It's another bank holiday in northern England, and eccentric inventor Wallace and his faithful dog, Gromit, are sitting around the house with nothing to do. While poring over stacks of travel magazines, Wallace suggests that the pair break for a hot cup of tea and some cheese. When he discovers that there's no cheese to be found anywhere in the house, he hits upon an ideal place for a picnic: "Everybody knows the moon's made of cheese." With Gromit's help, he immediately starts construction on a rocket ship, and before long the two are walking on (and tasting) the lunar surface. As they continue to explore, they are blissfully unaware that they -- and their rocket -- are being watched by a creature that has dreams and aspirations of its own. ~ Emru Townsend, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
liked it.
The first of the Wallace and Gromit series of stop-motion short films took the animation world by storm in 1990, and it's easy to see why. Creator and director
Nick Park's signature style -- well-defined teeth, expressive brows, and wry, well-timed humor -- combined with the antics of the easygoing Wallace and his slightly more perceptive dog, Gromit, made for an instant hit with animation aficionados. It took Park six years to create A Grand Day Out, five of which were spent working on his own before being discovered by Bristol, U.K.-based Aardman Animations. As such, the level of technical proficiency is a little uneven, though still remarkable. But ultimately it's the story that matters, and the characters and situations are charming enough to make the short's 23 minutes pass all too quickly. It's worth noting that this is the only one of Park's shorts that hasn't won an Oscar; the statue was taken that year by
Creature Comforts, another one of his films. ~ Emru Townsend, All Movie Guide