Discovering a “Wallace & Gromit” movie you didn’t know existed is like finding a folded-up $20 bill shoved deep in a pants pocket. When Netflix offered me the latest Wallace & Gromit for instant viewing, I actually looked over my shoulder to see if somebody would try to steal it before I got a chance to watch.
The geniuses at Aardman Animations created a new Wallace & Gromit half-hour film for the BBC last year. Since there’s no regular air time for those shows here in the U.S., we missed hearing much about it until “A Matter of Loaf and Death” was nominated for the short-animation Oscar this year.
It’s been five years since the full-length “Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” and 15 years since the last brilliant short, “A Close Shave.” The new one does not disappoint — I will be testing the bounds of the Netflix free-streaming policies in coming years by playing “A Matter of Loaf and Death” early and often.
Employing the same warm, funny and smart-alecky claymation techniques of previous W&G classics, “A Matter of Loaf and Death” opens with our heroes running a bakery. The baking line offers Aardman’s modelers multiple opportunities for the Rube Goldberg contraptions they love best, whether it’s icing a cake or pushing lazy Wallace out of bed and into the proofing room.
But there’s trouble aflour in jolly old England. A dozen local bakers have recently fallen under the bread knife, victim of a starch-hating cereal killer. Will Wallace be the baker’s dozen?
Director Nick Park does his usual stellar job of paying homage to his favorite movie genres while the action rises. A spunky poodle fends off a murderous assailant with a forklift a la “Aliens”; an upstairs bedroom full of mannequins conjures up “Psycho” flashbacks; Wallace courts an unfortunate girlfriend in a dough-making scene hilariously reminiscent of “Ghost.”
Enjoy it with the kids, if they insist on watching with you. I’m still deciding if my own children are worthy of a new Wallace & Gromit treat.
“A Matter of Loaf and Death”
Not rated: Some serial-killer themes might frighten your youngest children, but hey — it’s claymation!
Best suited for: All Wallace & Gromit fans, for multiple viewings.
