Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out

source: A Grand Day Out

Moviecut—A Grand Day Out

A Grand Day Out

There is a lot of be admired about the Wallace and Gromit short films. The intricate craftsmanship is always excellent, and you can only imagine how long it must have taken to film even a second of the stop-motion animation. The humour is gentle and family-friendly, and also very British… if that can serve as an adequate description. In this, the first film out of three directed by Nick Park – not including the Oscar-winning feature length film of 2005 – 'A Grand Day Out' is a genuinely entertaining 23 minutes of imagination and creativity, completed over six years by Park, who produced the film as part of his graduation project from the National Film and Television School. I have heard some remark that the animation in this film is poor, and yet I find myself wondering how they came to this conclusion. Of course, the work may not be as refined as the later additions to the series, given that Park was less experienced and was undoubtedly working on a smaller budget, but the quality is still never anything less than excellent. The story begins on a rather dull banking holiday, and the good-natured Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) is unsuccessfully trying to decide where he and his canine companion Gromit are to spend their day off. Suddenly, Wallace makes a horrifying discovery: their house is completely devoid of dairy products! And so – as anybody might do in such a situation – the pair endeavour to travel to the Moon, which everybody knows is comprised of cheese. Wallace, being an enthusiastic inventor, casually tosses together a space rocket, and pretty soon they are ready for their big journey. In probably the film's most memorable sequence, Wallace realises, just as the launch countdown is beginning, that they forgot to bring the crackers. Imagine going to the Moon without crackers! However, some quick-thinking and agility from Wallace eventually saves the day, and the pair pass their otherwise uneventful Moon-ward journey by reading the newspaper and building delicate playing card pyramids. Their picnic on the lunar surface offers a hint of imaginative absurdity, with the main storyline concerning a coin-operated gas oven who lives on the Moon, writes out parking tickets and dreams of skiing. All this makes for a quirky, clever and humorous short film that literally anybody can enjoy. Interestingly, 'A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit' was nominated for Best Animated Short at the 1991 Academy Awards, but failed to take the statue. I don't imagine, however, that Nick Park would have despaired; he lost out to a film called 'Creature Comforts'... directed by Nick Park!

Although my favourite Wallace & Gromit film will always be THE WRONG TROUSERS, a 30 minute short which got absolutely everything right - I remember wearing out my old VHS tape of it - Nick Park originally made the characters back in the 1980s and their first outing was this 1989 short. It's a slightly cruder version of the characters we've come to know and love over the years, but the magic is there from the beginning and the seeds of greatness were sown here. The story is quite simplistic in this film and lacks the kind of quick-fire gags that the series became known for. The warm character humour is missing even though Peter Sallis is a delight as Wallace. The best thing about the film is Gromit, who seems to have appeared on the screen fully formed, while the doughy-headed Wallace needed a little more tinkering before achieving perfection in THE WRONG TROUSERS (the bit where he descends the cellar steps looks really, really dodgy). The trip to the moon is light and fluffy but there are some suitably bizarre elements to keep it moving. Needless to say, the Claymation effects are huge fun.

This is the weakest of the series, not much of a plot and a rather odd-looking Wallace. But it's still pretty good, considering. A sign of greater things to come! 6/10

This movie was great. I have been watching Wallace and gromit ever since i was little and i have always loved it. It is very cute. Also, very funny. It is amazing how they make the movie. It is one of my favorite movies and everyone should watch it. It is not only for little kids, but for adults to. This movie is interesting. It makes you feel very good. I loved this movie and everyone else will. Gromit may not talk, but it is amazing because you always know what he is thinking. It is mostly because of his eyebrow. He uses his eyebrow to show his emotions. Wallace and Gromit seem to be best friends and they always will be.

Together with 'Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave' and 'Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers' this is one of the funniest things I have seen. The clay animation looks great, the stories are very ingenious and the jokes are great. If you get a chance to see this, please do it. You will have a great time. I have to say that both 'A Close Shave' and 'The Wrong Trousers' are better than this one, but you will still have a great time watching this one.

Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out was the first Wallace and Gromit short. Although enjoyable, this is my least personal favourite of the Wallace and Gromit shorts. I think this is down to an experimentation with the characters and a finding of their place. The plot itself is very silly, and it follows the man (an absent-minded inventor) and his dog (who happens to be smarter than the man himself) on a trip to the moon in search of cheese. The plot is a little slow when compared to the other shorts, but it does maintain a level of interest. (I just think that the more recent shorts have surpassed this one in every way). If you've never seen the shorts, then I wouldn't watch this one first. The other two are much more enjoyable. I would watch this one after you've seen the others - granted that you did enjoy the others.

Wallace and Gromit are a phenomenon. How many stop motion animation films win Oscars, top the US and UK box office charts etc. But all that came later. A Grand Day Out was the first Wallace and Gromit film. Low budget. More or less a graduation piece. Of course the animation is less sophisticated than in the later films. Of course the plot is a little shallow. The entire story is designed to minimise the need for sophisticated animation and to maximise the excuse for shortcomings (perhaps dogs and people would move a bit like that on a cheese moon). Yet it is extraordinary to see how much of the Aardman genius is already there in this short film. Hilarious and clever references to other films. Mice in shades for take off. The rocket handbrake gag. Coin-operated machine gags (brilliantly recycled in Were-Rabbit BTW). And a machine (is it an Aga?) that daydreams about skiing when it sees Wallace's holiday magazines. Of course TWT, ACS and Were-Rabbit are better movies, but this film is so worth seeing as a sign of early genius and indeed in its own right as a crude but wonderful animated film.