“Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death” (2008)

My first reaction to this thirty minute gem was a negative one.  After the big screen excellence of The Curse of the Were Rabbit for Nick Park and his team of Aardman animators to return to television and a shorter running time seems like a retrograde step.  A plot that sees Wallace and his loyal pooch becoming bakers, and getting involved with a heavy set femme fatale and her nervous poodle, also perhaps lack the edge of Park’s early work. 

A second viewing reveals the folly of this judgement.  Aside from being brilliant stop motion animation, Loaf and Death is brilliant across the board film making.  A witty script, well conceived characters and superb pacing is matched by classy lighting, editing and a near perfect score.  While Park enjoys referencing Hitchcock and film noir techniques and the climax features something of a homage to Aliens, he never succumbs to the type of gimmicky intertextuality that often mars American animation.  It is a distinct and distinctly proud British production, full of homespun charm and warm.

4/5

Richard Swainson