A GRAND DAY OUT (1989)

A GRAND DAY OUT
Directed by Nick Park
Starring the voice of Peter Sallis

“A Grand Day Out” marks the first time that we are introduced to two of the greatest characters that the art of claymation has given us—Wallace and Gromit. Wallace is an inventor who is a little bit slow and Gromit is his faithful and smarter dog. The pair always remind me of a quote that I've always attributed to Mark Twain, “It's far better to stay silent and have everyone think you're a fool than to open your mouth and prove it.” Gromit never speaks. Wallace does, and it's because of this that we realize how simple he is. Yet Wallace is by no means a simpleton. He is an inventor, remember, and in “A Grand Day Out” he invents a rocket ship to take Gromit and himself to the Moon. Why do they want to go to the moon? Because England is celebrating a bank holiday and Wallace can't decide where to go. He eventually decided that he wants to go somewhere where he can find his favorite thing, cheese, in abundance, and everyone knows that the Moon is made of cheese!

He and Gromit work together designing and building, drilling and sawing, painting and wallpapering. The rocket is finished and they blast off and land on the Moon. The cheese there is unlike any Wallace had ever had before so he gathers a basket full to take home with him. This is a problem for the only other thing on the Moon, a robot who looks like he'd been there for a while. The robot wants to chastise Wallace for defacing the Moon, but then learns about skiing and wants to go back to Earth with them. Unfortunately the robot can't talk, and Wallace interprets his actions as hostile. He and Gromit board the rocket and blast off for home. There is a happy ending for all, but I've already spoiled too much.

Since this is the first adventure for Wallace And Gromit it was naturally made with the lowest budget. This shows in the rougher style of animation that was cleaned up in later adventures. Later adventures also had more intricate plots and more special effects. The later films are, I think, superior to this one, but by no means is this film bad. It's a very entertaining film, and quite cute.

“A Grand Day Out” lost the Academy Award for Best Animated Short to another Nick Park film, “Creature Comforts”. The only other nominee was “Cavalette”.

This review was written on June 10, 2008