The Wrong Trousers

Well and truly a masterpiece. Astounding just how much Nick Park was ahead of his time making this in 1993. The Wrong Trousers is not only in my opinion the best of the Wallace and Gromit films, it is also obviously my favourite. My love for it is more than the fact I watched it hundreds of times when I was younger, because that can be said for A Grand Day Out, and A Close Shave also. My love for The Wrong Trousers is because in under half an hour it hits the mark for everything it could possibly need to do. We need no prior introduction to Wallace and Gromit, despite this being the second instalment, as their dynamic is prevalent very quickly. It introduces us to the Techno Trousers, and explains Wallace's economic state. The best thing is, none of this is force fed to the audience, it is all clearly shown, but not shoved into our faces, rather using subtlety. Feathers McGraw, now an iconic, instantly recognisable villain of pop culture, is crucial to the story, so Park wastes no time in introducing us to him. The story flows beautifully, well paced and thought out, behind each shot is a wider meaning with clear choices. The music specifically helps to nail the intended emotions. Overall the film just succeeds at simply making me feel something, happiness, nostalgia, sadness and deepest sympathy for Gromit. And obviously, pure, sheer, unapologetic hatred for Feathers. It is a sense of inescapability that makes the film so good, perhaps it is because I'm rewatching it for the umpteenth time, and therefore know the story inside out already, but I don't think it is as simple as that. By making it clear to us what Feathers plans to do, or at the very least that he has malicious intentions, it makes us increasingly frustrated when Wallace is none the wiser. All these perhaps small story choices might not seem like much, they might seem like standard issue film story arc stuff, but to me they are a lot more, this film does these things in such a specific way, and I could talk about them forever. All of that just for the story and emotion of the film, the style and magnitude of Park's claymation creation is brilliant. The mere two or so minutes worth of animation of the model train scene must've taken an eon to create. Thank you Nick Park.