Monday, October 24, 2005

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
I love Wallace and Gromit, especially Gromit, the dog side-kick. My family has enjoyed Nick Park's Wallace and Gromit movies for many years now. He created 3 short movies a while ago--at least 10 years or so: A Close Shave, The Wrong Trousers, and one other I can't think of. So, we were thrilled when we heard that he had made a full-length movie featuring these lovable characters. It's all done with clay-mation, which I think is just fascinating. We went to see the movie over the weekend, and I could tell each of those characters was handmade because you can actually see the fingerprints in the clay.

The story is silly and funny. Gromit, the dog who's always getting his master, Wallace, out of scrapes, is adorable. The emotion they are able to convey through Gromit's eyebrows alone is pretty amazing.

My only beef about the film (and this is fairly small) is that the elderly clergyman is portrayed like a raving lunatic. It's nice to see that the people of the parish gather in the church when there is a crisis, but the clergyman, of course, is not portrayed as some rational helpful person, but rather as a ...yes...raving lunatic.

Being married to a pastor, I am especially sensitive to this stereotypical portrayal of ministers because it is so common. Instead, in my experience, the many pastors I know are dedicated, rational, community-minded, helpful, kind, life-sacrificing men devoted to Christ and spreading the Gospel (and who do not recommend murdering were-rabbits with golden bullets!).

With that qualification in mind, go see the movie and enjoy Gromit's eyebrows.

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