The Return of Wallace and Gromit 149
blamanj writes "Aardman Studios have release the first peek (Quicktime) at the new Wallace & Gromit film, Curse of the Wererabbit. Currently scheduled for an October release, the slightly-less-than dynamic duo will be putting their talents to work chasing a were-rabbit that threatens the town's vegetables. Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter supply lead vocals. Character creator Nick Park co-directs his story."
Cor! (Score:5, Informative)
I thought for a mo that they were taking over for the venerable Peter Sallis [imdb.com], the familiar voice of Wallace. I don't need shocks like that!
your's truly will provide the voice of gromit
Re:Cor! (Score:2)
Re:Cor! (Score:1)
Re:Cor! (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure it was his voice I heard doing some narration at the beginning of Lord of the Rings.
-- Steve
Re:Cor! (Score:1)
I thought for a mo that they were taking over for the venerable Peter Sallis, the familiar voice of Wallace.
Yes, Helena Bonham Carter would make an awful Wallace.
This is disgusting (Score:5, Funny)
Firstly, the term is "differently abled". Secondly, who the hell does Nick Park think he is, enforcing bigoted ablecentric paradigms that reinforce stereotypes of helplessness and dependency?
Re:This is disgusting (Score:2, Funny)
Sean the Sheep (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Sean the Sheep (Score:1)
Damn blondness...
Re:Sean the Sheep (Score:4, Interesting)
I've met Nick Park - he's from the same town as me (Preston, England) and when I was at the local college he came to talk to the students. He's the worlds most utterly boring talker, but was playing with plasticine while he talked and would occasionally throw a fully-formed Wallace or Gromit into the crowd. Anyways, my name is Sean, i'm from Preston, he named it after me dagnabbit!
Re:Sean the Sheep (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Sean the Sheep (Score:2)
Re:Sean the Sheep (Score:1)
Re:Sean the Sheep (Score:2, Interesting)
I just can't tell with the accent, Shaun and Shorn are about the same in British English.
Re:Sean the Sheep (Score:2)
I was thinking it was a joke I just didn't get...Like Ford Perfect...I mean Prefect.
Re:Sean the Sheep (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.motorbase.com/vehicle/by-id/1257/
When he arrived on the planet some fifteen years ago, the minimal research he had done suggested to him that the name 'Ford Prefect' would be nicely inconspicuous.
If you ever meet someone named Dodge Caravan, be very suspicious.
Re:Sean the Sheep (Score:3, Funny)
In demonstrating one of the games's more interesting features....well, the short of it is that he won't be involved in this or anything else in the future.
Re:Sean the Sheep (Score:1)
Re:SHAUN the Sheep (Score:2)
I guess really though I'm more like Grommit in real life. I suppose being Shaun might be considered an aspirational thing if you're Grommit.
Re:SHAUN the Sheep (Score:1)
You want more Shaun? You got it! (Score:2)
Looks Great (Score:5, Informative)
Full Trailer... (Score:1, Informative)
I think... (Score:5, Funny)
(you do realize this is a joke, right?)
Re:I think... (Score:1)
You mean Feathers McGraw? As in
Inexplicably it was Shaun that made a big hit as a toy.Re:I think... (Score:3, Funny)
Penguins are evil!
Re:I think... (Score:2)
All too [fluble.com] true [fluble.com].
Daniel
Slashdot apple? (Score:1)
Re:I think... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I think... (Score:2, Insightful)
If I weren't an AC I'd mod you overrated for that. Dear slashdotters, could you please stop spoiling each and every joke?
I know, I know, by not doing so you run the risk of being modded troll or a flamebait, but that's part of the game. People will never learn it if they're being spoonfed all the time.
Mod parent up? (Score:2)
So, they're chasing Bunnicula? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So, they're chasing Bunnicula? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:So, they're chasing Bunnicula? (Score:5, Informative)
Bunnicula drained vegetable of their color, he didn't really eat them!
Re:So, they're chasing Bunnicula? (Score:5, Funny)
The penguin will rule them all!
Re:So, they're chasing Bunnicula? (Score:3, Funny)
One Penguin to find them all, One Penguin to bring them,
One Penguin to Rule them all, and in the darkness bite them.
Re:So, they're chasing Bunnicula? (Score:1)
Re:So, they're chasing Bunnicula? (Score:2)
Bah, I'm just upset that I didn't get there first.
Re:So, they're chasing Bunnicula? (Score:2)
Re:So, they're chasing Bunnicula? (Score:1)
Ahhhhh, bonghits and cartoons.... why? what did you do in college?
Mmm... Helena.... (Score:5, Funny)
I would watch her read a telephone book on film.
Then buy the DVD too.
Oh yeah. I eagerly await the new W & G flick too!!!
Re:Mmm... Helena.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Mmm... Helena.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Mmm... Helena.... (Score:2)
mnb Re:Mmm... Helena.... (Score:2, Funny)
Kenneth Branagh 1994-1999 (after Frankenstein)
Tim Burton 2001-current (after Planet of the Apes)
She's been quite the homewrecker as of late.
(wish she'd wreck mine!)
Re:mnb Re:Mmm... Helena.... (Score:2)
Tim Burton is my favorite director, but I nearly after Planet of the Apes... worst movie by Tim Burton ever. And the ending just drug down the movie even more
Hope you've got a good imagination.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Mmm... Helena.... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Mmm... Helena.... (Score:1)
Trailer... (Score:5, Informative)
I'd much rather go see this movie (Score:2)
No wonder culture is in the dumps.
Re:I'd much rather go see this movie (Score:1)
Have you actually seen "The Pacifier"? My girlfriend and I took her little brother and sister to it, and I thought it was pretty good. To each one's own, I suppose.
Contrary to common misconception.. (Score:2, Funny)
real men watch W&G
Re:Contrary to common misconception.. (Score:1)
I'll just have to get out my leia costume and wait for ep III now.....;)
Re:I'd much rather go see this movie (Score:1, Insightful)
Trailer is also out (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Trailer is also out (Score:1, Informative)
Hardly "slightly-less-than dynamic" (Score:5, Funny)
And secondly, they are made of clay. It doesn't get much more dynamic than that. :P
Finally, good non-CG animation (Score:5, Interesting)
W&G is such a nice break from the (albeit quite good) CG animation movies of the past few years. Claymation requires so much handwork and attention to detail, that there are very few people who can do it, let alone do it well. The folks at Pixar et al are great at what they do, and they put in a lot of detail... but the computer rendering is also responsible for a bunch of the look. Here you have straight-up, old-fashioned hard work, care, and love on the part of the animators.
Re:Finally, good non-CG animation (Score:5, Insightful)
The visual presentation means a lot, but any truly great feature is made truly great by fantastic writing, characters and voices.
Both Pixar and the W&G crew have these going for them.
Re:Finally, good non-CG animation (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Finally, good non-CG animation (Score:3, Informative)
www.vinton.com. Sadly, he seems to have abandoned
the "clay" part of it, after being a pioneer in it.
Re:Finally, good non-CG animation (Score:2, Funny)
For claymation, I highly recommend Celebrity Deathmatch [mtv.com], particularly the older episodes with the de facto king (or is it queen?) of CDM, Marilyn Manson.
Re:Finally, good non-CG animation (Score:4, Insightful)
You sound like someone who hasn't watched the "behind the scenes" DVDs from the Lord of the Rings series (particularly ROTK). Holy crap, digital effects take a huge load of hard work, care, and love, too.
Re:Finally, good non-CG animation (Score:2)
Re:Finally, good non-CG animation (Score:2)
If you haven't seen the Wallace & Gromit shorts, please don't judge the W&G movie based on the dreadful and boring Chicken Run. The Wrong Trousers is one of the all-time great short films, and it and the other shorts are well worth the rental fees.
Let's hope the W&G feature has more in common with Trousers than Chicken.
Re:Finally, good non-CG animation (Score:3, Interesting)
W&G first-timers (Score:5, Interesting)
We saw a short introduction (featuring a typical Wallace & Gromit contraption cracking an egg), then the first episode came and went. Then the intro started again, and the murmurs started. The third round saw louder mutterings. By the fifth round, there was scattered applause and mild catcalls. At seven or eight, many of the kids could be heard saying "why are they showing that again?" By the time the tenth episode came on the screen, there was general laughter from the entire crowd. When an 11th episode failed to appear, in favor of a longer Nick Park feature (Dogs & Cats, or something like that), I believe there was applause.
Several years ago, the early Simpsons shorts (from the Tracy Ullman show, before the series even started) were sprinkled throughout the Animation Celebration program. I still wonder if the organizers put the W&G shorts back-to-back just for artistic effect.
Re:W&G first-timers (Score:3, Informative)
A great series of shorts. The theme got to be a bit much after the 5th or 6th time, however...
There was also a Wallace and Gromit videogame for the PS2. That was available in the US. Fun, but the controls took a bit to get
Re:W&G first-timers (Score:2)
It looks like you can find them online [wallaceandgromit.com], courtesy of the BBC.
actual quicktime links (Score:4, Informative)
http://movies.apple.com/movies/dreamworks/wallace
http://movies.apple.com/movies/dreamworks/wallace
Ready for Their Close-Up (Score:4, Insightful)
Proper site... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Proper site... (Score:2)
Haven't slashdotted Apple? (Score:1, Offtopic)
I have a solution to the were-bunny problem ... (Score:1, Funny)
Hasta be said .. (Score:2)
Oh sorry, that's "Woo! Yay!" I'm just too excited.
W&G DVDs (Score:2, Interesting)
Maybe it'll include the 10 shorts, that were developed in order for the animation team to get comfortable with the characters, as well.
Have there been any rumblings about a DVD release?
Re:W&G DVDs (Score:2)
They're not movies as such, just shorts... you get all of them in one DVD.
how stuff works! (Score:1)
Cooler than Dogbert (Score:2)
Mmmmm - I smell... (Score:2)
ok ,call your bluff... (Score:1)
that can't be right (Score:1)
Their 'Wallace and Gromit' cheese is white too, not yellow.
Oh I got it: movie language. Cheese becomes more cheesy if it has holes.
Oh, and fruitcakes and Wensleydale go together well. Smashing, innit?
*Cheeeeese* (Score:2, Funny)
Priorities! (Score:1)
My most anticipated movie of the year (Score:1)
It's a bit weird (Score:2)
Re:It's a bit weird (Score:5, Interesting)
He always was! I've read an interview with him, where he said that Grommit is his plasticine alter ego. "Grand Day Out" was Nick Park's reflection on a real event from his own childhood, when his father has built a homebrew caravan and took his family on a trip. His father was very proud of himself, but for young Nick, it was more of a traumatic experience - the caravan was largely built of cardboard and general junk and young Nick felt very insecure. He portrayed his father as a crazy inventor, who builds a junk space rocket and takes his dog on a trip - ignoring all the possible perils (all too obvious to the poor, scared dog).
Just a side note: hobbyists often ignore how annoying their passion can be to their families. I wonder how many fellow slashdotters repeated the mistake of Mr Park senior. They said to their significant other (or their children): "Look! This is a computer I made using power supply from an old refrigerator, defunct playstation, keyboard from electric typewriter and screen from our old TV-set, all running a custom-compiled version of BSD! Ain't that cool?". And they fail to see a clear message in the eyes of their families: "why can't we just buy something normal like everyone else?".
If it happened with SpongeBob (Score:2, Funny)
hilarious (Score:1)
It's on Slashdot because... (Score:3, Funny)
Peter Kay - PC McIntosh
[rimshot]
The question is, will it be Apple or McDonalds that sues over the choice of name?
Also: Creature Comforts on Comedy Central (Score:3, Interesting)
larry
Re:Cinema? (Score:3, Funny)
Speak for yourself, loser. Personally, I try to go to films twice if the media company who makes it is evil, simply to off-set the impact of your boycott.
Back on topic:
Wallace and Grommit never did much for me, but "Chicken Run" was such a hilarious movie that I'm willing to give it another chance when the new film comes out.
Re:Cinema? (Score:5, Funny)
We'll make an exception. It'll make for A Grand Day Out, especially if I remember to have A Close Shave and don't wear The Wrong Trousers.
And then... (Score:2)
Re:Cinema? (Score:1)
Re:WTF??? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Bill Gates has the wrong trousers on... (Score:1)
Also Chevron Gas (Score:2)