Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Directed by	Steve Box Nick Park
Written by	Nick Park (characters) Bob Baker Steve Box Mark Burton
Produced by	Claire Jennings Peter Lord Nick Park Carla Shelley David Sproxton
Starring	Peter Sallis (voice) Helena Bonham Carter (voice) Ralph Fiennes (voice) Nicholas Smith (voice) Peter Kay (voice) Liz Smith (voice)
Distributed by	DreamWorks
Release dates	September 4, 2005 (Australia) October 7, 2005 (USA) October 14, 2005 (UK)
Running time	85 min.
Language	English
Budget	$30,000,000 US (est.)

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a 2005 Academy Award-winning stop-motion animated film, the first feature-length Wallace and Gromit film. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Animations, and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Nick Park and Steve Box and shot entirely in Britain.

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is in part a parody of the horror genre, and contains many images that parody or pay homage to specific horror films. The directors have oft referred to the film as the world's "first vegetarian horror". Peter Sallis (the voice of Wallace) is joined in the film by Ralph Fiennes (as Lord Victor Quartermaine), Helena Bonham Carter (as Lady Tottington), Peter Kay (as PC Mackintosh), Nicholas Smith (as Rev. Clement Hedges), and Liz Smith (as Mrs. Mulch). Gromit remains silent, communicating only through body language.

Nick 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 [1]."

The vehicle Wallace drives in the new 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.

Plot

Template:Spoiler In the town where Wallace and Gromit live, the annual Giant Vegetable Competition is approaching. All are eager to protect their giant crops until the contest and the duo are cashing in by running a vegetable security and humane pest control business, "Anti-Pesto". However, they are faced with two problems: the first is Wallace's weight problem and the second is the space for the captured rabbits. Wallace comes up with a terrific idea — use his brain alteration-o-matic to brainwash the rabbits, allowing them to run freely without harming everyone's gardens. While performing the operation, he presses the wrong switch and something goes terribly wrong, leaving them with a semi-intelligent rabbit who starts to behave like Wallace and who Wallace names "Hutch". Soon, the town is threatened by the "Were-Rabbit", a giant monster which eats vegetables of any size. Anti-Pesto enters into a rivalry with Lord Victor Quartermaine to capture the Were-Rabbit — and to capture Lady Tottington's heart.

After a hectic nighttime chase, Gromit discovers that the Were-Rabbit is in fact Wallace, suffering from the effects of the accident with the brain alteration-o-matic. Victor corners Wallace during night, but the inventor falls into the path of moonlight, and transforms. Victor, having identified the rabbit, then goes to Reverend Hedges, and gains access to 24-carat gold bullets.

During the final showdown, Victor and Phillip capture Gromit, who subsequently escapes and decides to make the ultimate sacrifice by using his marrow as bait for Wallace, who, in his rabbit form, intrudes the vegetable contest, causing a panic. Victor tries to shoot what is apparently the monster - but Gromit is one step ahead of him. The rampaging rabbit ascends the rooftops, holding a screaming Lady Tottington in his hand. When she discovers it is Wallace, she tells him to run. Meanwhile, in a mid-air dogfight in toy airplanes, Victor's dog Philip is chasing after Gromit. Gromit forces his foe out of the air in a fiery crash and explosion - but Philip manages to hold on to Gromit's plane and the two grapple, before Philip is dropped into a moonwalk.

Atop Tottington Hall, Gromit's toy biplane encircles Wallace, who clings only to the antennae of the top of the building for dear life. Victor fires a shot, but Wallace is saved from being gunned off the top of Tottington Hall when the plane falls into the path of the trophy improvised as a bullet by Victor. Gromit and Wallace high-five, for what, in a few seconds later, looks like the last time. The money in Gromit's biplane runs out. Wallace, loyal to a fault, jumps from the top, grabs the plane, holds it to his chest, and crashes into a tent below. Victor gloats, but is knocked unconscious by Campanula Tottington with a heavy carrot. He falls into the tent too, where Wallace lies dying of his injuries. Gromit dresses Victor up as the monster, and throws him into the midst of an angry mob.

Gromit and Tottington tend to Wallace, who seconds later, breaths his last, and morphs back into his old self. Gromit and Tottington are greatly saddened by their apparrent loss, but Gromit revives his chum with Stinking Bishop cheese. His marrow wins the competition, and Lady Tottington sets up a place where all the rabbits, including Hutch, can go about their usual rabbity business.

Background and In-jokes

• The first and most obvious reference is "Were-Rabbit".
• In the town meeting after the first strike of the Were-Rabbit, Totty has a bible lectern behind her and a lamp above her head, giving her angel wings and a halo, and Victor has two devil horns via a parishioner's pitchfork.
• Monsters in Reverend Hedges' book have comical Latin names: for example, the Loch Ness Monster is "Touristus trapus".
• Werewolves are killed when you shoot them with a silver bullet; the were-rabbit is correspondingly dispatched by a 24 "carrot" gold bullet.
• "Totty", Lady Tottington's nickname, is a rather old-fashioned British slang word for a desirable upper-class woman.
• The dogs engage in an "aerial" dogfight with aeroplanes detached from one of the fête's rides.
• Many of Lady Tottington's outfits make her look like a vegetable or flower.
• When Wallace gets up in the short films, he falls into his trousers before falling into his chair. Instead, the trousers are put on by mechanical arms after he has been seated. However, in the getting ready for work sequence he does drop into a jumpsuit prepared for him.
• The way Wallace names Hutch mirrors the naming of Shaun the Sheep.
• Victor challenges Wallace to a boxing match under official boxing rules, which would prohibit "rabbit punches."
• The box Gromit holds up to cover the naked Wallace has a sticker saying "may contain nuts"
• The end credits conclude with the a "No animals were harmed during the making of..." message, and then one of the movie's rabbits accidently hits his head against the message. He tumbles out of view, squealling as if hurt. Then the movie fades out.

References to Pop Culture

• As the camera pans across the photos of Wallace and Gromit during the opening credits, it shows a photo from Gromit's "graduation" from Dogwarts University, a reference to Hogwarts School, from the Harry Potter series.
• The relationship between Lady Tottington and Wallace refers to Lady Chatterley's Lover, in which an upper-class woman becomes romantically involved with her gamekeeper.
• The tagline "Something Wicked This Way Hops" is a parody of the famous Shakespeare quote, "Something Wicked This Way Comes" from Macbeth. "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is also the name of several other things.
• The gnome statue's head turns to follow movement and his eyes blink like the spy statues in 'The Prisoner'.
• Reverend Hedges' book is "The Observer's Book of Monsters". Observer's Books are a series of pocket-sized hardback books popular with hobbyists and collectors, published in the UK by F. Warne since the 1930s and covering a wide range of subjects from Astronomy to Wild Plants. The author of Reverend Hedges' book is Claude Savagely, a homonym for 'clawed savagely'.
• Real aerial dogfight noise is incorporated into the Snoopyesque fight between Gromit and Victor's dog, Philip.
• When the time on Gromit's coin-operated aeroplane expires, the vehicle stops, and the two dogs halt their fight. Gromit has insufficient change; Philip produces a quaint purse, reloads the plane, and the fight resumes precisely where they left off (c.f. Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf).
• Every phrase Hutch says is an exact quote of Wallace's, from one film or another, apart from the quote involving the cheese 'Monterrey Jack'.
• The climax of the film is reminiscent of the climax of King Kong, which was also created with stop-motion animation, in which Gromit encircles Tottington Hall in a plane which resembles a navy biplane, and Wallace's were-form, rather than being shot down by Victor, dies after falling from the roof-tops whilst trying to save Gromit.
• The climax atop Tottington Hall also spoofs the climax in Curse of the Werewolf, with the title character fleeing to the top of a building to escape a mob, and someone with a musket climbing up after him.
• In one scene where Wallace transforms, his hand grows longer whilst his fingers grow shorter. This is a parody of An American Werewolf in London. Another jab at the movie is when the Were-rabbit stalks the Vicar in the church, deliberately similar to a scence set in the London Underground.
• Wallace's "Mind-Manipulation-O-Matic" machine, and its disasterous use, of course parodies Frankenstein and every other mad scientist laboratory movie, but primarily the Fritz Lang classic Metropolis. The subsequent entrance of the altered Hutch also spoofs both the Frankenstein monster's entrances, and the entrance of the Techno-Trousers in The Wrong Trousers.
• Wallace is shown reading a copy of Ay-Up! magazine. "Ay-up" is northern English for hello.
• An homage is made to Gerry Anderson's puppet series the Thunderbirds. The eyes in the portraits of the Anti-Pesto clients flash just like those of the portraits of the International Rescue Team in the TV show. The scene in which Wallace and Gromit are taken down to the anti-pesto van is also very similar to the way various members of International Rescue are taken to the various Thunderbird machines, and, as in A Close Shave, the pond in the front garden flips over to allow them to leave.
• Gromit tunes the car radio to a station playing Bright Eyes by Art Garfunkel (of Watership Down fame). He promptly turns it off in disbelief by using the "mutt" button rather than a "mute" button.
• The car's license plate says "HOP 2 IT". Early concept sketches had the plates read out "VERM1N" and WALI1 (Wallace 1).
• Inside the car is a Wigan A–Z.
• During the greenhouse scene, Venus from Gustav Holst's The Planets plays. Gromit plays a 33 record of "The Plants" Suite.
• The 45 rpm single in front of the above shows the record label as "P.E.A"
• The fridge is a Smug instead of a Smeg; the drill is a Botch instead of a Bosch.
• Co-writer Bob Baker wrote for the BBC's science fiction television series Doctor Who several times throughout the 1970s. The "death" of the were-rabbit towards the end strongly resembles a "regeneration" as seen in the programme.
• Totty defends Wallace by applying "pansy spray" to Victor. Victor then shouts "My eyes!" and wimpers in a girly fashion.
• Books in Wallace's collection include East of Edam, Fromage to Eternity, Waiting for Gouda, The Hunt For Red Leicester, How Green Was My Cheese, Brighton Roquefort, Grated Expectations, and Swiss Cheese Family Robinson, all take-offs of famous books or movies. For example, the book Brie Encounter is a play on the movie Brief Encounter made in 1945.
• A large carrot sign advertises "Harvey's" vegetable shop, a play on the film Harvey, about a man who befriends an invisible six foot three and a half inches tall rabbit.
• The town meeting in the church is reminiscent of -- and spoofs -- the town meeting in Jaws. Later, the Were-Rabbit charging underground towards the festival, and then chasing after Gromit's vegetable marrow, are parodies of the beach attacks and the chasing-the-barrels scenes.
• There is a Barber shop named A Close Shave, which commemorates an earlier Nick Park short.
• A closed-down antiques shop has the sign of Rare Bits. Rarebit is slang for cheese on toast.
• When Gromit tries to make the giant lady-rabbit puppet "more alluring", the music called The Stripper, popular for use with "sexy-but-actually-comical-instead" routines (Monty Python for example), is played.
• The plaque on the piano says "Harryhausen", a tribute to Ray Harryhausen, classic stop-motion animator.
• The movie avoids the cartoon cliché of using limberger cheese by introducing Stinking Bishop cheese instead.
• After the were-rabbit grabs Lady Tottington, it stomps on a villager. The villager lets out a Wilhelm scream.
• While the Were-Rabbit is atop Tottington Hall, a hunk of stone falls toward the mob below, just as in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
• Movie posters around town lampoon various movies with vegan counterparts. A poster for a film says Spartichoke, a take-off of Sparticus. Another poster seen about town advertises The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Bean, a take-off homage to the 1962 drama The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. Another poster advertises Carrot on a Hot Tin Roof, a reference to the Tennessee Williams play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
• At one point Wallace says, "What's up, Dog?" to Gromit, whilst having rabbit ears, in homage to Bugs Bunny.
• Lord Victor Quartermaine is named after Allan Quatermain, the tweed-wearing, rifle-toting character in King Solomon's Mines and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
• The voice of Hutch is the speeded-up voice of Peter Sallis.
• The Vicar uses two cucumbers to form a cross against the Were-rabbit, a subtle vegan homage to Peter Cushing's useage of two candlesticks in the 1958 Dracula movie.
• The Tottington family motto (Libeir Stercus Pro Totus) translated, is Manure Liberates Us All. Due to a translation goof, it was originally supposed to translate to Free Manure For Everyone.
• At the Tottington Hall Fair, a hot dog stand has a sign that says Hot Dogs, and Cats and Burger. This is a reference to DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg.
• Nick Park and Steve Box have quick cameos in the film as portraits of vicars on the Vicar's wall.
• The penguin from the short The Wrong Trousers makes a cameo apperance in the film. For trivia's sake, the only clue is that he appears for a good eight seconds in the film.
• PC Mackintosh bears an uncanny resemblance to actor E.E. Clive's character PC Jaffers in The Invisible Man. It is not known if this was intentional however.

New Villains

Lord Victor Quartermaine

Lord Victor Quartermaine is an upper-class bounder who is fond of hunting; he is rarely seen without his rifle and his hunting dog Philip. Hates Anti-Pesto. He wears a toupee and is voiced by Ralph Fiennes. He is the villain of the movie.

Philip

Victor's hunting dog. Hates Anti-Pesto. He and Victor will do anything to stop the Were-Rabbit, although he is bright enough to know that the Were-Rabbit is beyond his hunting skills, and that Gromit, closer to his own size, is a better prospect as the target of premeditated violence.

New Friendly characters

Lady Campanula "Totty" Tottington

A wealthy noblewoman with a keen interest in both vegetable growing and fluffy animals. For 500 years, her family has hosted an annual vegetable competition. Lady Tottington asks Wallace to call her "Totty", and develops a romantic interest in him. She is voiced by Helena Bonham Carter.

PC Albert Mackintosh

The village policeman who judges the Giant Vegetable Contest, although, with the havoc it creates every year he would rather it didn't happen at all. He is voiced by comedian Peter Kay.

The Reverend Clement Hedges

Reverend Hedges is the local vicar. He has everything needed to kill the Were-Rabbit, having at one point been "attacked" by the beast. He is voiced by Nicholas Smith.

Mr. and Mrs. Mulch

The elderly couple are clients of Wallace and Gromit's Anti-Pesto, and Mrs. Mulch has a constant fixation on her gigantic pumpkin. She is a much more prominent character than her husband - who only speaks a few lines, and his teeth fall out! Mrs. Mulch is voiced by Liz Smith

Mr. Growbag

Mr. Growbag, an elderly resident of Wallace and Gromit's neighbourhood. He is (possibly) a chairman of some sort. He constantly recalls memories of incidents from previous Vegetable Competitions - comparing them to what may happen to this one forecoming.

Hutch the Rabbit

Originally just another captive rabbit, Hutch receives special treatment, and his name, after an attempt to brainwash him and his fellows goes wrong.

Wallace believes Hutch to be the Were-Rabbit, but soon it is revealed that he is a "Were-Wallace" who exhibits a little of Wallace's physical appearance, and all of Wallace’s talents and personality-quirks; however, he is simply following animal instincts that mimic a human, and lacks the ability to focus, prioritise, assess a situation or even the knowledge that he’s not actually Wallace. He does, however, prove to be a competent engineer, rewiring the damaged "Mind-Manipulation-O-Matic".

Release and Acclaim

It was released in the United Kingdom, United States and Hong Kong in October 14, 2005 to almost universally rave reviews, including "A" ratings from Roger Ebert and Ty Burr. The DVD edition of the film was released on February 7, 2006 (USA) and February 20th, 2006 (UK). And on rottentomatoes.com the film won 2 Golden Tomato awards for "Best Wide Overall Release" and "Best Animation". The film received an outstanding 95%.

Trivia

• The film's initial release was two weeks after that of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, marking the first time that two stop-motion animated films were in simultaneous wide theatrical release. Interestingly, both films feature the voice of Helena Bonham Carter in a lead role.

Awards

The film has won a number of awards in both Britain and North America, the most significant of which are listed here.

Academy Awards

• Best Animated Feature at the 78th Academy Awards

Annies

The film performed very well at the Annie Awards, an animation-specific award show, where out of 26 awards it was involved in 16 - winning 10 with a further 6 nominations:

Wins

• Best Animated Effects (for Jason Wen)
• Best Animated Feature
• Best Character Design (for Claire Billet)
• Best Character Design in an Animated Feature Production (for Nick Park)
• Best Directing in an Animated Feature Production (for Nick Park and Steve Box)
• Best Music in an Animated Feature Production (for Julian Nott)
• Best Production Design in an Animated Feature Production (for Phil Lewis)
• Best Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production (for Bob Persichetti)
• Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (for Peter Sallis as the voice of Wallace.)
• Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production (for Steve Box, Nick Park and Mark Burton)

Nominations

• for Best Character Animation (for Jay Grace)
• for Best Character Animation (for Christopher Sadler)
• for Best Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production (for Michael Salter)
• for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (for Helena Bonham Carter as the voice of Lady Campanula Tottington.)
• for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (for Ralph Fiennes as the voice of Victor Quartermaine.)
• for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (for Nicholas Smith as the voice of Reverend Clement Hedges.)

Others

Elsewhere, the film won the following seven awards:

BFCA Awards	:	The 2005 "Best Animated Feature" award.
DFWFCA Awards	:	The 2005 "Best Animated Feature" award.
LAFCA Awards	:	The 2005 "Best Animated Film" award.
OFCS Awards	:	The 2006 "Best Animated Feature" award.
PGA Awards	:	The 2006 "Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award" (for Claire Jennings and Nick Park).
SEFCA Awards	:	The 2005 "Best Animated Film" award.
TFCA Awards	:	The 2005 "Best Animated Film" award.
Bafta Awards	:	The 2006 Alexander Korda for "Outstanding Best British Film of the Year" award (celebrated on 21/2/2006 with a giant inflatable Gromit in Trafalgar Square!)

The film failed to win the following three awards which it was nominated for:

Satellite Awards	:	The 2005 "Outstanding Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media" award.
VES Awards	:	The 2006 "Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture" award (for Lloyd Price for "Gromit".)

(VES stands for Visual Effects Society)

Awards shown here are those detailed by the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

DVD

• Widescreen edition February 7, 2006
  Widescreen edition
  February 7, 2006

References

All noted references marks come from the book The Art of Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit by Andy Lane & Paul Simpson. ISBN 1845762150

External links

• Official U.S. site
• Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit at IMDb
• Wallace & Gromit's Van
• International Austin A30/A35 Register
• Curse of the Were-Rabbit ending spoiler (with a very intruding pop-up window)