Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection [Blu-ray]

I love these guys!

Fast delivery. Item like new, rather than very good. Highly recommend this seller.

I don't need to write a review to influence whether or not you're going to buy this. I'm writing this because I hope that someone who happens to stumble across Wallace and Gromit for the first time will wonder why their life wasn't fulfilled until they met these two characters. I absolutely love the wit and nuance captured in each clay-formed expression that Nick Park brings to life. There is nothing so creatively though out and painstaking to produce than these 4 episodes. I just wish there was an amount of money to pay Nick Park to do more of them (although I'm guessing that Nick is most likely more motivated by purpose, authenticity and principle rather than financial gain-another reason to love this guy). That is until you learn/watch the bonus features and discover how much work goes into making one of these episodes. If you're reading this Nick Park, please find somewhere in the middle to keep W & G alive and make a few more episodes. Or a full length movie would be awesome. You could literally charge $50 a ticket and host it only on limited basis. I'm not suggesting that you sell out and become the Simpsons. Just lay a few more lengths of track before the penguin gets caught :-)

Fantastic! Great for kids and adults.

Though aware of their existence and somewhat curious about them for some time, I had not previously see any of the Wallace & Gromit shorts prior to seeing "Curse of the Were-Rabbit" when that hit theaters. The movie made me a fan and soon enough I grabbed the DVD collection of the first 3 shorts. More recently, I grabbed the Blu-Ray Collection to grab the 4th short, and to get the HD versions. This Blu-Ray Collection is absolutely THE way to see Wallace and Gromit. The colors are much more vibrant, and details hidden previously by the overly dark presentation on the DVD set now stand out and make this so much more enjoyable to watch. The 4 shorts are often reported as being presented in the aspect ratio "as intended", and that was the impression I was under for quite a while, but that is debatable with regards to one of them. "A Grand Day Out" and "The Wrong Trousers" are shown in 4:3 aspect ratio, as they are on the DVD release. The short "A Close Shave" is shown in an odd 1.66:1 ratio that is not quite the more standard widescreen of 1.78:1 that the final short, "A Matter of Loaf and Death", is in. On the DVD release, "A Close Shave" is shown in a 4:3 aspect ratio. If you watch the DVD and Blu-Ray versions side-by-side, it's a lot more obvious that the Blu-Ray version was simply cropped at the top and bottom to make it "widescreen"... and clumsily so in retrospect. I had thought before that they simply opened up the framing on the sides and cropped a little on the top/bottom, but that's just not the case. It's easy to overlook how badly the cropping is since the Blu-Ray version looks a LOT nicer with the colors more accurate and details popping out that were hidden on the DVD. Why they did this is rather baffling. So, what about the videos themselves? Starting with "A Grand Day Out", it's obvious from the get-go that this was an early effort from the animators as they were refining their skills. The production is lower in quality, with the animations being somewhat jerkier than the others, and the characters' features a bit cruder than what we know and love today. The pacing I feel is a bit stilted, and it seems to me that the video serves largely as a showcase for demonstrating some of the more complex animations that had to be difficult to pull off. This doesn't mean that the video wasn't enjoyable. Quite the contrary, despite being something of a freshman effort, it was full of the witty little bits and pieces that their work is so well known for. The second video, "The Wrong Trousers", is my personal favorite. The character animation is much smoother than before; their features developed to how we know them today; and the story was a fair bit more complex and paced much better. It feels like the animators had really gotten comfortable with their craft and, rather than devising a series of scenes to show off their animation skills, paid much greater attention to the story than before. It's truly a great piece. The same can be said for the latter two shorts, "A Close Shave" and "A Matter of Loaf and Death". In addition to the four short films, they've included as extras the 10 Wallace & Gromit short shorts collectively known as "Cracking Contraptions", and an episode of "Shaun the Sheep", a spinoff series featuring Shaun, a character who was first introduced in "A Close Shave". I didn't watch "Shaun" all the way through, so I can't comment much other than it being in standard def and is basically there to promote the DVD set for that series. The "Cracking Contraptions" extras were rather disappointing in that they appear on the Blu-Ray in standard definition (480p). Compared to the feature short films, the CC shorts (which are 1-3 minutes long each) are noticeably blurrier on my 50" HDTV and much of the little details that the W&G films are known for don't stand out like they do in these HD versions of the featured short films. For as short as the "Cracking Contraptions" episodes are, roughly 20 minutes or so in total, surely they could have been remastered in HD along with the featured W&G short films. For this reason, along with the butchering of "A Close Shave", I consider this worth a 3-4 star rating out of 5 stars, rather than a full 5 of 5. Hopefully we'll see "A Close Shave" re-released in HD without the butchering some day. I'd especially like to see "Cracking Contraptions" remastered in HD and released perhaps as a digital download also. Better yet, as extras on a yet-to-be-announced-but-hopefully-is-coming-soon Blu-Ray edition of "Curse of the Were-Rabbit" (please pretty please!!!).

Truly a Masterpiece. My favorite is the first one, the trip to the Moon. I love the way I emotionally identify with the robot vending machine. Perfect Sound Effects. Excellent lighting, especially in the second one. Incredibly Masterful. As a filmmaker, I am astonished that such good timing, as displayed and executed through the superb story telling, music and editing, is in a "Stop-Motion" film, of all genres. Truly a supreme example of genius in the art of filmmaking.

Great fun. Love these movies.

I'll leave for others to talk about Wallace & Gromit themselves and focus here on the Blu-Ray offering. There are four "movies" included on the disc. Each of these is about 30 minutes long. The first three were previously included on the DVD, "Wallace & Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures." Also included on the BR disc are the features that were on the DVD. New to this release are the short "A Matter of Loaf and Death," the episode of Shaun the Sheep, "Off the Baa!," and at least one of the short features. A game demo is also included, but you need a BR player on your computer (PCs only) to play it. The first two features are full frame and the second two are widescreen. The features all look great on BR (though I don't know if they were remastered for this release). The disc doesn't include "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit," so one might quibble that it doesn't include all the W&G material, but it does include all the shorts (including the two that won Academy Awards). Overall, I thought this was a very good presentation for a very funny duo and well worth the price.

Squisitissimo bluray di tutti i corti di Wallace e gromit. Inglese vero, facilmente comprensibile (la cosa può renderlo quindi un regalo sia utile che dilettevole). Un ottimo sostituto della mia vecchia VHS, qui si vedono persino le impronte digitali sulla plastilina!

Excellent stories and very entertaining. Just finished watching 'The Curse of the Were Rabbit' and it follows on from this DVD with more very British humour. These 4 stories are probably best for over 5 year olds so they can grab the full extent of the subtle humour, but also very entertaining for adults. The claymation is excellent. Well worth the money (which was very reasonable from the U.K. to Canada). Be aware that if the DVD comes from the U.K., you will need a player that at the very least plays the U.K. format (or perhaps try it on your computer?).

内容自体はまったく問題なし。ただ英国仕様なので、日本のDVDプレーヤーとリージョンが違います。うちでは結局iMacでのみ観れています。

The Wallace and Gromit series is an absolute gem, blending ingenious claymation with witty British humor. Each episode is a delightful adventure, showcasing the quirky duo's inventive escapades. The timeless charm and clever storytelling make it a joy for all ages. Truly a masterclass in animation and creativity.

... aber das weiß man vor dem Kauf: der Film "Auf der Jagd nach dem Riesenkanninchen" fehlt. Vier Filme des ungleichen Duos sind hier zusammengefasst. Liebevoll gestaltet und spannend werden hier die Erlebnisse von Wallace und Gromit erzählt. Wallace der tollpatschige und weltfremde Erfinder und sein Hund Gromit, der alles wieder ins rechte Lot bringt, stolpern von Abenteuer zu Abenteuer. Sei es nun Käse auf dem Mond zu finden, einen hinterlistigen Räuber-Pinguin dingfest zu machen, sich mit Schafen und deren Roboter-Hütehund rumzuärgern oder den Bäcker-Mörder zur Strecke zu bringen, alle Geschichten sind spannend und lustig erzählt. Besonders erwähnenswert erscheint es mir, darauf hinzuweisen, wie sich die Form und die Bewegungsabläufe der Figuren über die Filme hin entwickeln und immer perfekter werden. Die Geschichten werden umfangreicher und stringenter erzählt. Dennoch ist auch der erste Film eine wahre Freude. Alle Filme durchzieht ein feiner Humor, der die Filme nicht nur für Kinder geeignet macht... In der Bonusabteilung erwarten uns u. a. 10 kurze Spots zu verrückten Erfindungen von Wallace. Rundherum eine gelungene Blu-Ray, deren Bildqualität ziemlich ordentlich ist. Schließlich ist dies keine moderne High-End-Produktion.