A Grand Day Out (1989)

Wallace takes a break from trying to decide on a holiday destination only to find he has no cheese for his crackers. The solution to both problems is a trip to the moon, with dog Gromit, because everybody knows the moon's made of cheese.

Director:

Nick Park

Writer:

Nick Park

Stars:

Peter Sallis, Peter Hawkins

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Peter Sallis	...	Wallace (voice)

Storyline

Wallace and Gromit have run out of cheese and this provides an excellent excuse for the animated duo to take their holiday on the moon, where, as everyone knows, there is ample cheese.

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Plot Keywords:

cheese | moon | moon made of cheese | wallace and gromit | picnic on the moon | 

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Taglines:

From the Oscar-winning creator of Creature Comforts.

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Aardman Animations

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 May 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Grand Day Out

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aardman Animations, National Film and Television School (NFTS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

23 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nick Park loosely based Wallace on his own father, who was an incurable tinkerer. He once built from scratch a small trailer the family would take on trips to the beach. Park described it as a living room on wheels, complete with wallpapered interiors and wooden furniture bolted to the floor. Much like the rocket ship in A Grand Day Out.

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Goofs

Wallace paints the same part of the rocket twice.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Wallace: Eeh, these bank holidays. It's a problem to decide. Tell you what, Gromit lad!
[Gromit suddenly awakens]
Wallace: Let's have a nice hot cup of tea, hmm?
[walks out of the room]
Wallace: Kettle should've boiled by now.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits, we see the ball which Wallace kicked continuing to float upwards.

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Alternate Versions

On children's television network, Sprout, scene of the cooker igniting the rocket has been heavily edited. The cooker climbs into the rocket, but we do not see him breaking a pipe, spilling rocket fuel, nor lighting the matches, igniting the rocket. The rocket just blasts off with no explanation.

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Connections

Spoofs The Guns of Navarone (1961)

User Reviews

"It's like no cheese I've ever tasted..."

There is a lot of be admired about the Wallace and Gromit short films. The intricate craftsmanship is always excellent, and you can only imagine how long it must have taken to film even a second of the stop-motion animation. The humour is gentle and family-friendly, and also very British… if that can serve as an adequate description. In this, the first film out of three directed by Nick Park – not including the Oscar-winning feature length film of 2005 – 'A Grand Day Out' is a genuinely entertaining 23 minutes of imagination and creativity, completed over six years by Park, who produced the film as part of his graduation project from the National Film and Television School.

I have heard some remark that the animation in this film is poor, and yet I find myself wondering how they came to this conclusion. Of course, the work may not be as refined as the later additions to the series, given that Park was less experienced and was undoubtedly working on a smaller budget, but the quality is still never anything less than excellent. The story begins on a rather dull banking holiday, and the good-natured Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) is unsuccessfully trying to decide where he and his canine companion Gromit are to spend their day off. Suddenly, Wallace makes a horrifying discovery: their house is completely devoid of dairy products! And so – as anybody might do in such a situation – the pair endeavour to travel to the Moon, which everybody knows is comprised of cheese.

Wallace, being an enthusiastic inventor, casually tosses together a space rocket, and pretty soon they are ready for their big journey. In probably the film's most memorable sequence, Wallace realises, just as the launch countdown is beginning, that they forgot to bring the crackers. Imagine going to the Moon without crackers! However, some quick-thinking and agility from Wallace eventually saves the day, and the pair pass their otherwise uneventful Moon-ward journey by reading the newspaper and building delicate playing card pyramids. Their picnic on the lunar surface offers a hint of imaginative absurdity, with the main storyline concerning a coin-operated gas oven who lives on the Moon, writes out parking tickets and dreams of skiing.

All this makes for a quirky, clever and humorous short film that literally anybody can enjoy. Interestingly, 'A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit' was nominated for Best Animated Short at the 1991 Academy Awards, but failed to take the statue. I don't imagine, however, that Nick Park would have despaired; he lost out to a film called 'Creature Comforts'... directed by Nick Park!