Psycho's Movie Reviews #231: Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out (1989)

A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit, later marketed as A Grand Day Out, is a 1989 British stop-motion animated short film starring Wallace and Gromit. It was directed, co-written, and animated by Nick Park at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield and Aardman Animations in Bristol.

The short premiered on 4 November 1989, at an animation festival at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol. It was first broadcast on 24 December 1990, Christmas Eve, on Channel 4. A Grand Day Out is followed by 1993's The Wrong Trousers, 1995's A Close Shave, 2005's The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, 2008's A Matter of Loaf and Death, and many other productions.

The short was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1991, but it lost to Creature Comforts, another stop-motion animated short film made by Nick Park and Aardman Animations, also released in 1989.

Plot

While trying to decide where they will spend their bank holiday, cheese-loving inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit run out of cheese. As "everybody knows the Moon is made of cheese", they decide to build a rocket and fly to the Moon. Upon arrival, they begin sampling and gathering cheese, later encountering a coin-operated robot. Wallace inserts a coin, but nothing happens. After he and Gromit leave, the robot comes to life and gathers the dirty plates left at their picnic spot.

The robot discovers Wallace's skiing magazine, and yearns to travel to Earth to ski for itself. It repairs a broken piece of Moon that Wallace had cut off, issues a parking ticket for the rocket, and becomes annoyed by an oil leakage from the craft. The robot sneaks up on Wallace and prepares to strike him, but the money Wallace inserted runs out, and it freezes. Wallace takes the robot's baton as a souvenir, inserts another coin, and prepares to leave with Gromit and the cheese they have gathered.

Returning to life, the robot realizes Wallace and Gromit can bring it to Earth, and follows them. Wallace panics, and he and Gromit retreat into the rocket. Unable to climb up the ladder, the robot cuts into the fuselage using a can opener. Upon entering the dark engine section of the rocket, it lights a match and accidentally ignites some fuel. The resultant explosion throws it off the rocket, and Wallace and Gromit lift off. Initially distraught at losing its chance to go to Earth, the robot fashions discarded rocket fuselage into skis, and skis across the lunar landscape. It waves goodbye to Wallace and Gromit as they return home.

Production

Nick Park started creating the film in 1982, as a graduation project for the National Film and Television School. In 1985, Aardman Animations took him on before he finished the piece, allowing him to work on it part-time while still being funded by the school. To make the film, Park wrote to William Harbutt's company, requesting 1 long ton (1,000 kg) of Plasticine.

The block he received had ten colours, one of which was called "stone"; this was used for Gromit. Park wanted to voice Gromit, but he realised the voice he had in mind — that of Peter Hawkins — would have been difficult to animate. For Wallace, Park offered Peter Sallis £50 to voice the character, and the actor's acceptance greatly surprised the young animator.

Park wanted Wallace to have a Lancastrian accent like his own, but Sallis could only do a Yorkshire voice. Inspired by how Sallis drew out the word "cheese", Park chose to give Wallace large cheeks. When Park called Sallis six years later to explain he had completed his film, Sallis swore in surprise.

Gromit was named after grommets, because Park's brother, an electrician, often mentioned them, and Nick Park liked the sound of the word. Wallace was originally a postman named Jerry, but Park felt the name did not match well with Gromit. Park saw an overweight Labrador Retriever named Wallace, who belonged to an old woman boarding a bus in Preston. Park commented it was a "funny name, a very northern name to give a dog".

According to the book The World of Wallace and Gromit, original plans were that the film would be forty minutes long, including a sequence where Wallace and Gromit would discover a fast food restaurant on the Moon. Regarding the original plot, Park said: "The original story was that Wallace and Gromit were going to go to the Moon and there were going to be a whole lot of characters there. One of them was a parking meter attendant, which was the only one that remained — the robot cooker character — but there were going to be aliens, and all sorts. There was going to be a McDonald's on the Moon, and it was going to be like a spoof Star Wars. Wallace was going to get thrown into prison and Gromit was going to have to get him out. By the time I came to Aardman, I had just started doing the Moon scene and somebody told me, "It's going to take you another nine years if you do that scene!" so I had to have a check with reality and cut that whole bit out. Somehow, I had to tie up the story on the Moon and finish the film."

Release/Reception/Box Office

The short film was released on VHS in the 1990s by BBC Video. It was also released on DVD in Wallace and Gromit in 3 Amazing Adventures in 2005 by DreamWorks Home Entertainment. In the United States, it was released on DVD in 2009 by Lionsgate VOD and HiT Entertainment. In the United Kingdom, it was again released on DVD in the 2000s.

The short premiered on 4 November 1989 at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol, UK, and premiered in the United States on 18 May 1990. It was also shown on Channel 4 on 24 December 1990 in the UK.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 100% approval rating based on 20 reviews.

In 1991, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, but it lost to the short Creature Comforts, which was also a creation of Nick Park.

Budget £11,000

My Review

By now most people, at least here in Britain, will be familiar with Claymation duo Wallace and Gromit and this is where it all started. Wallace is a Lancastrian man with a taste for cheese and Gromit his dog who actually seems to be the more intelligent of the two.

This isn't the best of the Wallace and Gromit shorts but it is still a lot of fun and does a great job introducing the now familiar characters. The story is fun in a way that can be enjoyed by everybody from young children to the elderly. There is a great inventiveness about the story; I loved the fact that Wallace is an ordinary person; of course it helps that Peter Sallis does such a fine job providing the voice of the character. Gromit is equally good; managing to be a great character without making a sound; the way he is animated brilliantly shows what he is thinking though. Interestingly there is no real antagonist in this story… the machine on the moon isn't really malicious even though it provides a mild level of threat. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to Claymation fans; it is a must see for all fans of Wallace and Gromit of course.

Nick Park has delighted many with his unique creations. Wallace and Gromit is the best of the lot, though Chicken Run is great too. Although this is the weakest offering from them(some of the clay was a bit runny), it is still hilarious. Wallace is superlatively voiced by Peter Sallis, and it is pretty much a one-man show. I loved Gromit, and although he never speaks, his facial expressions are priceless. I loved the idea of Wallace thinking the moon was made of cheese, and the plot never ran out of steam. The scenes on the moon, with the yellow box on wheels, were well done too. in conclusion, although this is the weakest short in terms of quality, the one that started it all is well worth watching. 9/10