Wallace & Gromit - The Complete Collection (30th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] [2009] [Region Free]

Update: This film has one big problem. The third film, A Close Shave is in the 16:9 format on this disc while the original was in 4:3. This means the original film has been cropped to fit a widescreen TV. Pretty upsetting that they wouldn't include the three original videos in their original form. The first two, A Grand Day Out and The Wrong Trousers are in their original 4:3 format. This is a great collection of the Wallace & Gromit films. The films all look excellent in HD and the behind the scenes features and commentary tracks are wonderful to listen to and really provide a lot of insight into the creation of the films. For example, the commentary track for A Grand Day Out, the first film, talks about its production over about 6 years and the tricks that Nick used to film each shot. I'm pretty sure that these commentary tracks are taken from the DVD release, so they are nothing new if you have that version. The film also has several behind the scenes features which are also a lot of fun to watch and give good insight into the animation process, Nick Parks career, and the growth of the Wallace & Gromit franchise. The packaging consists of a standard blu-ray case with a paper sleeve that has the same art as the case. There is no booklet with the film, just the disc. I think the only thing missing from this collection is the full length feature film, but I think Wallace & Gromit works best in this shorter format. I would recommend this collection to any Wallace & Gromit fan. The noticeable improvement in quality when viewed in HD and the behind the scenes and commentary tracks make it a joy to re-watch these excellent films and notice all the little details in the sets and animations.

My grandkids, their dad, and I love the "Wallace & Gromit" films. There is humor for all ages in these claymation films from Aardman Animations. While the 5-year-old loves "Farmageddon" and "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" (not included in this collection), this video's "A Close Shave" and "A Matter of Loaf and Death" may be a little dark for that age group (the 7-year old thinks they're great). Buy the DVD, but preview the films if you have young children.

I have boys aged 5 and 8 years. We watched these DVD,s together. We all love Gromit who always saves Wallace, and who communicates with amazing facial expressions rather than with speech. We also admire Wallace's crazy inventions, even if they dont always work as intended, and sometimes lead to unexpected situations. The stories are great, have something for both adults and children, and the animation is intricate and beautiful. We also really loved watching the extras on the discs, short Wallace and Gromit stories and especially the bits about the making of the films. The boys were fascinated with the way these plasticine animations were made and my 8 year old has been experimenting with figures made of play dough, Lego people, a digital camera and a computer. I thoroughly recommend Wallace and Gromit for people of all ages.

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 :-)

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!!!).

Having just ordered my own special Wallace & Grommit tshirt, and since it was just a little after Christmas, I ordered this great collection of films for my niece and her children. She reports back to me that the package arrived as expected, well packed and in good condition. She also reports to me that her children are loving all of Wallace and Grommit's fun adventures. Knowing how much I have enjoyed each of these films myself, I just knew her family would love them just as much as I have. I'm pleased to tell you that all of the films included in this collection have delighted them all. Thank you so much for making them available!

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.

Wallace and Gromit claymation classic collection; say “cheese” because you’re going to smile!😀 This is an outstanding collection that is in extremely high video quality. So pleased I now have excellent copies of all their best claymation shorts. And this version, is the right ‘trousers!’

Excellent

For anyone who is a fan of the Wallace and Gromit short films this is a great combo set. It has A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, A Matter of Loaf and Death. It is important to note that this is not a DVD that can be played here in Canada unless you have UNLOCKED THE REGION SETTING ON YOUR DVD PLAYER - this is an available option on some but not all DVD players here. If you can unlock the region settings then this is such a fabulous price ( $10 compared to $50 for a Canada version). I am delighted to own this set - I love the whole premise of Pater Sallis ( Last of the Summer Wine) character with all his inventions - mostly rescued from disaster by his able companion Gromit the dog. It's a pleasure to watch something other than animated shorts and any fans of Shaun the Sheep will be able to see Shaun in his first incarnation in these movies.

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!

A very funny collection of W&G movies

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。