Movies - Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

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	Movies - Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a 2005 Academy Award-winning stop-motion animated film, the first feature-length Wallace and Gromit film. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Animations, and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Nick Park and Steve Box and shot entirely in Britain.

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is in part a parody of the horror genre, and contains many images that parody or pay homage to specific horror films. The directors have oft referred to the film as the world's "first vegetarian horror". Peter Sallis (the voice of Wallace) is joined in the film by Ralph Fiennes (as Lord Victor Quartermaine), Helena Bonham Carter (as Lady Tottington), Peter Kay (as PC Mackintosh), Nicholas Smith (as Rev. Clement Hedges), and Liz Smith (as Mrs. Mulch). Gromit remains silent, communicating only through body language.

Nick Park told an interviewer that after separate test screenings with British and American children, the film was altered to "tone down some of the British accents and make them speak more clearly so the American audiences could understand it all better ."

The vehicle Wallace drives in the new film is an Austin A35 van. In collaboration with Aardman in the spring of 2005, a road going replica of the model was created by brothers Mark and David Armé, founders of the International Austin A30/A35 Register, for promotional purposes. In a 500 man hour customisation, an original 1964 van received a full body restoration before being dented and distressed to perfectly replicate the model van used in the film. The official colour of the van is Preston Green, named in honour of Nick Park's home town. The name was chosen by the Art Director and Mark Armé.

Plot

In the town where Wallace and Gromit live, the annual Giant Vegetable Competition is approaching. All are eager to protect their giant crops until the contest and the duo are cashing in by running a vegetable security and humane pest control business, "Anti-Pesto". However, they are faced with two problems: the first is Wallace's weight problem and the second is the space for the captured rabbits. Wallace comes up with a terrific idea — use his brain alteration-o-matic to brainwash the rabbits, allowing them to run freely without harming everyone's gardens. While performing the operation, he presses the wrong switch and something goes terribly wrong, leaving them with a semi-intelligent rabbit who starts to behave like Wallace and who Wallace names "Hutch". Soon, the town is threatened by the "Were-Rabbit", a giant monster which eats vegetables of any size. Anti-Pesto enters into a rivalry with Lord Victor Quartermaine to capture the Were-Rabbit — and to capture Lady Tottington's heart.

After a hectic nighttime chase, Gromit discovers that the Were-Rabbit is in fact Wallace, suffering from the effects of the accident with the brain alteration-o-matic. Victor corners Wallace during night, but the inventor falls into the path of moonlight, and transforms. Victor, having identified the rabbit, then goes to Reverend Hedges, and gains access to 24-carat gold bullets.

During the final showdown, Victor and Phillip capture Gromit, who subsequently escapes and decides to make the ultimate sacrifice by using his marrow as bait for Wallace, who, in his rabbit form, intrudes the vegetable contest, causing a panic. Victor tries to shoot what is apparently the monster - but Gromit is one step ahead of him. The rampaging rabbit ascends the rooftops, holding a screaming Lady Tottington in his hand. When she discovers it is Wallace, she tells him to run. Meanwhile, in a mid-air dogfight in toy airplanes, Victor's dog Philip is chasing after Gromit. Gromit forces his foe out of the air in a fiery crash and explosion - but Philip manages to hold on to Gromit's plane and the two grapple, before Philip is dropped into a moonwalk.

Atop Tottington Hall, Gromit's toy biplane encircles Wallace, who clings only to the antennae of the top of the building for dear life. Victor fires a shot, but Wallace is saved from being gunned off the top of Tottington Hall when the plane falls into the path of the trophy improvised as a bullet by Victor. Gromit and Wallace high-five, for what, in a few seconds later, looks like the last time. The money in Gromit's biplane runs out. Wallace, loyal to a fault, jumps from the top, grabs the plane, holds it to his chest, and crashes into a tent below. Victor gloats, but is knocked unconscious by Campanula Tottington with a heavy carrot. He falls into the tent too, where Wallace lies dying of his injuries. Gromit dresses Victor up as the monster, and throws him into the midst of an angry mob.

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