Wallace and Gromit a British Institution

Never heard of Wallace and Gromit? Where have you been hiding yourself?

Wallace and Gromit are the characters in a British animation that, over the years, have become something of a British Institution. Gromit is the noble hound shown above and Wallace his master, or perhaps that should be companion.

Over the years this pair have featured in a few films and won their cretor Nick Park a fair few awards.

It must surely be time to feature Wallace and Gromit on HubPages, so here goes.

British animator, Nick Park, is the brains behind Wallace and Gromit, and what brains!

No matter how many times you watch, a Wallace and Gromit short film, you are bound to spot something new. Whether it be a clever twist of a phrase, a spoof of a TV character or just an extremely funny item.

Aardman Animations feature clay made models.

Watch the first short Wallace and Gromit film, A Grand Day Out, and you will see that it is very basic in some ways. This film reminds me of early Simpson's episodes. You know those early efforts where Homer and the family just look and sound a little different.

In much the same way, the characters in this first film, are less streamlined and have a more amateurish feel. This is not meant to be derogatory as they are still fabulous. They just feel as if, Nick and the team, have not quite perfected their animation skills. However this film utilised the team's excellent imagination and was a great taster of what was to follow.

The second film, The Wrong Trousers was more perfected.

The plot, characters and sets were also full of more amusing and entertaining features. You need to watch one of the later films to understand what I mean. Then again, you may have done so already.

Wallace and Gromit are known around the world, these days.

The Wrong Trousers, followed but the next to films, A Close Shave and The Curse of The Were Rabbit won academy awards. When the first film lost out at the Academy awards it was to Creature Comforts which is also a Nick Park creation.

The final short film A Matter of Loaf and Death was shown on British Television at Christmas 2008.

Of course It was a runaway success. It did feel as if the team have maybe run out of that extra special IT though, but maybe that is the old downer, familiarity. The film was still full of great characters, scenes, sets and story twists.

One thing is for sure, these days a Nick Park film attracts a great cast of voices behind the animations.

Gromit the dog is always silent. This is just as well as he has no mouth. Wallace, the lover of cheese, especially a bit of Wensleydale, uses the voice of veteran British actor Peter Sallis. Amongst the additional voices, in some of the films, there has also been, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay, Liz Smith and Ralph Fiennes,

Overall

Wallace and Gromit may be animation but the entertainment is good all round family entertainment. Some of the twists will probably a must adults more than kids anyway. Although some are rated as PG I cannot see anything offensive in these films..

They usually last around half an hour, give or take a few minutes.

BBC 3 or 4 were showing some re-runs a couple of nights ago, which prompted this Hub. I realised yet again just how funny and entertaining Wallace and Gromit are, but how clever also.

There was another 15 minutes or so film called Cracking Contraptions which was just as entertaining. Perhaps more so as I had not seen it before.

Wallace and Gromit, along with Nick Park and the Aardman animation team are one of the better examples of modern day Britain. In fact they are great ambassadors for the country.

It's just a shame that some of Britain's best representatives are made of clay.