| ♥ | This article is dedicated to Peter Sallis (1 February 1921 - 2 June 2017), and all of the props destroyed in the Aardman warehouse fire of 10 October 2005. May they rest in peace. |
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 Cracking toast, Gromit! - Wallace
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The Wrong Trousers is a 1993 British stop-motion animated short film directed by Nick Park, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit, and was produced by Aardman Animations in association with Wallace and Gromit Ltd., BBC Bristol, Lionheart Television and BBC Children's International. It is the second film featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and his dog Gromit, following A Grand Day Out (1989). In the film, a villainous penguin named Feathers McGraw uses Wallace and Gromit's robot "Techno-Trousers" to steal a diamond from the city museum. This was the last Wallace and Gromit film to have Wallace as the only spoken character.
The Wrong Trousers premiered in the United States on 17 December 1993, and the United Kingdom on 26 December 1993 on BBC Two. It was commercially successful, and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1994. It also inspired a charity fundraising day, known as "Wrong Trousers Day", one of several events.
The short was followed by two sequels, A Close Shave, released in December 1995, and A Matter of Loaf and Death released in December 2008. Feathers McGraw returns in the 2003 video game Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo.
Plot
On Gromit’s birthday, Wallace gives Gromit a new invention called the “Techno-Trousers” for walkies, then discovers he doesn’t have enough money to pay off his bills and debts. Wallace lets the spare bedroom to a penguin, who befriends Wallace and drives Gromit from the house. The penguin takes an interest in the techno-trousers, which can walk on walls and ceilings, and secretly rewires them for radio control. Gromit realizes that the penguin is Feathers McGraw, a wanted robber who frequently disguises himself as a chicken.
Feathers secretly switches Wallace's normal trousers with the techno-trousers; Wallace becomes trapped in them, and Feathers uses the new remote control to send Wallace on a lengthy, high-speed test run through town. Later, Gromit spies on Feathers as he takes measurements of the city museum. He also discovers Feathers' plans to steal a diamond from the museum, but not in time to stop him.
Wallace, exhausted by the day of forced exercise, falls into a deep sleep. Feathers marches the unconscious Wallace to the museum and uses the trousers to infiltrate the building. He uses a remotely operated crane claw, contained in a helmet he has made Wallace wear, to capture the diamond, but accidentally sets off the burglar alarm. As Wallace wakes up, Feathers returns to the house and traps him and Gromit in a wardrobe at pistol-point.
Gromit rewires the trousers to break open the wardrobe. He and Wallace chase Feathers aboard their model train set. Wallace disarms Feathers and frees himself from the trousers. After Feathers' train crashes into the trousers, Gromit captures him in a milk bottle. The police incarcerate Feathers in the prison-cell wall of the city zoo. Wallace and Gromit repay their debt with the bounty reward, while the techno-trousers walk off into the sunset.
Soundtrack alterations
In the original airing, first VHS release of the film and the 1999 DVD release, Gromit's birthday card plays "Happy Birthday to You".
In subsequent home video releases and airings, this was replaced with "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" to avoid copyright infringements (likely due to this version of Happy Birthday being copyrighted). Also altered (again for reasons of copyright) are two specific songs from the penguin's radio, which were replaced with unidentified pieces of music, played through a Hammond organ. "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", also played through the same instrument, was left intact, due to being in the public domain.
The pieces that were removed are "Happy Talk" from the musical South Pacific and "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?", along with Wallace's singing of the latter during the subsequent morning. In addition, Gromit's television during breakfast no longer plays the Open University theme, although an announcer can still be heard saying, "Welcome to Open University".
However, the original soundtrack can still be heard in the background of the commentary track of the DVD release, although the Blu-ray release features the commentary track with the altered soundtrack. The original soundtrack can also be heard in non-English versions of the film.
Why It's Cracking Toast, Gromit!
- The animation is a big improvement over the first short A Grand Day Out, for Aardman standards.
- The score from Julian Nott is still charming to this day.
- Good writing from Bob Baker, Brian Sibley and especially Nick Park.
- The sound design is good.
- Good voice acting from Peter Sallis, again.
- Well-written plot.
- The humor is still as strong as in the first short.
Bad Qualities
- The scene where Gromit leaves home is truly harrowing to say the least.
- The story can be a bit predictable and terrifying, at times.
- While the original airing, first VHS release and the 1999 DVD Release has Gromit's birthday card playing the Happy Birthday Song, the subsequent home video releases and airings replace the original songs with different songs, for no apparent reason.
Reception
The Wrong Trousers was voted as the eighteenth best British television show by the British Film Institute. The film has an approval rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 26 reviews, and an average score of 9.10/10. The critical consensus reads, "An endearing and meticulous showcase of stop motion animation, The Wrong Trousers also happens to be laugh-out-loud funny." The film was awarded the Grand Prix at the Tampere Film Festival, and the Grand Prix at the World Festival of Animated film – Animafest Zagreb in 1994. The Wrong Trousers won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1994.