Contemporary Cinema:
Serenity and Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
By Douglas Hickey
November 2005
A few years ago Fox cancelled a little science fiction series after airing only eleven episodes. Firefly, which follows the heroic and disreputable antics of the crew of the spaceship Serenity, has since acquired a devoted following on DVD. Firefly’s writer/director/creator, Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel), was able to spin the program’s belated success and secure enough funding for a studio film. The result is Serenity, an energetic sci-fi western that could bring Firefly a slew of new fans.
Joss Whedon conceived of the Firefly series after reading Michael Shaara’s historical novel Killer Angels, and so the film takes place during the reconstruction era after the end of the civil war, albeit hundreds of years in the future and in the reaches of deep space. The victorious Alliance is in the process of rounding up outlying Independent planets (think Old-West settlements) and assimilating them into “civilization.” Serenity’s crew, a ragged bunch of bandits and guns for hire led by the ex-Independent soldier Mal (Nathan Fillion), personifies the mythic Western qualities of rugged individualism and outlaw romanticism.
The anachronistic combination of Western motifs with space-age technology is not new, but it’s handled with aplomb and hilarity here. At one point, the ships engineer, Kaylee Frye bemoans her lackluster love life: “Been more’n year since I had anything twixt my nethers didn’t run on batteries!” This type of punchy and irreverent dialogue brings a considerable amount of energy to the film when the characters aren’t shooting at something—but they usually are (shooting, that is).
Serenity boasts more action per square inch than anything else I’ve seen this year. The film opens with the daring rescue of River (Summer Glau), a schizophrenic girl who has been the subject of top-secret experiments for the Alliance military. In a matter of minutes, Joss Whedon gives newcomers all of the back story they need to orient themselves in this film, and we are off to the chases. Much to the film’s credit, in the midst of almost continuous shootouts, robberies, aerial dogfights, and martial arts melees, we are able to get a basic grasp on these characters who are the heart and soul of Whedon’s film, and yet in spite of all its drum-tight scripting, in the end Serenity feels like what it is—the latest installment in a larger story.
Viewers unfamiliar with Firefly will understand the plot and be able to identify the characters. They will be entertained—the film is well worth the price of admission—but they might walk away feeling that they didn’t quite “get it.” Joss Whedon is banking on the possibility that this will lead newcomers to explore his previous work, and with Serenity delivering this much bang for the buck, it’s probably a safe bet.
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit also relies on a previously established cast of characters, but as a film, it is more self-contained than Serenity. Nick Park introduced the characters Wallace and Gromit in the 1989 short film Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Now Park, who is the creative force behind 2000’s delightful film Chicken Run, is featuring the madcap cheese-loving inventor and his intellectually gifted dog in their first full-length film. Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a comic bonanza and the second great stop-motion studio release this year.
Wallace and Gromit own and operate the humane pest control service, Anti-Pesto, and thanks to the upcoming giant vegetable contest, their business is doing remarkably well. But when Wallace decides to cure incarcerated rabbits of their vegetable addiction with the use of his latest invention, he produces a monster—a were-rabbit that ravages the gardens of Great Britain’s devoted practitioners of giant vegetable horticulture.
Wallace & Gromit should keep children satiated with its breathtaking claymation and charming sight gags, but there is plenty here for adults to feast on as well. This is a film that is loaded with puns, both verbal and visual. Lady Tottington tells Wallace to call her “Totty”— British slang for an attractive woman. A mass of cotton candy becomes a tumbleweed. An overhead light becomes a halo. This verbal and visual playfulness is not remarkable in and of itself. Most children’s entertainment today is chocked full of innuendo that are designed to go over children’s heads. What distinguishes Wallace & Gromit from so many other “sophisticated” children’s films is the subtlety and understatement that pervades much of the picture. Park’s stellar cast of voice talents, including Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter, doesn’t hurt things either.
If you’re still not convinced Wallace & Gromit is for you, let me close by stating that this film completely avoids referencing the Matrix. I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie that didn’t include a Matrix-esque slow-motion kung fu fight, and let me tell you, gentle reader, not seeing that scene is like a breath of fresh air. Rather than effusively vomiting meaningless and self-indulgent pop-culture references at viewers, Wallace & Gromit uses allusion at the right times and in the right places. In one of the best sequences, the shot of the were-rabbit’s transformation is lifted directly from the transformation sequence in American Werewolf in London. Later, the were-rabbit ascends the face of a building with Lady Tottington slung under his arm—an hommage to one of the first and greatest stop-motion films in the history of cinema. Wallace & Gromit might not be on the same level as King Kong, but it succeeds in transporting us to a world of whimsy and fantasy nevertheless, and that’s better than a breath of fresh air; it’s something to write home about.
Douglas Hickey regularly fails to win during Mensa Happy Hour movie trivia. He is also the founder and president of the Cochise College Cinéaste Circle
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