Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers

'Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers' is a highly enjoyable claymation tale about an inventor man and his dog companion, who happens to be smarter than the man himself. This tale involves a rogue penguin with an evil plan involving Wallace and Gromit and his inventions.

This is a warming tale about friendship and realistic characters, and children are sure to enjoy the imagination behind the story and the claymation and humour. Adults are also sure to love the same on a higher level. It's rare in a film to find a tale enjoyable to both children and adults, but 'The Wrong Trousers' succeeds in this.

This is a charming little short film, and it should be watched and enjoyed by all. Highly recommended.

Nick Park's hysterical plasticine duo Wallace and Gromit are back in this, their second outing, pitting themselves against the plotting penguine whose devious nature is taking advantage of Wallace's niavity. However, the ever suspicious Gromit is seeing through the Penguine's frosty exterior and sets out to uncover his secret scheming shadowy plan. The Wrong Trousers is the best so far from Peter Lord and Nick Park, putting even the outstanding Chicken Run and Close Shave in it's shadow. The characterisation is simply electrical. The ever suffering but mute Gromit and the clumsy well meaning Wallace muddle their way to stopping a truely outstanding criminal genius penguine (whose pesona is portrayed with such subtlety and effect that the cute bird becomes the very essence of evil). Park and Lord's pace and cinematography in this animation medium are truely world leading, climaxing in the mad mayhem of a train-set chase through their house. The plot is simple yet full of nuances and details (check out the headline's on Wallace's newspaper and the wall paper in Gromit's bedroom)raising this above even the best that that big studios can produce. A film almost without fault which pays homage to the greatest and most farciscal works of the great Ealing comedy era (there is something sinister happening but, it isn't that sinister really). Watch this film and let the quality and clarity of the humour seep into your soul. A true mile-stone of animation which deserved it's oscar like no other animation ever will.

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.

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

If you had told me that sitting for 30 minutes watching bits of clay would be entertaining, I would have said you were mad.

But you would have been right.

Thanks, Nick Park, for making this old man feel like a kid again.