The curse of the underage movie patron
October 30, 2005 | 12:00am
This Halloween, be afraid. Okay, be just a little afraid.
Actually, the only frightening thing about Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the charming new claymation movie from British animator Nick Parks, is taking your under-three-year-old into the theater to see it.
Snicker as you enjoy the many double-entendres and subtle jokes that sail over your child’s head!
Tremble as your under-three daughter starts kicking the seat in front of her repeatedly!
Quiver as she starts asking endless questions in A REALLY LOUD VOICE!
Cower in embarrassment as the parents and kids directly in front of you get up to move to another section!
It’s all part of the Halloween fun of bringing young ’uns to the movies.
Curse of the Were-Rabbit may not be scary, but it’s a lot of fun for adults, especially those familiar with the stop-motion exploits of staid inventor Wallace and his much-more-capable dog, Gromit. Parks’ earlier short films (particularly The Wrong Trousers, for which he won an Oscar) were ingenious and magical, and took him years to create. Still, anyone who knows Parks solely from his previous Chicken Run may be slightly surprised by The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
The plot involves Wallace, a fussy and provincial Brit with an overbite, and his faithful and ever-exasperated "pet," Gromit. This time around, they run a business called "Anti-Pesto" that provides security for the town’s prized vegetables, which are lovingly tended by local gardeners hoping to win the big annual vegetable competition. Wallace and Gromit also operate a rabbit-gathering device that painlessly vacuums up the foraging rodents, which are then kept in comfy hutches in Wallace’s basement.
But when vegetables start to go missing en masse, paying customers get very upset about it ("We’re simple people!" one complains, "the vegetable competition is all we have!") and the amiable duo must do something. Being an inventor, Wallace thinks he can "cure" the rabbits of their love of vegetables by redirecting their brainwaves. During a full moon, he tries out his new device on one bunny subject – with typically unintended results.
Before you know it, a huge hulking Were-Rabbit is stalking the town’s vegetable supply. Part of the fun in Curse of the Were-Rabbit is seeing how Parks parodies the old horror movie standbys, like Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Fly, and the British Hammer horror flicks.
Enter Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes, relishing his villain role), a pompous hunter who promises to wipe out the thieving rabbits – and especially the voracious Were-Rabbit – with extreme prejudice. He does this mostly to impress the eco-friendly Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham-Carter, on loan from hubby Tim Burton, whose Corpse Bride is competing in other theaters this Halloween) and win her away from the more sweet-natured Wallace.
A big part of the fun of this flick is all the clever little visual gags and devices Nick Parks has provided – like the "dancing rabbit" puppet Wallace has devised (and Gromit must operate the strings of) to lure out the giant Were-Rabbit. There are brilliant set pieces, like the airplane dogfight at the county fair (recalling King Kong on the Empire State Building), the rabbit-vacuuming sequence, and just the general tone of gentle hilarity.
And things go into humor overdrive when the rabbit that was initially transformed by Wallace’s brain machine starts taking on Wallace’s mannerisms and attributes – including his love of cheese and inventing.
Gromit, as ever, is a marvel of nuance and emotion, which is amazing considering he never speaks and is basically just a lump of clay with remarkably expressive eyebrows.
Let’s face it: most kids (and adults) who think animation begins and ends with Pixar and Disney will probably look down on something as old-fashioned as The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It’s hard to explain to people raised on the seamless computer animation of Madagascar or Finding Nemo that cartoons actually begin with the breath of life supplied by human sweat and invention, not to mention human hands.
Not that the aforementioned Pixar cartoons lack a human hand – no, they have tons of hands, and computers, and bazillions of dollars committed to making sure that the "cute" penguins of Madagascar rake in even more bazillions in box office grosses, not to mention bazillions more in fast-food tie-ups and merchandising.
(The penguins from Madagascar, by the way, make a brief appearance in a short film shown before Curse of the Were-Rabbit. They owe more than a little to the criminal-minded penguin in Parks’ The Wrong Trousers. Just ask anybody who’s seen it.)
While we’re at it, I might as well indulge my pet rant against the universal dominance of computer animation. Going through my batch of Disney DVD classics, there’s no doubt in my mind that hand-crafted flicks like Dumbo and Peter Pan will endure a hell of a lot longer than commercial tripe like last year’s A Shark’s Tale. Sure, the human-scaled creations of Nick Parks lack marketing savvy and merchandising muscle. For instance, every year parents are forced to shell out on "theme" parties for the kiddies, and in years past we’ve seen plenty of expensive Finding Nemo, Madagascar and Toy Story setups, but you’re unlikely to ever see a Wallace and Gromit-themed party. Harrumph.
At less than 80 minutes, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is also unlikely to stretch the patience of any three-year-old (though under three might be pushing it a little) And even if my daughter created more terror during the screening than the movie itself did, I felt good about exposing her to old-school animation, something that had been informed with a little heart and soul – and a lot of lovable clay.
Actually, the only frightening thing about Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the charming new claymation movie from British animator Nick Parks, is taking your under-three-year-old into the theater to see it.
Snicker as you enjoy the many double-entendres and subtle jokes that sail over your child’s head!
Tremble as your under-three daughter starts kicking the seat in front of her repeatedly!
Quiver as she starts asking endless questions in A REALLY LOUD VOICE!
Cower in embarrassment as the parents and kids directly in front of you get up to move to another section!
It’s all part of the Halloween fun of bringing young ’uns to the movies.
Curse of the Were-Rabbit may not be scary, but it’s a lot of fun for adults, especially those familiar with the stop-motion exploits of staid inventor Wallace and his much-more-capable dog, Gromit. Parks’ earlier short films (particularly The Wrong Trousers, for which he won an Oscar) were ingenious and magical, and took him years to create. Still, anyone who knows Parks solely from his previous Chicken Run may be slightly surprised by The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
The plot involves Wallace, a fussy and provincial Brit with an overbite, and his faithful and ever-exasperated "pet," Gromit. This time around, they run a business called "Anti-Pesto" that provides security for the town’s prized vegetables, which are lovingly tended by local gardeners hoping to win the big annual vegetable competition. Wallace and Gromit also operate a rabbit-gathering device that painlessly vacuums up the foraging rodents, which are then kept in comfy hutches in Wallace’s basement.
But when vegetables start to go missing en masse, paying customers get very upset about it ("We’re simple people!" one complains, "the vegetable competition is all we have!") and the amiable duo must do something. Being an inventor, Wallace thinks he can "cure" the rabbits of their love of vegetables by redirecting their brainwaves. During a full moon, he tries out his new device on one bunny subject – with typically unintended results.
Before you know it, a huge hulking Were-Rabbit is stalking the town’s vegetable supply. Part of the fun in Curse of the Were-Rabbit is seeing how Parks parodies the old horror movie standbys, like Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Fly, and the British Hammer horror flicks.
Enter Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes, relishing his villain role), a pompous hunter who promises to wipe out the thieving rabbits – and especially the voracious Were-Rabbit – with extreme prejudice. He does this mostly to impress the eco-friendly Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham-Carter, on loan from hubby Tim Burton, whose Corpse Bride is competing in other theaters this Halloween) and win her away from the more sweet-natured Wallace.
A big part of the fun of this flick is all the clever little visual gags and devices Nick Parks has provided – like the "dancing rabbit" puppet Wallace has devised (and Gromit must operate the strings of) to lure out the giant Were-Rabbit. There are brilliant set pieces, like the airplane dogfight at the county fair (recalling King Kong on the Empire State Building), the rabbit-vacuuming sequence, and just the general tone of gentle hilarity.
And things go into humor overdrive when the rabbit that was initially transformed by Wallace’s brain machine starts taking on Wallace’s mannerisms and attributes – including his love of cheese and inventing.
Gromit, as ever, is a marvel of nuance and emotion, which is amazing considering he never speaks and is basically just a lump of clay with remarkably expressive eyebrows.
Let’s face it: most kids (and adults) who think animation begins and ends with Pixar and Disney will probably look down on something as old-fashioned as The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It’s hard to explain to people raised on the seamless computer animation of Madagascar or Finding Nemo that cartoons actually begin with the breath of life supplied by human sweat and invention, not to mention human hands.
Not that the aforementioned Pixar cartoons lack a human hand – no, they have tons of hands, and computers, and bazillions of dollars committed to making sure that the "cute" penguins of Madagascar rake in even more bazillions in box office grosses, not to mention bazillions more in fast-food tie-ups and merchandising.
(The penguins from Madagascar, by the way, make a brief appearance in a short film shown before Curse of the Were-Rabbit. They owe more than a little to the criminal-minded penguin in Parks’ The Wrong Trousers. Just ask anybody who’s seen it.)
While we’re at it, I might as well indulge my pet rant against the universal dominance of computer animation. Going through my batch of Disney DVD classics, there’s no doubt in my mind that hand-crafted flicks like Dumbo and Peter Pan will endure a hell of a lot longer than commercial tripe like last year’s A Shark’s Tale. Sure, the human-scaled creations of Nick Parks lack marketing savvy and merchandising muscle. For instance, every year parents are forced to shell out on "theme" parties for the kiddies, and in years past we’ve seen plenty of expensive Finding Nemo, Madagascar and Toy Story setups, but you’re unlikely to ever see a Wallace and Gromit-themed party. Harrumph.
At less than 80 minutes, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is also unlikely to stretch the patience of any three-year-old (though under three might be pushing it a little) And even if my daughter created more terror during the screening than the movie itself did, I felt good about exposing her to old-school animation, something that had been informed with a little heart and soul – and a lot of lovable clay.
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