Ani-MAY-tion Month: Wallace And Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (2005)

Wallace and Gromit are two British characters, the former a human and the latter his dog, with a great love of cheese, and the two have been entertaining us in numerous short films for years now. Created by Nick Park, the big boss at Aardman Animation, they are, arguably, the best double-act from the UK since The Two Ronnies. Oh yes, they're THAT good, even if they're made of plasticine/clay and only move thanks to stop-motion animation. But not every great duo can make the transition from the small screen to the big screen.

There is, however, nothing to complain about here. This feature movie is a joy from start to finish. The plot sees our two main characters finding themselves a bit perturbed when local villagers have their greenhouses and vegetable plots ransacked. Wallace and Gromit, having offered security with their Anti-Pesto humane pest control service, have a lot of fingers pointed at them for their inability to deal with the situation, but this is a situation that nobody could have envisioned. As the title suggests, this is one veg-munching pest unlike any they have dealt with before.
There's also a potential love interest, in the shape of Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter), and some rivalry from Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes), a man who believes that the best way to deal with pesky rabbits is just to shoot them all.

Directed by Steve Box and Nick Park, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Mark Burton and Bob Baker, Wallace And Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit is, for me, practically perfect in every way. Every scene is so jam-packed with jokes and references to other movies that repeat viewings are essential, but nothing ever detracts from the main events that are put front and centre.

Peter Sallis returns to voice Wallace, a wise decision as the character just wouldn't seem the same with anyone else voicing the part, and he simply IS Wallace. Carter and Fiennes are both a lot of fun in very different ways, and Peter Kay gets to raise a smile or two as PC Mackintosh.

I could praise every single member of the voice cast, and I could quote over a hundred great lines from the script, and I could wax lyrical about the detailing and look of each scene, but that still wouldn't necessarily convey just how much I love this film. Because, as immature as it may seem, even just seeing bunnies floating around while caught in a humane piece of kit that sucks them up into a containment unit is enough to put a huge grin on my face.

It might be slightly cheesy at times, but it's always delightfully crackers.

10/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wallace-Gromit-Were-Rabbit-Special-Edition/dp/B000B83YWM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400087838&sr=8-1&keywords=wallace+and+gromit+curse+of+the+were+rabbit

Taste The Blood Of Dracula (1970)

Following on nicely from the end of Dracula Has Risen From The Grave, this film starts with a man named Weller (Roy Kinnear) stumbling across a scene in which Dracula is dying. Weller takes some souvenirs away from this grisly tableaux, as you would, and goes on his merry way. Some time later, three men (William Hargood, played by Geoffrey Keen, Samuel Paxton, played by Peter Sallis, and Jonathon Secker, played by John Carson) meet a younger man (Lord Courtley, played by Ralph Bates) who shares their particular interests. All of these men have a fondness for exploring the darker side of life and giving in to their base desires, so when Courtley brings up a plan to buy the items that belonged to Dracula and to use them in an unholy ceremony. Well, that sounds like a jolly good time so the men agree and go along, only to lose courage when it comes to actually finishing the ceremony. They attack Courtley and flee, unaware that Dracula has risen from the dead and now aims to destroy those who would treat his servant so badly.

Peter Sasdy is the director of this one, and Anthony Hinds is the writer, and both men are working a few levels below their best. In fact, it's only the presence of Lee in his most famous role that saves this from being a complete stinker. The rest of the cast aren't bad, they're just not all that memorable either. Roy Kinnear doesn't have a lot of screen-time, and neither does Ralph Bates, so viewers are stuck with Keen, Sallis and Carson as the main characters. Linda Hayden plays the daughter of Geoffrey Keen's character and is, of course, quite lovely, as is Isla Blair (playing Lucy Paxton), but the aforementioned actors, plus Anthony Higgins, all seem pretty interchangeable.

Sadly, even the death scenes aren't that entertaining, although I enjoyed them more this time around than I did during past viewings, and the grand finale is, in my opinion, the absolute worst of any Hammer Dracula film. There's a nice element of seediness running through the whole thing, with both the content that's front and centre and also a few things that are implied, but even that isn't enough to put this above average.

Of course, opinions vary with any movie and even more so with Hammer movies. I've quickly learned that every single instalment in the Dracula, Frankenstein and Mummy series of movies that the studio produced will have one person who rates it as their very best and this film is no exception. There will be one or two people reading this who will absolutely love this film and I will never understand why.

5/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taste-Blood-Dracula-DVD-Christopher/dp/B0001XLY5G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353796634&sr=8-1