Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Director: Steve Box and Nick Park
Year Released: 2005
Rating: 3.0
There's pure cartoonish joy in this lovingly created film by celebrated Wallace and Gromit creator Park - it follows the formula of the shorts and (once again) has the mute dog Gromit saving cheese-obsessed goofball Wallace from some contraption he made that's backfired. There's no subtext to speak of or 'point' to be absorbed (unless you consider it a cautionary tale against messing with science) - like the Looney Tunes cartoons, it exists (if not for itself and the child-like delight of the audience) then as an expression of the joys of making movies (which would explain all the movie references, from A Clockwork Orange to King Kong). Chicken Run was just as technically astounding but you can tell Park really has emotional energy invested in these two creations of his.