WALLACE & GROMIT CURSE OF THE WERERABBIT (DVD Review) - 26/2/06

• Everything about this film from start to finish is a delight - I cannot heap enough praise on the film and it's makers; from it's superb sets and designs,background details and artistic flourishes it's a sight literally for sore eyes.
  
  

  • What can I say about this film? Apart from it making a great addition to my DVD Collection I would be treading over the ground of a hundred other reviews. It made me laugh and it was everything I expected of it and more. Having seen all the original 3 shorts and then the following "Cracking Contraption's" I knew this would be a winner and it didn't disappoint!

    • The film comes in Dolby Digital 5.1. and is 1 hour and 20 minutes long. The Special Features take up about 2 hours. The film is Subtitled in English and so are all the Special Features as well.

      
      

      • This disc can also be inserted into a DVD-ROM drive for additional features.

        
        
        • These discs also have a Dreamworks Kids selection of Games and Activities: The best in my opinion being the "Anti-Pesto S.W.A.T. Team" game - But you also have 3 other games including "Victor Quartermaine's Guide to Cool", "Style With Lady Tottington" and "Build Your Own Bunny". This (Region 2) Special 2-Disc Collector's Edition also has a Trailer for a new Dreamworks film entitled "Over The Hedge" and also has a Preview Trailer Feature for the new Aardman/Dreamworks "Flushed Away" production plus a selection of Preview Trailers. On the strength of what I saw for both these films it was enough to persuade me to want to see them as soon as I can.
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          • DISC 1: Has the actual feature film and a Commentary from Writers/Directors Steve Box and Nick Park. Deleted Scenes with Additional Commentary. Featurettes: "The History Of Wallace & Gromit". Also an extensive "Behind The Scenes Of The Curse Of The Wererabbit" and "A Day In The Life At Aardman" Studio Tour. We also get a "How To Build A Bunny" feature and "The Family Album" which is a selection of still shots in gallery form covering the films signs, storyboards, Wallace & Gromit's photo album and the most interesting for me which was the Behind The Scenes photos - which just go to show just how big the sets are and how much work and effort is put into a production like this.

            
            
            

            • DISC 2: Has the features - "The Making Of The Wererabbit" a fairly intensive look at the making of the actual wererabbit monster in the film. It also has the 2002 Official Release of "Wallace & Gromit's Cracking Contraption's" 10 animated shorts that have only been released on DVD before through a newspaper promotion and via Fan Club and available nowhere else. These were intended as an animation test run for the feature film which Dreamworks had given the go-ahead for in 2000 and as you can see it took them 5 years to actually complete the film. ( The 10 shorts are: The Soccamatic, The Tellyscope, The Autochef, The Snoozatron, The Turbo Diner, The Bully Proof Vest, The 525 Crackervac, A Christmas Cardomatic, The Snowmanotron and Shopper 13 respectively ) But they have been seen fairly extensively on the web and also available on other releases seperately; and on various advertising promotions, but it's certainly about 20 minutes of excellent animated fun from the comedy duo either way. Also here we have the documentary from the Fan Club release of "The Amazing World Of Wallace & Gromit" a pretty heady retrospective covering Wallace & Gromit up to the present day. We also have Steve Box's bizarre cartoon short "Stage Fright" tacked onto the end of the Special Features on Disc 2. So finally at last Aardman Animation can be forgiven for the waste of time and talent spent on the drivel of "Chicken Run" a woefully unfunny film, and are truely redeemed in the inspired "classic" of "Wallace & Gromit Curse Of The Wererabbit". A film they should have started out with and their most well-known character's; instead of the previous disaster they churned out, presumably at the bequest of their rich American backers. If this 2-Disc set isn't already on a shelf in your house I urge you to dash out and buy one! If you have never seen anything by "Wallace & Gromit" zip out and get their first 3 adventures and then buy the film - It's something you'll not regret and you can watch them all over again time after time - Enjoy!!

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