Is there a double act as beloved as Wallace and Gromit?
Certainly not ones made of plasticine. The most British of British institutions, the Northern inventor and his loyal pooch have been a cultural mainstay for decades now – ever since their first film was released in 1989. Since then, their creator Nick Park has gone onto win Oscars, build a Shaun the Sheep empire and send the pair to battle thieving penguins, were-rabbits and Wallace’s own inventions.
With the most recent (titled Vengence Most Fowl) set to make it debut on our screens this Christmas, what better time to rank the Wallace and Gromit oeuvre once and for all? Here they are, in descending order – and including the Shaun the Sheep spinoffs, naturally.
Cracking Contraptions (2002)
Okay, it’s not so much a film as a series of animated skits, but it’s still pretty adorable. Released in the run-up to Curse of the Were-Rabbit, these ten shorts basically showcase a series of Wallace’s inventions going wrong. There’s an automated goal-scorer (complete with gorgeous old football boots), a malfunctioning Autochef and a ‘Bully-Proof Vest’ which boasts a spring-loaded glove for punching ne’er do wells. There’s no plot, but golly it’s fun to watch.
Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019)
The Shaun franchise rolls relentlessly onward – and with animals this cute, who can blame Aardman for eking every last penny out of it? The sequel to the (far superior) Shaun movie sees a blue-and-purple alien bunny named Lu-La crash land on Soggy Bottom Farm. Naturally, the Farmer creates a brand new theme park (Farmageddon) to capitalise on his new guests’ notoriety, and soon after that, the Feds get involved. It’s all harmless fun, if a little toothless.
A Grand Day Out (1989)
The very first film in the Wallace-verse, and hoo boy, it shows. Created by Nick Park fresh out of film school, it ultimately lost out to Aardman’s own Creature Comforts at the 1991 Oscars – but A Grand Day Out is just as good as its zoo-based counterpart. The plot is simple (the pair take off for the moon, and battle a gas cooker), but from the start, all the hallmarks are there. Wallace is an inventor, Gromit his loyal (and smarter) hound; the cinematic references are subtle and knowing, and the Northern location and humour built into the bones of the film. And if the figurines are slightly more rough-hewn than the polished plasticine models of years gone by, that’s all part of the charm.
A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008)
Despite being only 29 minutes long, this little gem packs a hefty punch. Once again, Wallace is looking for love – and his swerve into bakery takes him to the door of Piella Bakewell, a former pin-up girl for the Bake-O-Lite company. Unfortunately, their budding romance is doomed from the start: turns out, Piella is actually a serial killer who’s been offing all the other bakers in the area. With his new company, Wallace is next on the list. The gags never stop coming in this one – a scene featuring an unexploded bomb being put down Wallace’s trousers and packed with dough is a highlight. It’s an Aardman take on the murder-mystery genre, and it’s utterly delicious
Shaun the Sheep The Movie (2015)
After Shaun stole the nation’s hearts in A Close Shave – and went to star in his own spin-off TV show – is it any surprise that a film soon followed? Sweet and good-natured, it sees Shaun and the herd head to The Big City to rescue their Farmer, who has had a bump on the head and lost his memory. What’s even more impressive is that it manages to capture and hold our attention for a full 90 minutes, despite there only being one or two lines of dialogue in the entire thing. Watch out for the baa-baa shop quartet.
A Close Shave (1995)
A scariest of the Wallace and Gromit offerings? I certainly remember cowering behind the sofa as we watched this. The first film to introduce us to the concept of Wallace’s love life, A Close Shave also introduces us to Shaun, the cute lil’ sheep who steals the show and runs off with it. We also get an iconic sequence featuring a lorry, a motorbike (and flying sidecar) and the truly terrifying robot dog Preston. And yet, there’s still a lot of heart here, and the ending is surprisingly tragic for an upbeat animation. Naturally, it won an Oscar.
The Wrong Trousers (1993)
The best of the older Wallace offerings – not that there’s much between them. But how can you argue with the wonderfully villainous Feathers McGraw: a diamond-stealing penguin who wears a rubber glove on his head? Or Wallace getting stuck inside a pair of pneumatic trousers, much to Gromit’s dismay? And that fever-dream sequence that is the final scene, with Gromit laying down track during a model train chase sequence with the villain at the film’s climax. Pure cinematic perfection.
Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
The best of the best. Aardman’s first full-length film took them decades to create, and the result is 85 minutes of delirious joy. A spoof of classic monster movies, Were-Rabbit sees Wallace’s brain fused with that of a rabbit when an experiment goes wrong. Suddenly, he has a taste for carrots and a tendency to turn into a massive monster bunny when the moon is out. Of course, it’s up to Gromit to save the day, via some wonderfully inventive chase scenes and some “24-carrot” bullets. The voice acting – featuring appearances by Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham-Carter – is top notch. And the gag rate is truly astounding: perfection.
