Curse of the Were-Rabbit

The film followed eccentric inventor Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and his intelligent but silent dog, Gromit, as they come to the rescue of the residents of a village which is being plagued by a mutated rabbit before the annual vegetable competition.

Plot

Tottington Hall's annual Giant Vegetable Competition is approaching. The winner of the competition will win the Golden Carrot Award. All are eager to protect their giant crops 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".

However, they are faced with two problems: the first is Wallace's growing weight and the second is inadequate space for the captured rabbits. Wallace comes up with an idea — use his Mind Manipulation-O-Matic machine to brainwash the rabbits, allowing them to run freely without harming everyone's gardens. While performing the operation, he kicks the switch and something goes terribly wrong, leaving them with a semi-intelligent rabbit who (in a slow metamorphasis) starts to behave like Wallace (down to his fondness for cheese) and whom Wallace names "Hutch". Soon the town is threatened by the "Were-Rabbit", a giant rabbit-like monster which eats vegetables of any size. During a chaotic yet hilarious town meeting, Anti-Pesto enters into a rivalry with Lord Victor Quartermaine to capture the Were-Rabbit, and, to win Lady Tottington's heart. After the first night of the Were-Rabbit, the townsfolk start to argue on what to do.

After a hectic nighttime chase, Gromit discovers that the Were-Rabbit (whom they assumed was Hutch at first) is, in fact, Wallace, suffering from the effects of the accident with the Mind Manipulation-O-Matic. Victor corners Wallace during the night, jealous of Lady Tottington's growing fondness for him because of his humane practice of pest control (whereas Victor thinks it's more effective to shoot and kill them). But then Wallace falls into the path of moonlight and transforms. Victor, having identified the Were-Rabbit, goes to Reverend Clement Hedges and gains access to "24-carrot" gold bullets - supposedly, the only things capable of killing a Were-Rabbit.

During the final showdown, Victor and his dog Phillip capture Gromit, who subsequently escapes and decides to make the ultimate sacrifice by using the marrow he had been growing for the competition as bait for Wallace who, in his rabbit form, has burst in upon the vegetable contest, causing panic. Victor tries to shoot what is apparently the monster - but Gromit is one step ahead of him. Yet the marrow cannot keep Wallace's attention as Victor tries to take the golden carrot award from a distressed Lady Tottington. Wallace ascends to the rooftops, holding a screaming Lady Tottington in his hand. Discovering his identity, she promises to protect him, only to be interrupted by Victor. Meanwhile, in a mid-air dogfight in toy aeroplanes, Phillip chases after Gromit. Gromit forces his foe out of the air in a fiery crash and explosion - but Phillip manages to hold on to Gromit's plane and the two grapple. The fight rages on and in the end, Gromit releases Philip, ironically, through the bomb doors and into a bouncy castle.

Atop Tottington Hall, Gromit's toy biplane circles Wallace, who clings onto the flagpole at the top of the building for dear life. Victor, having run out of gold bullets, steals the Golden Carrot trophy and stuffs it in an elephant gun. Victor tries one last time to shoot Wallace, but Wallace is saved when Gromit's plane falls into the path of the improvised bullet. The engine in Gromit's plane fails and begins to descend rapidly. Wallace jumps from the flagpole and catches the plane, thereby breaking Gromit's fall into the cheese tent below. Victor gloats, but is knocked unconscious by Lady Tottington, using a giant carrot. He falls into the tent too, where Wallace lies unconscious and seemingly dying of his injuries. To protect Wallace from the angry mob outside, Gromit dresses Victor up as the monster (using a marionette he used earlier as a lure for the Were-Rabbit), and throws him out of the tent. The angry mob chase Victor away.

Gromit and Tottington tend to Wallace, who seconds later, breathes his last, and morphs back into his human form. Gromit, the rabbits, and Lady Tottington are saddened by their loss, but Gromit is able to revive Wallace with a slice of Stinking Bishop cheese. Gromit, for his bravery and his "brave and splendid marrow", is awarded the (now somewhat battered) competition trophy, and Lady Tottington turns Tottington Hall into a wildlife refuge, where all the rabbits, including Hutch, can live in peace.

Production

The directors, Steve Box and Nick Park, have often referred to the motion picture 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). Keeping with the tradition of the original short films, 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 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.

Release and acclaim

It was released in the United Kingdom, United States and Hong Kong on 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 20, 2006 (UK). On the Rotten Tomatoes website, the film won 2 Golden Tomato awards for "Best Wide Overall Release" and "Best Animation" and the film also received an outstanding 95% "Certified Fresh" rating from the website. Despite the praise, one of the film's few critics was Peter Sallis, the voice of Wallace, who said that he preferred the half-hour films to the big screen debut.^[2] Also, Richard Roeper gave a disappointing "thumb down" to the film on At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper. He basically said the premise is better as a short, but as a feature length product it bored him, calling it “slightly amusing.” He said to catch it on video or pay TV instead of spending $10 to see it in a theater.^[3]

The animated short The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper was shown before the film during the theatrical release. The short is included as a bonus feature on the Madagascar DVD.

Box office performance

Wallace & Gromit opened in 3,645 theatres and had an opening weekend gross of $16,025,987, putting it at number one for that weekend.^[4] During its second weekend it came in at number two, $200,000 behind The Fog.^[5] It remained number one worldwide for three weeks in a row.^[6] Overall Wallace & Gromit made $56,110,897 in the US and $192,610,372 internationally.^[7] Despite the big difference between the production budget and the overall gross, Dreamworks considered its returns low in comparison to Chicken Run, which made a slightly larger amount ($224,834,564) worldwide, but nearly twice as much ($106,834,564) within the United States.^[8] When it is factored in that Chicken Run also cost $15 million more to make, the overall profits for both films end up looking very similar. Nevertheless, it was reported on 3 October 2006^[9] and confirmed on 30 January 2007^[10] that the partnership between Dreamworks and Aardman has ended due to "creative differences" about Aardman's CG feature, Flushed Away. But, Aardman have judged it successful enough for a new Wallace & Gromit film to be made.^[11]

Awards

Characters

In jokes

Littered throughout the movie are various plays on names of various items, ranging from renames of books and movies, to references from past Nick Park shorts.

Vegetable references also make up a sizable number of in jokes in the movie. Movie posters around town lampoon various movies with vegetable counterparts: a poster for a film says Spartichoke, a take-off of Spartacus;^[16] while 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.^[17] Another poster advertises Carrot on a Hot Tin Roof, a reference to the Tennessee Williams play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.^[18]

Gromit plays a 33 record "Symphony For Vegetables" of The Plants Suite which is actually "Venus" from Gustav Holst's The Planets orchestral suite as he is placing an electric blanket over his marrow.^[19] . The license plate of the van is HOP 2 IT. The Vicar uses two cucumbers to form a cross against the Were-Rabbit, a subtle vegan homage to Peter Cushing's usage of two candlesticks in the 1958 Dracula movie.^[20] A large carrot sign advertises "Harvey's" vegetable shop, a reference to the film Harvey, about a man who befriends an invisible giant rabbit.^[21]

Some earlier Nick Park shorts are also referenced in a few scenes. There is a barber shop named "A Close Shave", which commemorates the earlier Nick Park short.^[22] Penguin villain Feathers McGraw from The Wrong Trousers makes a cameo appearance, added as a joke by Nick Park.^[23] Both Nick Park and Steve Box have quick cameos in the film as portraits of vicars on the Vicar's wall.^[24]

Hollywood and American Culture references also litter the film. 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 scene set in the London Underground.^[25] Gromit tunes the car radio to a station playing "Bright Eyes" (of Watership Down fame) by Art Garfunkel. He promptly turns it off (the four station buttons on the car radio spell out "mutt").^[26]

When Gromit tries to explain the truth about the Were-Rabbit Wallace says, "What's up, Dog?" whilst having rabbit ears and holding a carrot in an homage to Bugs Bunny.^[27] 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.^[28]

DVD

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 on February 7, 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 coincidental release with the film and a novelization Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit: The Movie Novelization by Penny Worms (ISBN 0-84311-667-6) was also produced.

Contents