Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Movie · 2005 · Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family · 1h 25m · G · English
Curator score: 8.3/10 (481.1K ratings)
Something wicked this way hops.
Overview
Cheese-loving eccentric Wallace and his cunning canine pal Gromit run a business ridding the town of garden pests. Using only humane methods, which turns their home into a halfway house for evicted vermin, the pair stumble upon a mystery involving a voracious vegetarian monster that threatens to ruin the annual veggie-growing contest.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.3/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.88/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
Metacritic: 87
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Steve Box, Nick Park
Production
Aardman, DreamWorks Animation
Cast
Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay, Nicholas Smith, Liz Smith, John Thomson, Mark Gatiss, Vincent Ebrahim, Geraldine McEwan, Edward Kelsey, Dicken Ashworth, Robert Horvath, Pete Atkin, Noni Lewis, Ben Whitehead, Christopher Fairbank, James Mather, William Vanderpuye, Nigel Pilkington
Curator Review
Verdict
A witty, meticulously crafted stop-motion adventure that blends cozy British eccentricity with genuine suspense and monster-movie parody. It’s funny, visually inventive, and charming for kids and adults alike, with Gromit’s wordless expressiveness doing a lot of the emotional heavy lifting.
Best for
families looking for a smart all-ages movie
fans of stop-motion animation and handcrafted detail
viewers who enjoy British humor and gentle absurdism
people who like monster-comedy and parody with heart
Skip if
you want fast-paced modern animation
you dislike quaint, very English humor
you prefer broad slapstick over dry wit
you are not interested in family-friendly horror pastiche
Overview
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a model of how to expand a beloved short-form world into a feature without losing its charm. The animation is packed with tactile detail, the visual gags are constant, and the whole thing has the feel of a lovingly engineered machine that still somehow leaves room for spontaneity.
Worth noting
What makes it work beyond the craftsmanship is the balance of tones. It’s a creature feature, a village comedy, a romance of sorts, and a satire of competitive pride all at once, but it never feels overloaded. Gromit remains the emotional center, and his silent reactions are often funnier and more moving than any dialogue could be.
Bottom line
The film is especially rewarding if you like comedy that is precise rather than chaotic. It’s warm, clever, and surprisingly suspenseful, with enough monster-movie energy to keep the stakes lively while staying family-friendly throughout.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Graham Williamson (4.5★) · 4252 likes
Too often, when we wonder who the Greatest Living Englishman is, we forget that Nick Park asked Dreamworks for thirty million dollars to make an internationally-released feature-length film about marrow-growing contests in Lancashire and they said yes.
mia lee vicino (4★) · 3150 likes
wallace babe are you okay? you’ve barely touched your cheese 😳
Ray (4★) · 2970 likes
Gromit crying is very upsetting
Karsten (4★) · 2394 likes
great follow-up to michael haneke’s “funny games”
James (Schaffrillas) (4★) · 2377 likes
Effortlessly charming with great characters and expressive animation. Horror parodies usually make me roll my eyes out of my skull but this one does it with such finesse and absurdity that I genuinely adore it.