Wallace & Gromit: As Calças Erradas

In my opinion, Wallace & Gromit are to modern animation what Bugs Bunny was to classic cartoons: they truly set the standards. Following "Creature Comforts", Nick Park made "The Wrong Trousers". W&G take in a penguin as a boarder, and the little guy soon becomes Wallace's favorite. Gromit decides to leave, but then it turns out that this is no ordinary penguin.

I think that my favorite scene was Wallace "walking" around in the trousers; they must have had fun filming that scene. Watching these cartoons, one can see that "Chicken Run" was coming eventually. All in all, this is a cartoon that you can't afford to miss. Perfect.

In order to help make ends meet Wallace decides to rent out their spare room. However the new lodger takes Gromit's room and puts him out in the dog house. Meanwhile Wallace continues work on a pair of remote controlled trousers. But is the new lodger as innocent a chicken as he appears? Wallace finds himself part of a major jewel robbery – can Gromit return in time to save him?

The second of the adventures of Wallace & Gromit sees the animation greatly improve and the comedy oh so very sharp and funny. The basic plot is a little silly but very well crafted considering this is a short film – I wish many `proper' films had plots this clever and imaginative. It is also absolutely a wonder to watch – even when I wasn't laughing I was easily charmed by the wit and imagination of the whole thing.

The animation is superb, Wallace is as good as ever and Gromit is much more fully developed and is easily the star. The penguin however threatens to steal the show as well as the jewel. How can a plastercine penguin with a glove on it's head that likes listening to organ music be threatening? Well it can – here he snaps his head round and stares with such menace that it's frightening! They all work well together but Gromit takes the film by a nose.

With all those brain dead kids cartoons around on TV this should be treasured. Adults will love it as there is plenty of detail for them to enjoy and kids will totally fall for the rich comedy and well animated characters. A wonderful little gem.

Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993): Calling this delightful and hilarious Oscar-winning masterpiece (brought to us by Nick Park, co-director of "Chicken Run," one of my all-time favorite films) the best claymation short ever is a lot like saying that someone just bought the best vehicle from a used car lot, so I'll go ahead and call this the best animated short ever, which it definitely is. No questions asked. It's brilliantly shot, paced, scripted, directed...to paraphrase Mary Poppins, it's practically perfect in every way. You can't help but fall in love with every single character on the screen, from our always-lovable cheese-loving inventor and his loyal canine companion to even the devious jewel-thieving penguin Feathers McGraw (the subject of the bestselling "Have You Seen This Chicken?" T-shirts). They are so well-rounded that Feathers nearly steals the show; it's impossible to keep a straight face at the sight of a penguin nervously wiping sweat from his brow, disguising himself as a chicken and firing a revolver, all while wearing the same stolid expression in his little peppercorn-black eyes. The wild train ride near the conclusion is a breathtaking segment that will never be topped by any other animation studio in this millennium or the next. I cannot recommend this work of genius enough. If you find anything whatsoever to dislike about it, I suggest seeking professional help immediately. Otherwise, pop this into your video or DVD player, put your feet up and watch this piece of animated history unfold before your very eyes. 10/10

There's no use prevaricating about the bush, 'Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers (1993)' is a whole heap of fun! Having not seen the film in years, I'd almost forgotten that it was so uproariously entertaining. It was 'Creature Comforts (1989)' that took home the Oscar in 1991, but Nick Park instead planned a sequel to 'A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit (1989),' a short film that, in my estimation, showed far more promise. This next effort sees the pair with their feet firmly on terra firma, but in an adventure that is no less wacky than the last. Despite economic woes, Wallace has built a impressive contraption for Gromit's birthday – a pair of mechanical trousers. To offset his financial losses, Wallace opens up his home to lodgers, attracting the business of a creepy and silent penguin named Feathers McGraw. The sinister flightless avian soon sets about systematically severing the immortal bond between master and pet, in preparation for a devilishly cunning heist scheme.

Nick Park's films are held in reverence by the animation community, and with good cause. Rarely before had the claymation medium been utilised to create such rich animated characters; even previous successes like 'Closed Mondays (1974)' couldn't evade the fact that they were produced using shifting masses of clay. 'The Wrong Trousers' boasts but three characters – only one of which can speak – and yet the relationship between the three is superbly authentic. Maybe it's the personal touch of recognising the animators' thumb-prints on every character, but somehow Park manages to capture every nuance of their behaviour, every tiny inflection of emotion. In half an hour, Gromit doesn't utter a single word, and yet he communicates his sadness, anger and excitement through an affectionate glance or downcast eye. Likewise, the sinister Feathers McGraw attains creepiness precisely through his silence. That he doesn't speak keeps his motives veiled in secrecy, and those beady, ominous eyes are probably enough to give young children nightmares.

Of course, most people love 'The Wrong Trousers' for its humour, and there's plenty of it. That sparkling British humour is truly allowed to shine, and the gentle voice-acting of Peter Sallis has the sheer sincerity to carry the frequently-offbeat jokes. Whereas 'A Grand Day Out' was a homage of sorts to the science-fiction genre, probably more in line with Georges Méliès than anyone else, this effort is an affectionate satire of the British crime films of the 1950s and 1960s. The evil penguin has the eccentric malevolence of Alec Guinness in 'The Ladykillers (1955),' though without the fondness for articulate speech. The object of the villainous heist scheme resembles the titular jewel in 'The Pink Panther (1964).' With mock seriousness, amateur sleuth Gromit paces his way through the clichés of the genre, culminating in a hilarious madcap locomotive chase along miniature train-tracks, which our hero must lay down as he goes. This sort of impeccable entertainment deserves to run for far longer than thirty minutes.

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.