68. Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993) – Nick Park
Wallace is used by a criminal penguin in a robbery involving mechanical trousers.
The Wrong Trousers has a running time of only 30 minutes but it is full to the brim of tense and tightly shot set pieces with a Hitchcockian plot and fully developed characters that a 2 hour feature would be envious of. Not one second is wasted in the running time of this film, it’s probably the tighest movie i’ve ever seen.
This time Wallace and Gromit find themselves renting a room out in their home to a lodger, who just happens to be Feathers McGraw, a penguin criminal living undercover who with his expressive eyes is remincient of a silent movie villain.
The Wrong Trousers is the Citizen Kane of stop motion animated film making, it’s the pinaccle of what has been achieved with the medium. The action sequences, character development, tight storytelling and framing in this film is the framework of every stop motion feature that followed.
My favourite scene involves Gromit when he is forced to sleep outside to make room for the new lodger. The music, dramatic staging and heavy rain perfectly convey the thoughts of Gromit, just as the lodger looks out through the window. Superb example of film making of the highest quality…. the show, don’t tell theory.
The Wrong Trousers is my favourite Wallace and Gromit film. It’s got the best plot and is a much tighter and more coherent film than their more recent adventures.
4 Comments
LOL You are thoroughly British, Matthew :)
I cannot believe this is replacing some other movie on your eventual list. LOL
As a matter of fact i’m normally quite outspoken about my hatred for British movies… usually I think they are terrible.
We use to be good at making films but that time pasted decades ago, although occasionaly something like Wallace and Gromit comes along which is GREAT but it doesnt happen often.
American TV drama’s kick our asses too with Lost, Deadwood, The Soprano’s, 24 and so many others being far superior than what we have to offer.
If there is one thing I think we are better than you guys at, it’s sitcom comedy. Our sitcoms are way smarter/more intelligent and deeper than yours but it’s just a shame that stuff like The Office, Extra’s, League of Gentlemen and classics like Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and Steptoe and Son only get a small number of episodes compared to your at least 20 episodes a season model.
I didn’t mean that to turn into an essay! lol
Matt, you are absolutely right. American television, with a few exceptions, has always been a few steps behind the British.
Except when it comes to reality television. Man, do we ever have you guys beat there!!!!!
-puke-