Psycho's Movie Reviews #233: Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave (1995)

A Close Shave is a 1995 British stop-motion animated comedy film directed by Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations in association with Wallace and Gromit Ltd., BBC Bristol and BBC Children's International. It is the third film featuring the eccentric duo Wallace and Gromit, following A Grand Day Out (1989) and The Wrong Trousers (1993). In A Close Shave, Wallace and Gromit uncover a plot to rustle sheep by a sinister dog.

Like The Wrong Trousers, it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. A Close Shave has the first appearance of the character Shaun, who would later be the protagonist of the Shaun the Sheep spin-off television series and two feature films.

Plot

Inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit operate a window cleaning business. Wallace falls for wool shopkeeper Wendolene Ramsbottom, unaware that her sinister dog, Preston, rustles sheep to supply the shop. Discovering a lost sheep has wandered into and made a mess of the house, Wallace places him into his Knit-o-Matic, which bathes and shears sheep and knits the wool into sweaters. Preston appears and steals the machine's blueprints, as Wallace names his new pet Shaun.

Gromit becomes suspicious of Preston when he sees a lorry full of sheep behind Wendolene's shop. Preston captures Gromit, and frames him for the sheep rustling. Gromit is placed in prison, while Wallace's house is inundated with the freed sheep. Wallace and the sheep break Gromit out of prison, and hide out in the countryside. Wendolene and Preston arrive in a lorry to round up the sheep. When Wendolene rebels against Preston, demanding he stop the rustling, he locks her in the lorry with the sheep and drives away, intent on turning them into dog food.

Wallace and Gromit give chase on their motorcycle. When Gromit's sidecar detaches, he activates its aeroplane mode and resumes the chase from the air. Wallace becomes trapped in the lorry, and he, Wendolene and the sheep are transported to Preston's factory, where Preston has built a replica of the Knit-o-Matic. The captives are loaded into the machine's wash basin, but Shaun escapes. Shaun activates the factory's neon sign to reveal its location to Gromit, who breaks into the factory and attacks Preston. Shaun sucks Preston into the Knit-o-Matic, where his fur is removed. Wendolene reveals that Preston is actually a robot created by her deceased inventor father, but has malfunctioned from his original programming and turned evil.

When Preston becomes blinded after the Knit-o-Matic dresses him in a sweater made from his fake fur, he inadvertently hits the controls, and the group become poised to fall into a mincing machine. Shaun pushes Preston into the machine, jamming it and crushing him. Gromit is exonerated, and Wallace rebuilds Preston as a harmless remote-controlled dog. When Wendolene visits, Wallace invites her to have some cheese and crackers, but she declines due to a dairy allergy. As a disheartened Wallace decides to help himself, he finds Shaun eating the cheese, much to his chagrin.

Reception/Box Office

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a perfect score of 100%, based on 20 reviews.

Budget £1.3 million

My Review

This is the third Wallace & Gromit short. As you'd expect, the quality of the character design is greatly improved from the first Wallace & Gromit short. Instead of the Claymation, soft plastic figures that are poseable are used instead. Additionally, the sets are much more complex and detailed. Now this isn't to say that the stuff in the earlier films is bad--far from it. It's just that with each successive project, the artistry improves.

The only complaint I have about this delightful film, and it's a minor one, is that by this third short, the story has become a lot more fanciful and action-packed. In this film, less time is spent being laid-back and gentle (as well as very English) and Gromit even gets to fight against a cyborg dog! But, in spite of this, the film still works very well. Additionally, if you watch this film and the later full-length movie, WALLACE & GROMIT AND THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT, you'll see that there are some similarities in the stories. The dog is pretty similar as is his owner to the lady in the full-length film. Again, these really aren't complaints as much as observations.

It boggles the mind to imagine these stop motion, Claymation delights can even be made. This is another story where Wallace bumbles around, putting the onus on Gromit to save the day. While Gromit does all the work, Wallace flirts with a lady he is taken with. Earlier, a sad little sheep has escaped from a truckload of other sheep. He ends up at the home of Wallace and Gromit and begins to eat everything is sight. He literally destroys their house, but they are compassionate and take pity on the destructive little guy. Eventually, they get in the middle of the rustling scheme and face off against a "cyber" dog.

Wallace and Gromit has proved that over the years, they can still entertain. This episode is not quite as funny as Wrong Trousers, but there was never a dull moment. I loved the love subplot with Wendolene and Wallace, and it never distracted from the story, otherwise it would have gone downhill. Shaun the Sheep is so cute as himself, and Gromit proves his facial expressions are still funny. I loved Wendolene and Preston, but my favourite in this episode were the sheep. That scene with the motorcycle pursuing the van, and the sheep on the ladder, was priceless. Another funny scene was the jailbreak, when Wallace slips on the soap, and the sheep come crashing down on him. There is a touch of heartbreak here also, as you feel so sorry for Gromit. In conclusion, a brilliant short and a must see! 10/10