Wallace & Gromit's Cracking Contraptions

If you want a quick fix of the loveliness that is Wallace and Gromit, then these should do the trick.

Each focusing on a 'cracking contraption' Wallace has dreamed up, these are a lot of fun.

Wallace has his many inventions. He also has his best friend-dog Gromit. His many contraptions often end up cracked.

It is ten short episodes in total, each about three minutes long. It doesn't seem to have been shown individually which is what I expected. Even together, they are only twenty four minutes in total. They do blend together which is a problem. One should really savor each short individually. For those who love Aardman Animations, there is nothing better. That's me. I love these guys and their imaginative work. Of course, it is time-intensive work which probably led them to make shorts.

In a series of very short films, Wallace the inventor demonstrates his newest inventions to his faithful dog Gromit. Some are useful but more often than not they cause more trouble than they're worth. Trouble that usually has to be remedied by Gromit.

Who doesn't like W&G? For at least three Christmas times on the BBC we had a new 30 minute film from them that was always wonderful but now I understand they are working on a full length film they haven't been making them for the BBC anymore. Happily Christmas 2002 was different as they made a series of very short (3 minutes generally) films to be shown randomly throughout the BBC1 schedule. I wasn't able to see all of them but saw a few.

Generally they are clever, witty and to the point - a western-style stand-off between a cracker hoover and Gromit was a nice touch, and there are other examples in each short or their unique touches. It's always pleasing to hear Sallis as Gromit - I enjoy Last of the Summer Wine and Wallace just reminds me so much of Sallis' character in that.

I don't know where you are able to see these shorts. I suspect they will be made into a 30 minute video for sale or will turn up as extras on the DVD of the feature length movie at a later stage. By themselves they are just about worth trying to find - but at 3 minutes they'll be tricky. However spread over the Christmas schedule these were quite refreshing little treats.

I've always gotten a kick out of Wallace's inventions to this collection of 10 two-minute "shorts" was great fun for me. Each one is about a different invention. Most of them, if not all, had flaws but they also worked pretty darn well, too. Regardless, all of them were fun. I laughed at things I saw in all 10 of them.

Not only was the humor outstanding but the DVD picture was great, too, and I used the subtitles to further enjoy listening to the many British expressions our Mad Inventor uses. I just loved everything about this.

Apparently, many of these little stories were made before these two animated characters became famous, first in Britain and now worldwide.

I wouldn't know where the start in picking out my favorites but the first one, with Gromit showing his goaltender skills, was tough to beat. In all of these, Wallace's comments and Gromit's expressions are priceless.

If you own the "Wallace & Gromit Three Major Adventures" DVD, don't pass up these bonus feature.

These Wallace and Gromit short clips were originally broadcast over the BBC web site in 2002, and they featured Wallace demonstrating many different inventions to Gromit. These shorts were developed as a test (and to practice animation) before the full-length film was in production. They used these as a sort of training before making the film.

These short clips were enjoyable and clever in their own right. However, they are not very memorable. The only one that seems to stick with me in any way or form is Wallace and Gromit playing tennis with some sort of automatic tennis player.

Die-hard Wallace and Gromit fans and any fan of this technique of animation would enjoy these, but I would recommend the Wallace and Gromit shorts 'The Wrong Trousers' and 'The Close Shave' to anyone who hasn't seen Wallace and Gromit.