A Close Shave (1995)

Wallace falls for Wendolene, a wool shop owner, while Gromit is framed for the sheep rustling.

Director:

Nick Park

Writers:

Bob Baker, Nick Park

Stars:

Peter Sallis, Anne Reid, Justin Fletcher

Won 1 Oscar. Another 18 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Peter Sallis	...	Wallace (voice)
Anne Reid	...	Wendolene (voice)

Storyline

When Wallace and Gromit go over to wash windows, Wallace falls in love with a wool store owner named Wendolene. Meanwhile, Gromit is framed for killing sheep and is put in jail. So with help from the sheep and Wendolene, Wallace must get him out of prison.

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Plot Keywords:

sheep rustling | surrealism | innocence | animal that acts human | knitting | 

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Taglines:

From the Oscar-winning creator of A Grand Day Out and The Wrong Trousers.

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Genres:

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

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Aardman Animations

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 December 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Läheltä piti

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aardman Animations,BBC Bristol,Wallace & Gromit

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo (as Dolby Stereo)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first Wallace and Gromit film where Wallace's is not the only voice.

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Goofs

The porridge gun shoots at Wallace, and some of it lands on the wall. In the next shot, the porridge is gone.

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Quotes

Sign on wall of wool shop: [there's a wool shortage] WOOL RATIONING TWO BALLS PER PERSON

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Crazy Credits

After the credits and the Aardman logo is shown, we hear sheep bleating.

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Connections

Spoofs Batman (1989)

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Soundtracks

Wallace and Gromit Theme
(uncredited)

User Reviews

The Best Yet......

Of all the W&G films A Close Shave is by far the best of all. Not only is the animation far more polished & detailed than its earlier predecessors, A Grand Day Out (1992) and The Wrong Trousers ('93). But in addition the story is far more engaging, light & humourous compared to the darker more mechanical nature of TWT (my least favourite of the three).

For the first time, A Close Shave introduces an extra dimension to the W&G pairing, in the form of Wendolene, a lady woolshop owner who Wallace falls in love with when both he & Gromit clean her shop windows.

With the addition of a female into the story we are given a little more character development concerning Wallace. The previous two stories only centred around his self-serving interests in cheese, inventions, making money and relying on his pet pooch to get him out of sticky situations. But in ACS we are offered a more rounded perspective of his personal life and his keeness to have a woman sharing his home at long last.

As the film progresses the relationship between the couple grows, in spite of all the dangers & hazards that they face along the way. And by the end of the film we are left on tenterhooks as to whether Wendolene will finally move in with W&G for good!

So not only is the animation and attention to detail significantly improved over TWT but so too is the characterisation and storyline. The voice of Wallace, Peter Sallis, is dependable & easy on the ear, even though he doesn't have much to say compared to the previous films.

But it is to Gromit where the real plaudits lie. Because he can't speak (or bark apparently!) we have to rely on his facial expression to understand how he feels & reacts to those around him. Because of the wonderful attention to animated detail Nick Park and his crew have spent, we can connect & relate very easily to Gromit's body language, especially within his eyes. I don't think I've ever seen such wonderful expressions since Laurel & Hardy. In fact the next time you have the benefit of seeing a L&H film take note of Ollie's facial expressions to-camera and you'll understand the comparison between him & Gromit.

Its now 6 years since the last W&G installment and it is to be hoped that Nick Park will do another follow up. I only hope he doesn't rely on lifeless cgi for his animation technique. On average it took NP between 2 to 3 years for each of the W&G episodes. But it was worth the wait. However, the Dreamworks Studio to which NP is affiliated, may not like having to wait such a long time for the next installment to be made, a may insist on using computer animation rather than clay to speed the production process up somewhat.

Chicken Run (2000), NP's first full-feature movie in conjunction with Dreamworks was, on the whole, ok. But the story seemed so formulaic & safe that you just knew the studio had "influenced" the production more than NP would have liked. And as a result you get a bland film built on hype. So I only hope the next W&G doesn't follow the same route otherwise the entire W&G franchise will be ruined for the sake of the mighty dollar yet again.

****/*****