Word: gromit
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...least Oscar voters seem to think so. Nine years ago, when the award for Best Animated Feature was established, DreamWorks got the first one, for Shrek. Since then, Katzenberg's products have been shut out (the studio distributed one Oscar winner, Nick Park's veddy English Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit), while Pixar has taken five: Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL•E and Up. This year, DreamWorks' perky Monsters vs Aliens was not even one of the five finalists. "Each year I do one DreamWorks project," actor Jack Black told the crowd...
...longest of the animated shorts, this Wallace and Gromit creation follows a well-known scheme. Wallace is a baker who saves the life of the Bake-O-Lite and her pretty poodle. They fall in love, Gromit feels lonely, many pastry puns and euphemistic baking scenes ensue. Of course, the Bake-O-Lite girl turns out to be a crazy serial killer out to get her “Baker’s Dozen.” Luckily, Gromit is around to let that fruitcake know her time...
...there is also much humor in the purer, simpler Wallace and Gromit vein as well, enough to bewitch the youthful members of the audience. The foxes are entirely civilized until it comes to meals; then they gobble feverishly and without restraint. Kylie is a loyal sidekick but not the brightest opossum in all the land; when confused, his eyes transform into dazed little bull's eyes. A beagle with a case of "chronic rabies" is used to great effect, and Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), Bunce (Hugo Guinness) and Bean (Michael Gambon) are brilliantly realized. Stop-motion is clearly a laborious business...
Director and co-writer Bowers worked at Aardman Films under Nick Park (of Wallace and Gromit glory) and directed Flushed Away, that uneasy alliance of the gnome-artisans at Aardman and the brasher gang at DreamWorks. What both outfits stress is telling stories through characters, and Bowers (along with co-writer Timothy Hyde Harris) breathe a solid emotional life into Toby and Tenma, while adhering to the confines of a kid-oriented feature. The animation style is supple and assured. And if the audience includes any precocious kids like Toby, they'll be diverted by references to Isaac Asimov...
...Neighbor Totoro, in which two girls meet some agreeable forest spirits; and Kiki's Delivery Service, about a 13-year-old witch who starts her own business. All are artistic triumphs and certified delights - close kin to Lasseter's CGI wizardry and Nick Park's stop-motion Wallace and Gromit films. These are Miyazaki's animation amigos: "My comrades in arms," he says, "in trying to keep good quality and commercially viable animation going...