Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers

source: The Wrong Trousers

Moviecut—The Wrong Trousers

The Wrong Trousers

Wallace and Gromit are great! Fact! And eccentric inventor, that looks like Prince Charles if he were bald, and a very clever dog whose eyebrows express his feeling more than words, makes for very enjoyable bank holiday viewing. The first 'film' (I put it like this because they are only about 30mins long) saw the duo fly to the moon. The third saw a cyborg dog. But this one, the second, surly wins it. A penguin disguised as a chicken, giant robotic trousers, a diamond robbery, and the greatest chase sequence ever, make this the best claymation film ever. Lets star at the beginning. Its Gromits birthday. He gets given a giant pair of mechanical trousers that Wallace makes to help take Gromit for his "walkies". Bills are too expensive so they have to rent out the spare room. A small penguin takes the room, however in the process kicking Gromit out the house, and stealing the trousers for a robbery. The only one who can stop him is Gromit. I wont give too much away, but its worth watching the first 20, very enjoyable, minutes just for the train chase at the end. I have these on DVD and i will never tire of that sequence. Its just brilliant!!

'Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers' is a highly enjoyable claymation tale about an inventor man and his dog companion, who happens to be smarter than the man himself. This tale involves a rogue penguin with an evil plan involving Wallace and Gromit and his inventions. This is a warming tale about friendship and realistic characters, and children are sure to enjoy the imagination behind the story and the claymation and humour. Adults are also sure to love the same on a higher level. It's rare in a film to find a tale enjoyable to both children and adults, but 'The Wrong Trousers' succeeds in this. This is a charming little short film, and it should be watched and enjoyed by all. Highly recommended.

If you had told me that sitting for 30 minutes watching bits of clay would be entertaining, I would have said you were mad. But you would have been right. Thanks, Nick Park, for making this old man feel like a kid again.

I'm not the only one who thinks "Citizen Kane" is a great film because Orson Welles and his collaborators thoroughly exploited the potential of the sound film in telling their story, combining fine acting, intricate plotting and editing, and well-composed visuals and sounds in ways that just NAIL the viewer. Very few films have ever juggled so many filmmaking resources so well, but one of the few to do so, in my opinion, is the English clay-animated short "The Wrong Trousers". As in "Kane", Nick Park and his crew of animators expertly combine a variety of methods in telling their story. The "acting," or rather the character animation, is wonderful, more so for the dog Gromit than for the goofy-looking human Wallace; Gromit's subtle expressions conveying everything we need to know about what he's thinking. Even more subtle is the penguin lodger, with a deliberately bland face but expressive gestures and body language. The plot is ingenious, with hardly an ounce of fat, and perfectly paced, starting slowly and gaining momentum almost imperceptibly until the climax. The visual storytelling is excellent, especially since so much has to be conveyed without dialogue, and the clarity of the climactic sequence at the end marks a high point for film editing. The staging includes dramatic lighting and other bits of visual texture with which few animators bother. Finally, the music is one of "Trousers"'s most overlooked features--the sequence in which Gromit leaves in the rain while the penguin watches from the window offers a neat demonstration of music's effectiveness as a storytelling tool. I don't really think "The Wrong Trousers" is really BETTER than "Citizen Kane", in an artistic sense. Of course, Orson Welles didn't try to make "Kane" as a 30-minute animated film with only three characters (two of whom are silent), either. As with "Kane", however, I get more out of "The Wrong Trousers" every time I watch it.

Together with 'Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave' and 'Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out' 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 so. You will have a great time. I guess this one is the best from the three, although 'A Close Shave' comes close. You must see all three of them anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

A prodigy of animation, "The Wrong Trousers" won the Oscar for best animated short. Nick Park is at fine shape here, as he displays not only the skill of his craft but also a narrative coherence and care that nearly overpasses the artistic talent. It's the advantage of stop-motion animation: each shot is carefully studied and considered, and the story moves forward having Gromit the dog as the main character, and he succeeds all the way in convincing us of his "acting skills", even though he doesn't say one word or make one sound. The film has a great plot: Wallace and Gromit are forced to let a room, and a grim penguin applies for it. Soon, the intruder takes over the house and replaces Gromit as Wallace's best friend. But there is more than meets the eye, and the rest of the story is too good to be spoiled. Constructing suspense to the very end, with hair-raising sequences until the last spectacular showdown and applying all the formulae that make a god movie, this is animation on the top of its game, and a great opportunity to see just how much you can raise the bar on claymation short features. Talent has never been so evident.

This marvelous short won the Academy Award and is the best of the series, though all so far have been delightful! The praise heaped on Wallace and Gromit has been vast and well-deserved, so my additions are gilding the lily, but I'll still say something. The Wrong Trousers is funny, sad, insightful and just plain mad, frequently all at once. If there's any justice, they will remain in print in perpetuity. Most recommended.