The first two Wallace and Gromit films, A Grand Day Out (1989) and The Wrong Trousers (1993), are now rereleased in cinemas, offering simply great family entertainment. Each film is heralded by composer Julian Nott’s wonderful and unmistakable brass-band march theme.
A Grand Day Out: A Terrifically Funny Sci-Fi Adventure
A Grand Day Out is a terrifically funny sci-fi adventure that gives us a hilarious teatime shot of inventor Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and his faithful canine companion Gromit sitting placidly side by side in armchairs. The front parlour was surely very old-fashioned even in 1989. Watching it again, it reminded me of David Hockney’s mum and dad in his famous portrait My Parents.
Wallace yearns to go on holiday and wants the destination to involve cheese, for which he has a passion. They ponder the moon and realise that, as it is famously made of cheese (the colour green isn’t specified), they should blast off there post haste. But first they must build their own rocket ship in the cellar. There is pure genius in this amazing craft and superb comedy when, as the rocket spews flames and smoke downward and takeoff still hasn’t been achieved, they realise they haven’t taken the handbrake off. Once on the moon, which is more Georges Méliès than Neil Armstrong, they encounter a mysterious robot inhabitant that is a fascinating mix of R2D2, gas oven and electricity meter. This robot is surely an influence on Pixar’s Wall-E.
The Wrong Trousers: A Heist Thriller That Accelerated Park into the Big League
The follow-up The Wrong Trousers (1993) is a more developed and detailed movie, though still only half an hour long. It is a heist thriller that accelerated Nick Park into the big league. While it doesn’t have the sublime high-concept simplicity of A Grand Day Out, it’s still great fun. No film or cultural artefact has done more to recognise that the word “trousers” is just funny, no matter the context.
In this film, Wallace, an inveterate tech enthusiast, purchases a pair of “techno trousers”, evidently deleted Nasa stock. One can insert oneself into them and be automatically carried about, stomping up walls and along ceilings, controlled remotely. They are given as a birthday present to the baffled and unconvinced Gromit, who is further nettled when Wallace decides to take a paying guest into the house. This is the penguin and notorious criminal Feathers McGraw, who has a sinister blank expression. In the middle of the night, McGraw inveigles sleepy Wallace into wearing the trousers and pilots him from afar into the local museum to purloin a precious diamond. The feature potential of The Wrong Trousers, and the emotional bromance subplot of Wallace appearing to neglect Gromit and hurt his feelings, was brought out in the 2024 sequel Vengeance Most Fowl.
Release Details
These two jewels of stop-motion animated comedy are such a treat. A Grand Day Out and The Wrong Trousers are in UK and Irish cinemas from 10 July.
