Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Photo

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Starring: Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay, Nicholas Smith, Liz Smith

Directed by: Steve Box, Nick Park

RS: 3.5of 4 Stars

2006

With its annual Giant Vegetable Competition mere days away, a British village is being ravaged by scores of produce-chomping rabbits. Enter bumbling inventor Wallace and his doggedly resourceful canine sidekick, Gromit, operators of Anti-Pesto Humane Pest Control. A rustic Rube Goldberg, Wallace concocts cockamamie devices that include the hare-Hoovering Bun-Vac 6000 (running at 125 rpm -- rabbits per minute), but his valiant attempt to "brainwash the bunnies" creates a more insidious adversary: the Were-Rabbit. Worse, his competition for the affections of Lady Tottington (voiced by Helena Bonham Carter) is trigger-happy Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes), who sputters classics like "If I can't have your money, I can still bag your bunny." Strewn with bad puns and references to everything from Caddyshack to Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Were-Rabbit is a treasure trove of cleverness. And in its old-school claymation, the film is closer to the endearing Gumby reels of yore than today's sterile Pixar productions.