Product Details

• Actors: Peter Sallis
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Lyons / Hit Ent.
• DVD Release Date: September 22, 2009
• Run Time: 30 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001OC6RZA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,856 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf or Death" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In A Matter of Loaf and Death, addled inventor Wallace and his brilliant canine companion Gromit have started a bread bakery with unpredictable but predictably hilarious results. The arrival of Piella Bakewell, the former star of the Bake-O-Lite Bread commercials, upsets their complicated world of mixers, flour mills, ovens, and forklifts. Wallace falls hard for her self-conscious charms, but Gromit uncovers a link to a string of murdered bakers. ("Cereal killer strikes again!") Director Nick Park redefined the possibilities of clay-figure stop-motion animation in the Oscar-winning shorts Creature Comforts and The Wrong Trousers, and he continues to find new subtleties of expression and gesture. When an injured Wallace asks, "I'm not a fruitcake, am I," Gromit squeezes the corners of his eyes to force a smile and gently pats his friend's arm. A Matter of Loaf and Death may not be as perfect a gem as The Wrong Trousers (what is?), but it's a worthy successor to A Close Shave and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The extras include an unusually interesting commentary track with Park and editor David McCormick, and the lively making-of film "How They Donut." A Matter of Loaf and Death is also available on Wallace and Gromit: The Complete Collection on DVD and Blu-ray; the DVD versions have been cropped, but the Blu-ray retains the original widescreen format. (Unrated: suitable for ages 6 and older: cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon

Product Description

Looking for a fast way to earn dough, Wallace decides to make it. Armed with a batch of ovens, an army of robotic kneading arms and an old-fashioned windmill, Wallace & Gromit™ start "Top Bun,” their new bread-baking business. Sales rise quickly and Wallace falls head over buns in love with a seductive bread-industry icon, Piella Bakewell. But when bakers suddenly start disappearing, Gromit realizes that his master is in danger as he follows a twisting, turning trail of crumbs to solve a murder mystery that becomes…A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH!

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Single-disc Release Crops Widescreen Movie to Full-Frame, September 22, 2009

By 

Edward C. Liu "edwick" (Princeton Junction, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf or Death (DVD)

Just getting a new Wallace & Gromit short is good news, but "A Matter of Loaf and Death" feels a whole lot like a remake of "A Close Shave." It's still rather entertaining, but it feels rather derivative. It also seems to use a lot more pop-culture gags than the older films did, though admittedly they're old enough that they have become permanent fixtures on the pop-culture landscape and only one isn't funny if you don't know the reference.

I would NOT get this single-disc release, though, because it is a cropped full-frame (1.33:1) when the movie itself was animated in widescreen. The documentary on the making of the movie is in anamorphic widescreen, and often reveals how cramped some of the cropped shots are. It seems that the 4-disc DVD complete collection is in full-frame as well. The Blu-ray of the Complete Collection presents this movie in its proper widescreen format (as well as "A Close Shave"), and should be the one you buy if you have a choice. The Blu-ray remasters the original shorts as well, and they look spectacular.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Entertainment But a Bit Violent for Little Ones, September 23, 2009

By 

WryGuy2 (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf or Death (DVD)

I have all of the Wallace and Grommit shorts, crackling contraptions, and movie, so I can say from experience that there is no such thing as a bad Wallace and Gromit feature. A Matter of Loaf or Death keeps the good streak intact, and is fine entertainment, albeit perhaps not as quite as good as A Close Shave or The Curse of the Wererabbit, in my opinion. But I've been anxiously awaiting release of A Matter of Loaf or Death here in the States, and it finally arrived today.

Although the package states that the running time is 87 minutes, the actual feature is only about 30 minutes. Also included is a "making of" segment, and a "Shaun the Sheep" episode, so counting all three of these probably is how the 87 minutes were derived.

So, I popped the DVD into the player, gathered the wife and kiddies around (the kids are only two and four years old, but they love Wallace and Gromit), and we watched the feature. It was funny, and the animation was great, as usual. However, it was more violent than previous entries, and I felt a bit uncomfortable at some of the scenes as my two and four year old watched them, particularly with regards to how Gromit and another dog are mistreated. The kids didn't have any problems or get scared, but you may want to watch the feature first before showing it to your young children. Its mostly cartoonish violence, but the other dog's owner, Miss Piella Bakewell, is a bit mean.

But I'm pleased with my purchase, and strongly recommend A Matter of Loaf and Death. This is probably not the best DVD to get if you've never seen Wallace and Gromit before ... you should start with the original 3 shorts ... but its a "must have" if you're a Wallace and Gromit afficionado like myself.

111 of 125 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Watch out, September 22, 2009

By 

Donald Leighty (Western Pennsylvania USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf or Death (DVD)

I admit to not having done my homework on this, but still... You have to be able to make an impulse purchase every once in a while without getting ripped off.

I was out shopping for a pack of batteries when I saw a new Wallace and Gromit DVD on the shelf. Didn't know Nick Park had done anything since The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, so I quickly investigated. The front of the package said "All New Animated Feature" and the running time said 87 minutes. Now "feature" to me means a full-length presentation (as in "our feature presentation")... a short might be called a featurette. So I assumed this was more than just a 30-minute short (which is what it actually is). They must have totalled all of the supplemental clips on the disc to get that "87 minute" total time. Nice.

Also, since I couldn't find a widescreen copy anywhere in the stacks, I guessed that this had been animated full screen. Wrong. Lion's Gate apparently decided to release only a butchered pan-and-scan version of the short. I didn't know anyone still did that these days. How ignorant.

While I'm sure this short is fun, it went back to the store unopened. I'll wait for a better version to show up someday.