When Wallace & Gromit arrived in America, the English inventor and his smarter dog became a sensation. “A Grand Day Out” was unconventional in two ways. First the characters were created out of Plasticine which is like Play-Dough. Second was that instead of a feature film, “A Grand Day Out” was a short. You had to find an art house willing to double feature the 30-minute film with a second movie. During the later ’90s after the first three shorts had been released, I picked up a VHS boxset at Suncoast Video at the mall. While I was happy with the tapes for the longest time, getting to see them in 4K UHD is next level entertainment. Plus now there’s an additional and a feature film in Wallace & Gromit – The Complete Cracking Collection (Collector’s Edition).
A Grand Day Out (1989 – 23:58) has inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit having a nice evening at home. When Wallace gets a hankering for cheese and crackers, he makes the horrified discovery that there’s no cheese in the fridge. Instead of just going over to the supermarket for a fresh block of cheddar, Wallace fixates on the through that the moon is made of cheese. The two build a rocketship in the basement and blast off. Will they get an out of this world treat when they touchdown? While the film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animate short it lost to Nick Park other short film “Creature Comforts.”
The Wrong Trousers (1993 – 30:14) has Wallace come up with an amazing new invention just in time for Gromit’s birthday. It’s a pair of robotic “techno-trousers” that can take the dog for walk without disturbing Wallce. Because of the cost of the project, they’re forced to rent out their spare bedroom to a mysterious penguin. Gromit has a bad feeling about the penguin and discovers their boarder might be a wanted criminal. This time Wallace & Gromit walked off with Oscar glory.
A Close Shave (1995 – 31:20) has a small sheep wandering the neighborhood while the newspaper reports a wool shortage. Wallace and Gromit are in the window cleaning business. He falls for one of his clients who runs a wool shop. She’s a widow whose late husband was an inventor. Wallace has an issue with her dog Preston who appears to be involved in the sheep rustling that’s leading to the wool shortage. Is his owner also part of the criminal operation? The little sheep Shaun would get his own TV show and movies. A Close Shave would also win an Oscar.
A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008 – 30:14) opens with a baker being murdered. In fact it’s the 12th baker of the year. This isn’t good since Wallace and Gromit are now in the baking business. Wallace merely sees it as a chance for more business. While out making deliveries, Wallace and Gromit see that Piella Bakewell and her dog are on a runaway bike. Wallace saves them although Gromit suspects something is wrong since the bike’s brake works perfectly fine. Wallace doesn’t care because he’s fallen hard for Piella. is she connected with the murders? Will Wallace be the Baker’s Dozen of victims? One mystery isn’t who won the Oscar for Best Animated Short because this was the winer.
The four shorts are featured on the 4K UHD disc. The feature film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005 – 85:00) is only on a Blu-ray. Wallace & Gromit have an invention to humanely capture rabbits that are loose in vegetable gardens. After they grab them with the “Bun-Vac 6000,” the are submitted to the “Mind Manipulation-O-Matic” so they hate vegetables. Things are going smoothly for the duo until one night a massive Were-Rabbit hits the crops and doesn’t care about Wallace’s inventions. Will all the veggies be devoured in the county? This was the first stop motion movie to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Actor Peter Sallis (Hammer’s Taste The Blood of Dracula) voiced Wallace from the first short “A Grand Day Out” through “A Matter of Loaf and Death” including the feature film. He passed away in 2017 at 96. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl comes out at the start of 2025 with Ben Whitehead as the voice of Wallace. In a sense, this boxset is the Complete Peter Sallis as Wallace Collection. It feels good to have this era of Wallace & Gromit gathered together in a charming boxset. With the higher resolution, you see all the ways Nick Park molded his characters to create such great fun between the inventor and his dog. Wallace & Gromit – The Complete Cracking Collection (Collector’s Edition) takes you deeper into their Plasticine world.
The Video varies from 1.33 for “A Grand Day Out” and “The Wrong Trousers,” 1.67:1 for “A Close Shave” to 1.78:1 for “A Matter of Loaf and Death.” The interesting thing about the higher resolution on the 4K UHD is seeing fingerprints from moving the characters around in the early films. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Stereo on all the films. Things sound great. All the shorts and the feature film are subtitled in English.
Audio Commentaries are on the four shorts featuring Nick Park and producer Peter Lord chatting. Nick Park explains how Steve Rushton was his roommate. The original idea was for a children’s book. It turned into his film school project and eventually he finished it at Aardman Animations. He tells us of the original Wallace in his life.
Cracking Contraptions are 10 short films with Wallace’s latest inventions that will make your life go smoothly. The shorts vary from four to two minutes long. They were made in 2002.
Peter Lord & Nick Park Interview (4:13) has the producer and director talking about animation.
The Amazing World of Wallace & Gromit (15:23) goes into the creation of the duo. This covers the first three films. Nick Parks is so young as he talks about developing the characters in sketch books before taking them to plasticine. We also learn that Nick worked on Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer video.
Inside The Wrong Trousers (24:19) has Nick Park guide use through production. You can see how big the characters really are next to his hands.
A Close Shave – How They Did It (5:04) gets into the digital effects. They had to add digital sparks in the jail break scene since it would be an issue with stop motion.
The Making of A Matter of Loaf And Death – How They Donut (20:20) has them excited to bring the duo back as bakers. He gets into the motivation and mystery that propels the characters into the story. Nick gives away the ending of the short so don’t watch this first.
When Wallace Met Harvey (5:07) has Wallace becoming a fashion model.
Picture Gallery (1:50) has press photos, behind the scenes shots and storyboards.
Invention Blueprints (0:43) for the creations in the shorts. You can make your own rocket for when you need cheese.
24-Page booklet that features recipes, blueprints and introduction by Nick Park.
Colorform Set of Stickers with your favorite characters.
Shout! Studios present Wallace & Gromit – The Complete Cracking Collection. Directed by Nick Park. Screenplays by Nick Park, Steve Rushton, Bob Baker and Brian Sibley. Starring the voice of Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter & Peter Kay. Boxset Contents: 1 4K UHD disc and 2 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Rated G. Release Date: December 10, 2024.
