13] During its second weekend it came in at number two, US$200,000 behind The Fog.[14] It remained number one worldwide for three weeks in a row.[15] As of August 2017, it is the second highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time.

Critical response

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit received a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 176 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a subtly touching and wonderfully eccentric adventure featuring Wallace and Gromit."[16] The film also received a score of 87 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 38 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim."[17]

Accolades

Group Award Recipients Result
78th Academy Awards[18] Best Animated Feature Film Nick Park
Steve Box		 Won
33rd Annie Awards[19][20] Best Animated Effects Jason Wen Won
Best Animated Feature Won
Best Character Animation Claire Billet Won
Best Character Design in an Animated Feature Production Nick Park Won
Best Directing in an Animated Feature Production Nick Park
Steve Box		 Won
Best Music in an Animated Feature Production Julian Nott Won
Best Production Design in an Animated Feature Production Phil Lewis Won
Best Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production Bob Persichetti Won
Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production Peter Sallis as the voice of Wallace Won
Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production Steve Box
Nick Park
Mark Burton
Bob Baker		 Won
Best Character Animation Jay Grace
Christopher Sadler		 Nominated
Best Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production Michael Salter Nominated
Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production Helena Bonham Carter as the voice of Lady Campanula Tottington Nominated
Ralph Fiennes as the voice of Victor Quartermaine Nominated
Nicholas Smith as the voice of Reverend Clement Hedges Nominated
59th British Academy Film Awards[21] Best British Film Claire Jennings
David Sproxton
Nick Park
Steve Box
Mark Burton
Bob Baker		 Won
British Comedy Awards[22] Best Comedy Film Nick Park Won
11th Critics' Choice Awards[23] Best Animated Feature Won
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association[24] Best Animated Feature Won
Empire Awards[25] Best Director Nick Park
Steve Box		 Won
Best British Film Nominated
Best Comedy Nominated
Scene of the Year Nominated
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2005[26] Best Animated Film Won
50th Hugo Awards[27] Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form Nominated
London Film Critics Circle Awards 2005[28] British Film of the Year Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2005[29] Best Animated Film Won
53rd Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards[30] Best Sound Editing in Feature Film – Animated Won
Golden Tomato Awards 2005[31] Best Animated Film Won
Best Wide Release Won
New York Film Critics Online Awards 2005[29] Best Animated Film Won
2006 Kids' Choice Awards[32] Favorite Animated Movie Nominated
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2005[33] Best Animated Feature Won
17th Producers Guild of America Awards[34] Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures Claire Jennings
Nick Park		 Won
10th Satellite Awards[35] Outstanding Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media Nominated
32nd Saturn Awards[36] Best Animated Film Nominated
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2005[37] Best Animated Film Nick Park and Steve Box Won
Visual Effects Society Awards 2005[38] Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture Lloyd Price for "Gromit" Won
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association[39] Best Animated Film Won

Soundtrack

All music composed by Julian Nott, except as noted.

No.TitleLength
1."A Grand Day Out"1:54
2."Anti-Pesto to the Rescue"3:18
3."Bless You, Anti-Pesto"1:56
4."Lady Tottington and Victor"2:03
5."Fire Up the Bun-Vac"1:47
6."Your Ladyship"1:07
7."Brainwash and Go"2:28
8."Harvest Offering"2:30
9."Arson Around"2:23
10."A Big Trap"3:27
11."The Morning After"1:44
12."Transformation"4:05
13."Ravaged in the Night"1:45
14."Fluffy Lover Boy"4:36
15."Kiss My Artichoke"4:31
16."Dogfight"3:39
17."Every Dog Has His Day"2:43
18."All Things Fluffy"1:07
19."Wallace and Gromit"1:08
Total length:48:11

Legacy

After the box office failure of Flushed Away resulted in a major write-down for DreamWorks, it was reported on 3 October 2006[40] and confirmed on 30 January 2007[41] that DreamWorks had terminated their partnership with Aardman. In revealing the losses related to Flushed Away, DreamWorks also revealed they had taken a $29 million write down over Wallace & Gromit as well, and the film under performed expectations.[42]

Following the split, Aardman retained complete ownership of the film, while DreamWorks Animation retained worldwide distribution rights in perpetuity, excluding some United Kingdom television rights and ancillary markets.[43] Soon after the end of the agreement, Aardman announced they were proceeding with another Wallace & Gromit project, later revealed to be a return to their earlier short films with A Matter of Loaf and Death with the BBC.

During production of the short, Park remarked publicly on difficulties with working with DreamWorks during the production of Wererabbit, such as the constant production notes and demands to alter the material to appeal more to American children.[9][44]

Notes

  1. ^ In July 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation.[45]

References

  1. 1 2 "Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit". American Film Institute. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  2. 1 2 Felperin, Leslie (September 16, 2005). "Review: ‘Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’". Variety. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Sydney premiere for Gromit movie". BBC News. 6 September 2005. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  5. ↑ Toronto International Film Festival (16 August 2005). "North American Premiere of Nick Park's and Steve Box's Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit a Gala Presentation" (Press release). PR Newswire. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "Wallace & Gromit: The Great Vegetable Plot That Never Was". theguardian.com. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "Wallace, Gromit stage Net comeback". edition.cnn.com. 15 October 2002. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  8. ↑ Szymanski, Mike (10 October 2005). "Helena Bonham Carter shows off her acting choppers for director Nick Park in Wallace & Gromit". SciFi.com. Archived from the original on 5 November 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  9. 1 2 Nigel Farndale (18 December 2008). "Wallace and Gromit: one man and his dog". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 18 December 2008.
  10. ↑ Stuart Jeffries (16 September 2005). "Lock Up Your Vegetables". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 19 March 2009.
  11. ↑ Armstrong, Josh (5 March 2014). "DreamWorks to release "Chicken Run", "El Dorado" and more in Triple Feature Blu-ray sets". Animation Scoop. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  12. ↑ Boxofficemojo, Page for Wallace & Gromit.
  13. ↑ The Numbers, Box Office for 10/7/2005 weekend.
  14. ↑ The Numbers, Box Office for 10/14/2005 weekend.
  15. ↑ The Numbers, Page for Wallace & Gromit.
  16. ↑ Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit at Rotten Tomatoes
  17. ↑ Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit at Metacritic
  18. ↑ "UK stars shine at Academy Awards". BBC. 6 March 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  19. ↑ DeMott, Rick (5 December 2005). "Wallace & Gromit Leads Annie Nominations". Animation World Network. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  20. ↑ Brown, Maressa (5 February 2006). "‘Wallace & Gromit’ grabs 10 Annie Awards". Variety. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  21. ↑ "Gromit and Potter awarded Baftas". BBC News. 27 November 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2016. Earlier this year, Wallace and Gromit took the best British film at the main Bafta ceremony,...
  22. ↑ Wilkes, Neil (13 December 2006). "British Comedy Awards 2006: The Winners". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  23. ↑ "Critics honour Brokeback Mountain". BBC News. 10 January 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  24. ↑ Mohr, Ian (19 December 2005). "‘Mountain’ tops 2 more crix’ lists". Variety. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  25. ↑ "2006 Awards Winners Announced". Empire. 13 March 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  26. ↑ "2005 FFCC Award Winners". Florida Film Critics Circle. 24 December 2005. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  27. ↑ "2006 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. 27 August 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  28. ↑ "London Critics Circle nominations announced". Time Out. 22 December 2005. Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  29. 1 2 Ball, Ryan (12 December 2005). "Gromit Cracking with Critics". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  30. ↑ Baisley, Sarah (5 March 2006). "Wallace And Gromit & Family Guy Win Top Animated Honors at Gold Reel Awards". Animation World Network. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  31. ↑ Rotten Tomatoes (10 January 2006). "Rotten Tomatoes' 2005 Golden Tomato Award Winners Announced" (Press release). IGN. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  32. ↑ DeMott, Rick (8 February 2006). "Madagascar Leads Kids' Choice Award Nods". Animation World Network. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  33. ↑ "2005 Awards (9th Annual)". Online Film Critics Society. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  34. ↑ Rushfield, Richard; Lynch, Rene (23 January 2006). "'Brokeback Mountain' Wins Producers Guild Award". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  35. ↑ International Press Academy (17 December 2005). "10th Anniversary Satellite Awards - Nominations" (PDF) (Press release). International Press Academy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 May 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  36. ↑ Gilbert, Ammon (16 February 2006). "Satrun Awards Up". Joblo. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  37. ↑ Dixon, Guy (21 December 2005). "Toronto film critics laud A History of Violence". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  38. ↑ "‘War,’ ‘Kong’ top visual effects kudos". Variety. 16 February 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  39. ↑ The Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association (14 December 2005). "Washington, DC Critics Name Munich Best Film, Spielberg Best Director Double awards also for Capote and Crash" (Press release). PRWeb. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  40. ↑ Splitsville for DreamWorks and Aardman?
  41. ↑ Armstrong, Stephen (18 February 2007). "Call my fluff". Times Online. Archived from the original on February 19, 2007. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  42. ↑ "DreamWorks Reports Loss on `Flushed Away' Writedown". Bloomberg. 27 February 2007. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  43. ↑ "2007 Annual Report" (PDF). DreamWorks Animation. 2008. p. 11. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  44. ↑ "Wallace and Gromit return to TV". BBC News. 2 October 2007. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  45. ↑ Chney, Alexandra (29 July 2014). "DreamWorks Animation Q2 Earnings Fall Short of Estimates, SEC Investigation Revealed". Variety. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
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