A Close Shave (1995)

Good concept, poorly executed.

A Masterpiece!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Wallace (Peter Sallis) falls for Wendolene (Anne Reid), a wool shop owner, while Gromit is framed for the sheep rustling.I have now seen just about every Wallace and Gromit cartoon and I am still confused by their popularity. I like the animation, and I think the themes are sort of neat (the cheese obsession, for example). But the humor largely escapes me. Things that are obviously intended to be funny do not even make me smile.My lack of understanding aside, the film proved to be critically very well-received. Following in the footsteps of its predecessor "The Wrong Trousers", "A Close Shave" won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1996.Not only was it given an award, but Shaun, the youngest of the flock of sheep in this feature, proved to be a very popular character and in 2007 was given a TV series, "Shaun the Sheep", which has been broadcast worldwide. In 2009, "Shaun the Sheep" itself spun off another series, aimed for toddlers, entitled "Timmy Time". Timmy was a baby sheep in Shaun's flock, and the series was an educational one about his time at playgroup.

Right after watching and loving The Wrong Trousers, I decided to give Park's follow-up a re-watch. I have to say as much as he succeeded with mixing crime and western elements into his last work, he comes short here when it comes to romance and mystery. While the occasional laugh can't be denied to any W&G picture, including this one, the whole sheep rustling mystery plot left me completely unimpressed. While the Wallace-Wendolene love story seems charming at first, mostly due to how she mirrors him so much down to her "dog" reading the paper Gromit-style, it quickly becomes unnecessary and boring (almost cringe-worthy during the "leave-me-alone"-sequence) to the extent that one feels nothing during the final action scene and also their final encounter at Wallace's door. Completely unrelated, even Gromit was surprisingly uninteresting here, to the extent that his prison breakdown, which could have been a huge tearjerker moment, didn't do much for me.The one truly remarkable thing I take from this one are the sheep. Obviously they're very early versions of Park's later work in Shaun the Sheep and Timmy Time, which I both enjoy a lot and would recommend over this one. They pretty much raise every scene they're in, especially the original one funnily being dressed in a pullover of its own wool for most of the movie. However, unless you're huge claymation fan, you can do without this half hour.

The wrong trousers is my overall favourite but this would be 2nd slightly aka as close as a drop of water. It's good for reasons why the wrong trousers is good. Great villain, excellent laughs, even better score and some of the best Wallace phrases. Wallace has been through some love interests and this is the best in my opinion. This is in my opinion the best of gromit with some great mystery and funny sheep with I guess was so popular that they got their own show. My favourite scene is where Wallace is reading the newspapers. I also love the climaxIt's the saddest with gromit in jail and Wallace's expressions and especially gromit's. It's a great film with some good old Wallace and gromit humour aka sheep falling on Wallace I truly recommend it!

This was the third in a series of three short BBC programs featuring Wallace and his pet dog Gromit. I thought the three films got better and better as went along, this being the best of the three. There are some very clever and entertaining scenes in the 30-miunte movie. the color also was good - nice animation. Of course, it's only gotten better and better since these were made, capped off recently by a full-length Wallace & Gromit film.I don't think I ever stop laughing looking at the mouths on Wallace and the woman he likes in this story. Wallace is a window cleaner and "Wendolene" is the object of his affections. Unfortunately, both the woman and her pet dog are not good "people." In fact, her pet dog, "Preston" frames poor Gromit for sheep-rustling and winds up in jail. Wallace must rescue him.A subplot involves Wallace and his love of cheese. It's all silly, of course, but very entertaining and the best of the three short Wallace & Gromit animated films of the period (1989-1993), in my opinion.