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Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (G)
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This came out in October 2005, but I didn't see it until June 2014. (I've actually had the DVD for a couple years, and I was thinking of watching it sometime around Halloween in 2012 and then 2013, but somehow didn't get around to it.) It features the characters Wallace & Gromit, who were already pretty well-known from a series of short films, starting in 1989. Anyway, I'm really glad I finally watched the movie, because it's terribly funny. I mean, for the most part it's a mildly amusing story that parodies old horror films, but there are lots of ridiculous puns and gags peppered throughout it, which are kind of awesome.

So... Wallace is a British inventor who loves cheese. Gromit is his loyal dog, who doesn't speak or even bark, but he's still funny because, of course, you can tell what he thinks about all the absurd things Wallace (and pretty much all humans) do. Anyway, in this film, the two of them have a pest control service called "Anti-Pesto," so they often have to capture rabbits that are trying to eat the vegetables of all the townsfolk. And the town is preparing for its annual Giant Vegetable Competition, which is to be held at the estate of the wealthy Lady Tottington. Meanwhile, Tottington has a suitor named Victor, who obviously just wants her money (not that he needs it). But Tottington doesn't like the fact that Victor wants to shoot all the rabbits; she prefers the humane methods of Anti-Pesto. Which, of course, makes Victor jealous.

Well... Gromit has put Wallace on an all-vegetable diet, which Wallace doesn't like. So he invents a contraption to brainwash himself into liking vegetables instead of cheese. He also has a machine like a giant vacuum cleaner, which he used to suck up all the rabbits on Lady Tottington's estate. One day, he gets the idea to combine the two inventions, to make the rabbits stop liking vegetables. And he powers the hybrid contraption with moonlight. Soon after that, a huge rabbit monster starts rampaging through town, eating everyone's vegetables each night. So of course, Wallace and Gromit have to try to catch this "were-rabbit." There are a number of secondary characters, the most important being the local vicar, who seems to know a great deal about monsters.

Anyway, I feel like saying any more about the plot would spoil things unnecessarily, so I won't. I did find it fairly predictable, at least the main plot point. But there were lots of little details I couldn't possibly have predicted, which make the movie a great deal of fun to watch. Oh, and one of the bonus features on the DVD is the 1997 short film Stage Fright (which is also from Aardman Animations, but doesn't involve Wallace & Gromit).


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