Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of The Ware Rabbit

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a 2005 stop-motion animated comedy film produced by Aardman Animations in partnership with DreamWorks Animation. United International Pictures distributed the film in the United Kingdom, and it was the last DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by DreamWorks Pictures in the United States.1 It was directed by Nick Park and Steve Box as the second feature-length film by Aardman after Chicken Run (2000). The movie was released in Sydney, Australia on 4 September 2005, before being released in cinemas early in the United States of America on 7 October 2005, and in British cinemas in the United Kingdom a week later on 14 October 2005.

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is part of the Wallace and Gromit series, created by Nick Park. The film follows good-natured eccentric cheese-loving inventor Wallace and Gromit, his intelligent mute dog in their latest venture as pest control agents, as they come to the rescue of a village plagued by rabbits before an annual vegetable competition.

The film features an expanded cast of characters relative to the previous Wallace and Gromit shorts, with a voice cast including Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes. It was a critical and commercial success, and won a number of film awards including the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, making it the second film from DreamWorks Animation to win (after Shrek), as well as both the second non-American animated film and second non computer-animated film to have received this achievement (after Spirited Away).

Plot
Tottington Hall's annual giant vegetable competition is approaching with the coveted Golden Carrot as its prize. Wallace and Gromit provide a humane pest control business, "Anti-Pesto", protecting the townspeople's vegetables. One morning, Wallace devises a plan to lose weight and creates the Mind Manipulation-O-Matic to transmit the rabbits' appetite for vegetables out of their minds and into his. The machine malfunctions and Gromit destroys it to protect Wallace; however, the transfer appears to have worked, as the test rabbit shows no interest in vegetables. They name the rabbit Hutch while Wallace begins rebuilding the device.

That night, a giant rabbit devours many of the town's vegetables. Wallace suspects that Hutch may be the were-rabbit and locks him in a high-security cage. At a town meeting, Victor Quartermaine the hunter offers to shoot the were-rabbit, but Lady Tottington persuades the townsfolk to continue with Anti-Pesto's services. After following the were-rabbit, Gromit discovers that Wallace is the monster. Victor, who seeks to woo Lady Tottington, corners Wallace at night. Wallace transforms into the were-rabbit under the light of the full moon and bounds away. Gromit lures Wallace home to protect him. Victor obtains three gold bullets from the town reverend to use against Wallace.

At the contest, Gromit convinces Wallace that he is the were-rabbit, and Wallace hides himself away. Lady Tottington, who has come to like Wallace, visits and tells him about Victor's plan. When the moon rises, Wallace begins to transform and shoos Lady Tottington away. Victor arrives and fires on Wallace with the golden bullets. Gromit creates a distraction to allow Wallace, as the were-rabbit, to escape; the hunter gives chase to the competition. Gromit begins working with Hutch, who has developed Wallace-like traits, and plans to use his giant marrow as bait to lure Wallace to safety.

Wallace, as the were-rabbit, creates chaos at the fair. Victor grabs the Golden Carrot trophy to use as ammunition. Wallace carries Lady Tottington atop Tottington Hall, where she discovers Wallace's connection to the were-rabbit. Victor gives chase, revealing that he only wants to impress Lady Tottington for her money. When Gromit arrives, Victor's dog Philip engages him in a dogfight in aeroplanes taken from a fairground attraction. Gromit sends Philip's plane to the ground, then steers his plane into Victor's line of fire as Victor fires at Wallace, causing the bullet to hit the plane instead, much to Victor's outrage. When the plane starts to stop working from the bullet shot, Wallace jumps, grabs Gromit and sacrifices himself to cushion their fall into a cheese tent.

Victor gloats about his victory, but Lady Tottington hits him with her giant carrot and he falls into the tent too. In order to protect Wallace from an angry mob, Gromit quickly disguises Victor as the were-rabbit and the mob of townspeople chase him away. Wallace transforms back to his human self and appears dead, but Gromit uses some Stinking Bishop cheese to bring him around. Lady Tottington awards Gromit the Golden Carrot and converts the grounds of Tottington Hall into a habitat for Hutch and the other rabbits.

Cast

 * Peter Sallis as Wallace, an eccentric, absent-minded and accident-prone inventor with a great fondness for cheese, who runs Anti-Pesto with his dog and best friend, Gromit.
 * Sallis also provides the voice of Hutch, a captive rabbit who gradually becomes Wallace-like after an attempted mind-alteration goes awry and who is at first suspected to be the Were-Rabbit. Sallis's voice was digitally accelerated to create that of Hutch's.
 * Gromit is Wallace's silent, brave and highly intelligent dog who cares deeply for his master, and saves him whenever something goes wrong.
 * Ralph Fiennes as Lord Victor Quartermaine, a cruel upper class bounder and a prideful hunter who is courting Lady Tottington. He wears a toupee and despises Wallace and Gromit.
 * Philip is Victor's vicious but dimwitted hunting dog who resembles a Bull Terrier. He is too cowardly to face the Were-Rabbit so he instead targets Gromit.
 * Helena Bonham Carter as Lady Campanula Tottington, a wealthy aristocratic spinster with a keen interest in vegetable horticulture and 'fluffy' animals. For 517 years, the Tottington family has hosted an annual vegetable competition on their estate on the same night. Lady Tottington asks Wallace to call her "Totty" (which is a British term for attractive women) and develops a romantic interest in him. Her forename, Campanula, is the scientific name of a bellflower, and her surname is taken from the Lancashire village of Tottington.
 * Peter Kay as Police Constable Albert Mackintosh, the local village policeman who judges the Giant Vegetable Contest, though he would prefer it if the (trouble-making) competition didn't happen.
 * Nicholas Smith as Reverend Clement Hedges, the foolish local vicar and the first resident to witness the Were-Rabbit.
 * Dicken Ashworth and Liz Smith as Mr. and Mrs. Mulch, vegetable contestants and clients of Wallace and Gromit's Anti-Pesto.
 * Edward Kelsey as Mr. Growbag, an elderly resident of Wallace and Gromit's neighbourhood and a founding member of the town's veg grower's council.
 * Geraldine McEwan as Miss Thripp, an Anti-Pesto customer. McEwan reprised her role in A Matter of Loaf and Death.