User reviews

If you had told me that sitting for 30 minutes watching bits of clay would be entertaining, I would have said you were mad.

But you would have been right.

Thanks, Nick Park, for making this old man feel like a kid again.

'Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers' is a highly enjoyable claymation tale about an inventor man and his dog companion, who happens to be smarter than the man himself. This tale involves a rogue penguin with an evil plan involving Wallace and Gromit and his inventions.

This is a warming tale about friendship and realistic characters, and children are sure to enjoy the imagination behind the story and the claymation and humour. Adults are also sure to love the same on a higher level. It's rare in a film to find a tale enjoyable to both children and adults, but 'The Wrong Trousers' succeeds in this.

This is a charming little short film, and it should be watched and enjoyed by all. Highly recommended.

Nick Park's hysterical plasticine duo Wallace and Gromit are back in this, their second outing, pitting themselves against the plotting penguine whose devious nature is taking advantage of Wallace's niavity. However, the ever suspicious Gromit is seeing through the Penguine's frosty exterior and sets out to uncover his secret scheming shadowy plan. The Wrong Trousers is the best so far from Peter Lord and Nick Park, putting even the outstanding Chicken Run and Close Shave in it's shadow. The characterisation is simply electrical. The ever suffering but mute Gromit and the clumsy well meaning Wallace muddle their way to stopping a truely outstanding criminal genius penguine (whose pesona is portrayed with such subtlety and effect that the cute bird becomes the very essence of evil). Park and Lord's pace and cinematography in this animation medium are truely world leading, climaxing in the mad mayhem of a train-set chase through their house. The plot is simple yet full of nuances and details (check out the headline's on Wallace's newspaper and the wall paper in Gromit's bedroom)raising this above even the best that that big studios can produce. A film almost without fault which pays homage to the greatest and most farciscal works of the great Ealing comedy era (there is something sinister happening but, it isn't that sinister really). Watch this film and let the quality and clarity of the humour seep into your soul. A true mile-stone of animation which deserved it's oscar like no other animation ever will.

Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993): Calling this delightful and hilarious Oscar-winning masterpiece (brought to us by Nick Park, co-director of "Chicken Run," one of my all-time favorite films) the best claymation short ever is a lot like saying that someone just bought the best vehicle from a used car lot, so I'll go ahead and call this the best animated short ever, which it definitely is. No questions asked. It's brilliantly shot, paced, scripted, directed...to paraphrase Mary Poppins, it's practically perfect in every way. You can't help but fall in love with every single character on the screen, from our always-lovable cheese-loving inventor and his loyal canine companion to even the devious jewel-thieving penguin Feathers McGraw (the subject of the bestselling "Have You Seen This Chicken?" T-shirts). They are so well-rounded that Feathers nearly steals the show; it's impossible to keep a straight face at the sight of a penguin nervously wiping sweat from his brow, disguising himself as a chicken and firing a revolver, all while wearing the same stolid expression in his little peppercorn-black eyes. The wild train ride near the conclusion is a breathtaking segment that will never be topped by any other animation studio in this millennium or the next. I cannot recommend this work of genius enough. If you find anything whatsoever to dislike about it, I suggest seeking professional help immediately. Otherwise, pop this into your video or DVD player, put your feet up and watch this piece of animated history unfold before your very eyes. 10/10

The best film of the Wallace and Gromit trilogy, and one of the greatest films, period. Nick Park and the animators at Aardman are some true talents and gifted storytellers. Nick Park has made some great clay stop motion cartoons before, such as Creature Comforts, but with The Wrong Trousers he really topped himself. The technical aspects of the movie are amazing. The noirish lighting, the attention to detail, the small jokes in the background, the camera compositions and the fluid animation (it doesn't have that herky-jerky look of most clay animated films) are awe-inspiring by themselves, but combined with such a witty story and appealing characters the result is something that truly deserves to be called a classic.

A prodigy of animation, "The Wrong Trousers" won the Oscar for best animated short. Nick Park is at fine shape here, as he displays not only the skill of his craft but also a narrative coherence and care that nearly overpasses the artistic talent. It's the advantage of stop-motion animation: each shot is carefully studied and considered, and the story moves forward having Gromit the dog as the main character, and he succeeds all the way in convincing us of his "acting skills", even though he doesn't say one word or make one sound. The film has a great plot: Wallace and Gromit are forced to let a room, and a grim penguin applies for it. Soon, the intruder takes over the house and replaces Gromit as Wallace's best friend. But there is more than meets the eye, and the rest of the story is too good to be spoiled. Constructing suspense to the very end, with hair-raising sequences until the last spectacular showdown and applying all the formulae that make a god movie, this is animation on the top of its game, and a great opportunity to see just how much you can raise the bar on claymation short features. Talent has never been so evident.

This is considered the best offering from Wallace and Gromit, and although I love Close Shave just as much, I cannot disagree. Gromit steals the show with his facial expressions and his attempts to foil the plans of that cute but evil penguin. Peter Sallis again does a superlative job, and I must say he sounds more confident than he did in Grand Day Out, while the visuals especially the character designs have more finesse and the music is rousing. I loved the scenes in the museum, and my favourite scene was the train scene, towards the end. The trousers idea was a great idea, and it worked to an advantage. In conclusion, a hilarious short, and my advice to anybody who hasn't yet seen it, is do so now, because you'll never regret it! 10/10 Bethany Cox.

In order to help make ends meet Wallace decides to rent out their spare room. However the new lodger takes Gromit's room and puts him out in the dog house. Meanwhile Wallace continues work on a pair of remote controlled trousers. But is the new lodger as innocent a chicken as he appears? Wallace finds himself part of a major jewel robbery – can Gromit return in time to save him?

The second of the adventures of Wallace & Gromit sees the animation greatly improve and the comedy oh so very sharp and funny. The basic plot is a little silly but very well crafted considering this is a short film – I wish many `proper' films had plots this clever and imaginative. It is also absolutely a wonder to watch – even when I wasn't laughing I was easily charmed by the wit and imagination of the whole thing.

The animation is superb, Wallace is as good as ever and Gromit is much more fully developed and is easily the star. The penguin however threatens to steal the show as well as the jewel. How can a plastercine penguin with a glove on it's head that likes listening to organ music be threatening? Well it can – here he snaps his head round and stares with such menace that it's frightening! They all work well together but Gromit takes the film by a nose.

With all those brain dead kids cartoons around on TV this should be treasured. Adults will love it as there is plenty of detail for them to enjoy and kids will totally fall for the rich comedy and well animated characters. A wonderful little gem.

In my opinion, Wallace & Gromit are to modern animation what Bugs Bunny was to classic cartoons: they truly set the standards. Following "Creature Comforts", Nick Park made "The Wrong Trousers". W&G take in a penguin as a boarder, and the little guy soon becomes Wallace's favorite. Gromit decides to leave, but then it turns out that this is no ordinary penguin.

I think that my favorite scene was Wallace "walking" around in the trousers; they must have had fun filming that scene. Watching these cartoons, one can see that "Chicken Run" was coming eventually. All in all, this is a cartoon that you can't afford to miss. Perfect.

This was the second in a series of three short BBC programs featuring a man and his dog. With a full-length feature film that came out a dozen years later (just recently in 2005). Wallace & Gromit is now far better-known. But, to those of us who "discovered" W&G back in the mid-to-late '90s, they were a fun pair we enjoyed in these three 30-minute shows.

"The Wrong Trousers" is best at the end with a very funny chase scene inside a toy train set. Earlier, Wallace, the inventor, is trying to invent a pair of remote-controlled trousers. He's a bit short on money so he rents out a room in house. The lodger prefer Gromit's room. Gromit is Wallace's pet dog. The dog is literally put out in the dog house, and is not happy about this.

In a crazy series of events, the tenant - an evil penguin - gets Wallace inadvertently involved in a jewel heist and Gromit has to come to the rescue. It's very silly but the unique animated cinematography helps make this a winner.

This marvelous short won the Academy Award and is the best of the series, though all so far have been delightful! The praise heaped on Wallace and Gromit has been vast and well-deserved, so my additions are gilding the lily, but I'll still say something. The Wrong Trousers is funny, sad, insightful and just plain mad, frequently all at once. If there's any justice, they will remain in print in perpetuity. Most recommended.

I went into The Wrong Trousers with high expectations, considering it's often touted as one of the best Wallace & Gromit shorts. Unfortunately, it left me scratching my head as to why it's considered a classic. The plot centers around Wallace's invention of a pair of robotic trousers, and the ensuing storyline quickly becomes predictable.

The villain-a penguin in disguise-might have been a quirky addition, but it felt almost gimmicky and didn't add much depth to the story. The humor is subdued and lacks the kind of wit I was expecting. I found myself bored midway through, as the story didn't evolve much and seemed to rely too heavily on visual gags that didn't really hit the mark.

I can appreciate the work that goes into claymation, but the plot just wasn't strong enough to keep me entertained. This short feels overhyped and is unlikely to appeal to anyone who doesn't already have a fondness for Wallace and Gromit's oddball charm.

I'm not the only one who thinks "Citizen Kane" is a great film because Orson Welles and his collaborators thoroughly exploited the potential of the sound film in telling their story, combining fine acting, intricate plotting and editing, and well-composed visuals and sounds in ways that just NAIL the viewer. Very few films have ever juggled so many filmmaking resources so well, but one of the few to do so, in my opinion, is the English clay-animated short "The Wrong Trousers".

As in "Kane", Nick Park and his crew of animators expertly combine a variety of methods in telling their story. The "acting," or rather the character animation, is wonderful, more so for the dog Gromit than for the goofy-looking human Wallace; Gromit's subtle expressions conveying everything we need to know about what he's thinking. Even more subtle is the penguin lodger, with a deliberately bland face but expressive gestures and body language. The plot is ingenious, with hardly an ounce of fat, and perfectly paced, starting slowly and gaining momentum almost imperceptibly until the climax.

The visual storytelling is excellent, especially since so much has to be conveyed without dialogue, and the clarity of the climactic sequence at the end marks a high point for film editing. The staging includes dramatic lighting and other bits of visual texture with which few animators bother. Finally, the music is one of "Trousers"'s most overlooked features--the sequence in which Gromit leaves in the rain while the penguin watches from the window offers a neat demonstration of music's effectiveness as a storytelling tool.

I don't really think "The Wrong Trousers" is really BETTER than "Citizen Kane", in an artistic sense. Of course, Orson Welles didn't try to make "Kane" as a 30-minute animated film with only three characters (two of whom are silent), either. As with "Kane", however, I get more out of "The Wrong Trousers" every time I watch it.

This is a clever picture that gets better the more times you watch it. The attention to detail is amazing. It makes you wonder over and over again - How did they do that?

I have this on DVD and enjoy taking time to check some segments out frame by frame to catch all the background details like book titles on the shelf and news paper headlines. It's enjoyable for youth and adults alike.

There's no use prevaricating about the bush, 'Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers (1993)' is a whole heap of fun! Having not seen the film in years, I'd almost forgotten that it was so uproariously entertaining. It was 'Creature Comforts (1989)' that took home the Oscar in 1991, but Nick Park instead planned a sequel to 'A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit (1989),' a short film that, in my estimation, showed far more promise. This next effort sees the pair with their feet firmly on terra firma, but in an adventure that is no less wacky than the last. Despite economic woes, Wallace has built a impressive contraption for Gromit's birthday – a pair of mechanical trousers. To offset his financial losses, Wallace opens up his home to lodgers, attracting the business of a creepy and silent penguin named Feathers McGraw. The sinister flightless avian soon sets about systematically severing the immortal bond between master and pet, in preparation for a devilishly cunning heist scheme.

Nick Park's films are held in reverence by the animation community, and with good cause. Rarely before had the claymation medium been utilised to create such rich animated characters; even previous successes like 'Closed Mondays (1974)' couldn't evade the fact that they were produced using shifting masses of clay. 'The Wrong Trousers' boasts but three characters – only one of which can speak – and yet the relationship between the three is superbly authentic. Maybe it's the personal touch of recognising the animators' thumb-prints on every character, but somehow Park manages to capture every nuance of their behaviour, every tiny inflection of emotion. In half an hour, Gromit doesn't utter a single word, and yet he communicates his sadness, anger and excitement through an affectionate glance or downcast eye. Likewise, the sinister Feathers McGraw attains creepiness precisely through his silence. That he doesn't speak keeps his motives veiled in secrecy, and those beady, ominous eyes are probably enough to give young children nightmares.

Of course, most people love 'The Wrong Trousers' for its humour, and there's plenty of it. That sparkling British humour is truly allowed to shine, and the gentle voice-acting of Peter Sallis has the sheer sincerity to carry the frequently-offbeat jokes. Whereas 'A Grand Day Out' was a homage of sorts to the science-fiction genre, probably more in line with Georges Méliès than anyone else, this effort is an affectionate satire of the British crime films of the 1950s and 1960s. The evil penguin has the eccentric malevolence of Alec Guinness in 'The Ladykillers (1955),' though without the fondness for articulate speech. The object of the villainous heist scheme resembles the titular jewel in 'The Pink Panther (1964).' With mock seriousness, amateur sleuth Gromit paces his way through the clichés of the genre, culminating in a hilarious madcap locomotive chase along miniature train-tracks, which our hero must lay down as he goes. This sort of impeccable entertainment deserves to run for far longer than thirty minutes.

Together with 'Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave' and 'Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out' this is one of the funniest things I have seen. The clay animation looks great, the stories are very ingenious and the jokes are great. If you get a chance to see this, please do so. You will have a great time.

I guess this one is the best from the three, although 'A Close Shave' comes close. You must see all three of them anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

This is a touching story . When Gromit found himself second to Wallace's affection I thought my heart would break . Poor Gromit , poor poor Gromit as he packs his bags and leaves the house my heart was breaking and the tears were flowing down my cheeks .

Did I mention that Gromit is a plasticine dog in an animated movie ? No ? Believe me I'm not some bleeding heart animal loving do gooder - I'm a very prolific IMDb reviewer perhaps the most cynical one on this site and I was totally moved and entertained by this animated film . If I enjoyed it how can anyone else not enjoy it ?

THE WRONG TROUSERS is the second and best of the Wallace & Gromit shorts . As with Nick Parks other work the animation where animals have idiosyncratic humanized personalities is superb but its the script co- written by Park and former DOCTOR WHO scriptwriter Bob Baker that is so enjoyable . The plotting and character interaction makes it touching and exciting and even this childless cynic enjoyed every single moment of it

If you're a parent and are wondering how to keep the kids quiet for over an hour maybe you should show them an episode from the new DOCTOR WHO series followed by THE WRONG TROUSERS . If that doesn't work as family entertainment nothing will

'The Wrong Trousers' is an ingenious bit of filmmaking/cartoon making...whatever you want to call it. It combines lovable characters with cute personalities and a humorous plot to make an enjoyable film. I can watch this again and again and again, and it's still good. Why? Well, maybe it's the writing. It's witty enough to humour you, but not too clever to confuse those little kids which this would probably attract, yet the catchphrases and gimmicks assigned to each character are good enough to make me fall on the floor with laughter. If this was played out real life, it would be a monty python style caper woth elements of Mr Nielson in there..he's make a good Gromit. The lip sync is perfect and and the voices are sooo good. Peter

Salis is sooooo Gromit i can't belive it. This is how REAL animation should be done, Walt, eat your heart out (and have some wensleydale and crackers to wash it down ). Cracking.

Pretty good movie or movie short, jokes can still lead into giggles and the story was well condensed making none of it boring. Mad that the animation holds up nearly 3 decades later the train scene is pretty elite and still don't understand how they managed to do it in stop motion. Only real problem is that it's hard to route for Wallace since he has obvious disregard for Gromit throughout and continues to show disrespect till the very end.

Overall it's a fun film and that's all that really matters, solid watch

This is my favorite of the three Wallace & Grommit cartoons. Nick Parks is just brilliant. The animation is fantastic and Grommit's facial expressions are priceless. Everyone in my family - from my 7 year old niece to my 57 year old father - has seen it and loved it. I recommend this video to everyone I know.

Saw this for the first time when i was in grade 7. Will always love this!