Customer Reviews

Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf or Death

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I am a huge Wallace and Gromit fan so it is almost painful for me to rate this one so low. All other Wallace and Gromit material I rate with five stars. However, this one gets only two stars from me because it is a bit violent for young children and I was disturbed by the scenes with animal abuse. The entire DVD lacks the wholesome fun that is associated with Wallace and Gromit and make it a must miss for all ages.

My kids love the Wallace & Gromit movies, all of them. So naturally, we bought this one based solely on the trailers. The movie is short but the animation is excellent like other W&G movies.

The problem is that this is a very dark, violent film when compared to other Aardman/Nick Park movies. Although no graphic scenes are shown obviously, the story indicates that actual murders happen, dogs are hit, and a person is eaten by a crocodile. Yes, of course it's not a horror movie, but those expecting a typical child-friendly movie should reconsider.

Why did the producers go so dark with this one? My 5 year-old kept saying, "That was the meanest film I've seen!" A letdown. Hopefully future W&G movies will not go this route.

This isn't as clever as the first three Wallace & Gromit shorts, but it's worth seeing if you like them.

My main problem with this is that the packaging lists the run time as 87 minutes. I saw it in the store and figured it was a new straight to video movie and gladly paid the ten dollars for it. I was very disappointed to have it end just before reaching a half an hour. I guess they included the special features in the length too (though I don't think the special features were over an hour). Dirty trick.

I see the other shorts are now also for sale individually with run times listed as 62 minutes. I assume this is the case with those too. I can understand releasing this new one separately for people who have the previous ones but I don't get releasing the original three individually, they were always packaged together. Seems like they're trying to milk as much money out of these as possible.

The story was straightforward and not funny. It was exceptionally violent for a Wallace and Gomit feature. It wasn't 87 minutes long either, it was much shorter. No one in our family want's to watch it again, glad we didn't save this for a holiday gift.

Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death / B001OC6RZA

My family and I are long-time lovers of "Wallace and Gromit", but we just hated "Loaf and Death". Someone on the production team apparently felt that W&G needed a 'dark and edgy' upgrade to appeal to a wider demographic, so "Loaf and Death" was created with all the basic plot points of "Close Shave", but with the violence and insanity ramped up to 11, and with all the charm sucked out with nary a backward glance.

"Close Shave" was fun and amusing because, despite the potentially dark subject matter of sheep being stolen in a nefarious plot to grind them into dog meat, (a) nobody ever got seriously hurt (including the villain, due to a timely Made of Steel revelation), and (b) the plot was so over-the-top amusing, with hilarious moments that burned indelibly into the memory: most memorably the "organized" motorcycle riding sheep.

"Loaf or Death" has none of those amusing moments, despite a few throw-away jokes. The story is immediately darker than "Close Shave", as human bakers in the area have been murdered in a recent crime spree. The lady of the hour, Wallace's new love, is of course the culprit - and the movie makes no bones about the fact that she is incredibly insane (filling her bedroom with wooden clothes models, wearing the baker hats of her dead lovers) and that she is abusing her French poodle. Yes, you read that right - the "Shaun the Sheep" of this movie is a pretty girl poodle who is openly abused by her mistress - even being hit so hard with a shovel that she leaves a cartoon 'outline' in the shovel. Ha, ha, ha, I'm not laughing. In yet another "funny" moment, Wallace's insane fiance bites her own arm in order to incriminate Gromit - the scene is way more disturbing than it sounds.

Although "Loaf and Death" retains the iconic W&G look, the feel is that of a series that has been handed over to a brand new team of writers and developers. Even W&G have been flanderized - Wallace's signature neglect and misunderstanding of Gromit has blossomed into outright abuse of his position as 'master', such as when Wallace decides not to go out in the rain on an errand and 'cunningly' sends Gromit instead. This sort of character change really undermines the entire relationship between the two main characters - as Wallace becomes less of an innocent dupe in need of defending and just another human-who-won't-see-Gromit-as-an-equal, and therefore deserving of their fate.

I would not recommend this new featurette. I wish for myself that I had not seen it at all.

~ Ana Mardoll

I never thought I'd say this about a Wallace & Gromit feature as I am a big fan, but overall I would have to give this DVD a thumbs down. Where to begin? First, the film comes across as very crammed & rushed in terms of it's overall pace to painfully squeeze into it's 30 minute running time and it really shows. Second, there is a scene of animal cruelty where the villian hits her little dog and you hear a very cringingly real yelp of pain that I felt to be very innappropriate for a film that's supposed to be open for children to watch. Third, it's just lacking in the subtle english humor of the previous films which made me love the W&G movies in the first place.

Lastly the movie was made to be seen in anamorphic widescreen, but Lion's Gate has decided to deny American audiences of over 33% of the full picture and are only releasing the film in "pan-&-scan" full-screen, which is a real shame as the makers of W&G have made the best film yet in terms of technical expertise of their work with plasticine.

Good things about the film are two-fold, one is that physical motion and facial expressions of all characters have hit a new high by Aardman, and the other is of course simply to see Wallace & Gromit interacting together as they always do. But overall for the aforementioned reasons and in comparison to the previous films, I can't in good conscience give this film an overall good review (and want the film as it was intended to be seen, in WIDESCREEN).

My daughters and I loved this movie. We were given a free screening on ATT U-Verse, which included the behind the scenes stop animation techniques. On the whole, a very enjoyable story, however, it was only 1/2 hour long. Perhaps other shorts will be included on the DVD as well.