Did I expect a 1:1 ‘Batman: The Movie’ (1966) and ‘Aliens’ rip off in my ‘Wallace & Gromit’ special? No. But after a 3 year absence from our screens (or a 13 year absence if you discount their theatrical outing) the pair are back in 2008’s ‘A Matter of Loaf & Death’. A short im kind of struggling with a bit.

The plot? Wallace & Gromit have decided to become both bakers AND Bakery delivery drivers, when a chance encounter with the ‘Bake O’ Light’ spokesperson Piella Bakewell sends Wallaces heart racing, Gromit begins to suspect that the meeting was less ‘a happy accident’ and more a calculated plan. After further digging its revealed Piella has more going on than first appears to be the case, and it’ll be down to Gromit (who himself is having feelings for Piellas dog ‘Fluffles’) to find out whats happening and save wallace.

Something…seems off…with this one. I cant quite put my finger on it though. A glaring issue is the sheer amount of film and TV references and literal rip offs copy/pasted into this thing…Which was very dissapointing. I enjoy these shorts because they take two quintessentail british eccentrics and put them in surreal situations grounded in reality (well…barring ‘A Grand Day Out’…But even that was grounded in Wallaces day to day realities’…this special wasnt really that.

For the most part it just felt like a special that was maybe originally 15 minutes or so. But had to find 10 minutes to make it up to broadcast runtime…So they just crammed a load of media references and callbacks to the series own past entries to make up the runtime.

The main plot with Wallace and Piella dances a fine line between cringy, ‘done’ and unpleasent. Wallace here is genuinely cruel to Gromit at times and making Piella an animal abuser wasnt exactly the ‘lighthearted’ family fun I come to these specials for.

Contrasting that however, the B-plot with Gromit slowly falling for Fluffles, I thought was handled really well! with a genuine weight and complexity behind it given what we know about Gromits history so far it felt sincere. And it pained me when I realised that this plot was kind of an afterthought to ‘murderous baker woman recreates scene from ‘Ghost’ with much loved british icon.’ As there was still plenty to explore with that. I JUST WANT GROMIT TO BE HAPPY DAMNIT!!!

Not that it matters, Fluffles is almost certainly not coming back for the next special (due out tomorrow) so it kind of only makes this special feel even more hollow now in hindsight…

the pacing is fine, the tones all over the place, it feels like its struggling to hit runtime for most of its runtime and the characters feel a bit off…Whether thats ‘the wererabbit’ effect or not though has yet to be seen.

The animation is clean, cinematic and has some great moments, but nothing that really rivals ‘the wrong trousers’ or ‘A close shave’ I dunno, it feels to me like the more they strive to make something that looks big budget, the more of the shows heart gets stripped away in the process.

This was the last time Peter Sallis would repise the voice of Wallace before his death, and there are moments here that I really wish wernt…I dont need to hear a british cultural touchstone say ‘Oh ‘Eck! i’ve got a bomb in me trousers!’ With sincerity…I didnt need to hear him gushing over a woman he met less than a week prior…I wont go as far as to say its a ‘shame’ he was involved in this…but given the highs he had with the role previously…this is almost certainly a low.

Sally Lindsay as Piella is fine enough (I know her mainly from Coronation Street) Its a shame though that she wasnt able to bring more of her northern accent into the role, by making her play ultra posh, you kind of forget its her behind the voice, and I know shes a very charismatic performer when i’ve seen her on screen up to this point…but some of that kind of gets lost in translation…

the scores fine enough. they messed with the main theme tune and sped it up quite a bit faster than it should have been though, which makes it MASSIVELY lose points in my book.

All in all? eh…I didnt hate it, this had some alright ideas and the bones of a solid entry. its just unfortunate they seemed to prioritise the wrong plot threads and that they continue to strive for ‘moving parts’ over simple and effective ‘show dont tell’ storytelling…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/a-matter-of-loaf-and-death/