Coming from the mind of Nick Park, a Lancashire animator who drew sketches of them throughout his youth, the two most famous icons in stop-motion animation history, Wallace and Gromit, are considered to be Britain’s equivalent to Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny. Although their first short, A Grand Day Out, was originally intended to be Park’s graduation project from the National Film and Television School, Aardman Animations, a British animation studio founded by Peter Lord and David Sproxton in 1972, were so impressed by Park’s work, that they offered to help him finish it, in exchange for a full-time career at Aardman.
Since then, Wallace and Gromit have become global icons with their four shorts, two feature films, merchandise, commercials and spin-off television shows. (one of which, Shaun the Sheep, became its own franchise). This ranking will cover the former two examples, the shorts and the films, and rank the adventures of 62 West Wallaby Street’s famous residents, from least good to best, as these characters have never had a bad time, unlike most of Wallace’s inventions and chances at romance..
6. A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008)
Directed by: Nick Park
Written by: Nick Park and Bob Baker
Starring: Peter Sallis, Ben Whitehead and Sally Lindsay
Music by: Julian Nott
Rated: PG
Wallace (Peter Sallis) and Gromit have now taken new jobs as bakers, despite the whole of Yorkshire being caught up a murder crime wave involving dead bakers. When Wallace falls in love again, this time with the ex-mascot for the Bake-Oh-Lite company, Piella Bakewell (Sally Lindsay), Gromit soon makes a frightening discovery about his master’s new girlfriend, and must team up with her traumatised poodle, Fluffles, in order to save Wallace from becoming Piella’s “baker’s dozen”….
While not as good as the previous shorts due to the romance formula that was established in A Close Shave, starting to get stale, A Matter of Loaf and Death is still a very funny and entertaining adventure for Aardman’s famous characters.
Going back to the British gags that defined the first three short films (rather than trying too hard to appeal to American audiences, at least according to Nick Park regarding his experiences working with DreamWorks Animation for Curse of the Were-Rabbit), Loaf and Death also manages to give Gromit his own adorable love story with Fluffles the poodle. While not as memorable as the likes of Feathers or Preston, Piella Bakewell manages to be one of the cruelest and most realistic antagonist of the franchise, especially in her cruelty to her poor dog, making it fitting that she has the darkest fate of Aardman’s entire collection of villains.
Overall, A Matter of Loaf and Death is a fitting conclusion to Peter Sallis’s time as the voice of Wallace, and an adorable and funny story on its own terms.
Rating: 3.5/5
5. A Grand Day Out (1989)
Directed by: Nick Park
Written by: Nick Park and Steve Rushton
Starring: Peter Sallis
Music by: Julian Nott
Rated: U
While trying to decide what to do with their bank holiday and having run out of cheese, Wallace (Peter Sallis), a Yorkshire inventor, decides to build a rocket to travel to the moon and get more cheese. Alongside his intelligent dog, Gromit, Wallace soon embarks on an unforgettable day out, where an annoyed space cooker, soon gets mixed into their antics…
Developed as a student film in the early 1980s by a young Lancashire animator named Nick Park, based on sketches of characters that he often drew, A Grand Day Out, would eventually be picked up by British Animation Studio, Aardman, where Nick would eventually be hired to work on the Sledgehammer music video and Creature Comforts.
While Wallace and Gromit aren’t as well defined as they would be in the later shorts and films of Aardman’s most famous franchise, their quirky moments and Peter Sallis’s iconic voice for the former, does give this short, a lot of the charm that would define their popularity.
Overall, some of the short film’s sequences don’t gel well together in scenes where Wallace and Gromit randomly change character designs in between shots, especially with Wallace’s head. However, A Grand Day Out is still a fantastic start to the care of two of the most popular characters in British animation.
Rating: 4/5
4. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
Directed by: Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham
Written by: Mark Burton
Starring: Ben Whitehead, Peter Kay, Lauren Patel, Reece Shearsmith and Diane Morgan
Music by: Julian Nott and Lorne Balfe
Rated: U
Getting into a habit of inventing loads more stuff than usual, Cheese-loving inventor, Wallace (Ben Whitehead) annoys his best friend, Gromit, when his latest invention, a “smart-gnome” named Norbert (Reece Shearsmith), starts doing all of Gromit’s work, even though the lovable dog loves doing things himself. After Gromit accidentally plugs Norbert into a computer, it soon catches the attention of his and Wallace’s old nemesis, Feathers McGraw. the criminal chicken (penguin), from The Wrong Trousers, who seeks “Vengeance most fowl” after spending years of imprisonment at the zoo…
After making two sequels in a row with Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget for Netflix, Aardman Animations have decided to go back to their most famous franchise for their third sequel in five years. Although the creator of everyone’s favourite inventor and dog duo, Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park previously stated that there would be no more feature-length films, due to clashes with DreamWorks Animation during production of the duo’s first movie, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, feeling that they worked best in commercials and shorts such as 2008’s A Matter of Loaf and Death and the tragic death of Wallace’s voice actor, Peter Sallis in 2017, the company’s recent success in their distribution deal with Netflix, would eventually lead them back to 62 West Wallaby Street, almost two decades after Were-Rabbit.
As expected from Aardman’s talents, the stop-motion and humour are still incredibly impressive and extremely funny, with some of the funniest sight gags in the entire franchise. Furthermore, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl does manage to break the conventional rules of each entry being stand-alone adventures, by having this film be a direct sequel to the events of the second short film, 1993’s The Wrong Trousers.
As that film is, as of 2024, the most critically acclaimed entry of the franchise and was the film that won the duo their first Academy Award and their mainstream success around the world, it was a only a matter of time before that film’s breakout character, the evil penguin, Feathers McGraw, would return in another film (After being a main antagonist in a 2003 video game, Project Zoo and in the long lost stage adaptation of Wallace & Gromit in the late 1990s). However, while the little penguin is still as creepy as ever, more could have been done with him, as most of the film is taken up by his new minions, the robot smart-gnomes.
Reece Shearsmith does manage to get some of the biggest laughs as Norbert the gnome, Petey Kay makes a welcome return from Curse of the Were-Rabbit as an older Pc Mackintosh, but it is Ben Whitehead, who, after debuting as the new voice of Wallace in the video game, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures in 2008 and refining his skills over the last decade in commercials, whose work has finally paid off in sounding exactly like the late Peter Sallis, who would be extremely proud of him.
Overall, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, aside from a padded out subplot involving a young police officer (Lauren Patel), is one of the best things to have come out of Aardman in years and a cracking return for a new era of invention, cheese and crackers for one man and his loyal dog.
Rating: 4.5/5
3. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Directed by: Nick Park and Steve Box
Written by: Steve Box, Nick Park, Mark Burton and Bob Baker
Starring: Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay, Liz Smith and Nicholas Smith
Music by: Julian Nott
Rated: U
Cheese-loving inventor Wallace (Peter Sallis), and his faithful smart dog, Gromit, have started new jobs as pest control officers to deal with a rabbit infestation plaguing their town’s yearly Giant Vegetable Competition. After one of Wallace’s inventions goes hay-wire and creates a were-rabbit, their most loyal customer, Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter), gives the duo a chance to safely capture the beast, before her bitter suitor Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes) can blast it with his gun…
The second stop motion film of 2005, along with the first one to win the coveted Best Animated Feature Award, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, was the culmination of sixteen years of Aardman’s Animation’s legacy with this legendary duo.
After three amazing short films starting with Nick Park’s college film that was turned into 1989’s A Grand Day Out, with the latter two, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, winning Oscars for Best Animated Short in 1993 and 1995, Wallace and Gromit’s first feature film keeps their trademark British identity intact in this funny parody of Universal monster films and Hammer Horror cinema.
With some of the funniest lines and sight gags in the companies history, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit gets the biggest laughs from the pompous new villain, Victor Quartermaine the petty hunter, even if he is a bit of a downgrade when compared to the likes of Feathers McGraw and Preston the Cyber-Dog.
Although the narrative does feel a bit stretched out when compared to the shorts, the claymotion, voice-acting from both mainstay Peter Sallis and new additions Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter and the always funny British humor makes The Curse of the Were-Rabbit a cracking film, Gromit!
Rating: 5/5
2. A Close Shave (1995)
Directed by: Nick Park
Written by: Nick Park and Bob Baker
Starring: Peter Sallis and Anne Reid
Music by: Julian Nott
Rated: U
Wallace (Peter Sallis) and Gromit have gotten new jobs as temporary window cleaners. When a cute sheep named Shaun ends up at their home, Gromit soon discovers that Preston, the dog belonging to one of thier customers, a wool-seller named Wendolene Ramsbottom (Anne Reid), has a sinister plan for their new friend…
While not as intense or as exciting as The Wrong Trousers, the third short starring Aardman Animation’s iconic duo, Wallace and Gromit, does manage to be another action-packed and funny short that only Nick Park could provide.
Notable for being the first Wallace and Gromit film to be filmed in widescreen, the first to use CGI in some ariel shots and for having the first appearance of one of Aardman’s most popular characters, Shaun the Sheep, A Close Shave is another “cracking” example of the best that Aardman Animations have to offer.
Rating: 5/5
1. The Wrong Trousers (1993)
Directed by: Nick Park
Written by: Nick Park, Bob Baker and Brian Sibley
Starring: Peter Sallis
Music by: Julian Nott
Rated: U
Gromit has one of the worst birthdays in history when, after receiving a pair of techno-trousers from Wallace (Peter Sallis), he suddenly finds himself kicked out of his own home when a penguin arrives to lodge at their home. After running away, Gromit soon discovers that the penguin is actually Feathers McGraw, a sinister criminal mastermind, who plans to use Wallace and the techno-trousers to pull off a heist…
Regarded as not only the peak of the entire Wallace & Gromit franchise, but also as one of the greatest animated shorts and works of stop-motion ever made, The Wrong Trousers is a perfection of everything that had worked about A Grand Day Out.
With the full backing of Aardman and the BBC’s resources, The Wrong Trousers fully refined the cheese-loving inventor and his smart dog, into the characters that have made such an impact in animation history. Gromit’s role as a detective, as opposed to the silent sidekick role in the first short, established him as one of the greatest characters in cinema history, while Peter Sallis’s clueless Wallace still gets a lot of charm as well.
Overall, with an incredibly intense antagonist, that just happens to also be a chicken (penguin), an incredible train set finale and a fantastic score from Julian Nott, Nick Park fully deserved winning the first Academy Award for his iconic duo, and for The Wrong Trousers, a masterpiece of animation.
Chaz’s Cinematic Odyssey 