The Wrong Trousers
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TITLE “The Wrong Trousers” by Nick Park*
STUDIO/SCHOOL Aardman Animations
To pay off debts, Wallace lets the spare bedroom to a penguin, who befriends Wallace and drives Gromit from the house. The penguin takes an interest in Wallace's new "techno trousers", which can walk on walls and ceilings, and secretly rewires them for radio control. Gromit realizes that the penguin is a wanted criminal, who disguises himself as a chicken, Feathers McGraw. Feathers forces Wallace into the techno trousers and sends him on a test run through town. Later, Gromit spies on Feathers as he takes measurements of the city museum, and discovers Feathers' plans…
The Wrong Trousers is a 1993 British stop-motion animated short film directed by Nick Park at Aardman Animations. It is the second film featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and his dog Gromit, following A Grand Day Out (1989). In the film, the two live together in a cosy English idyll aided by various handy gadgets straight out of the cartoons of Heath Robinson. Wallace decides to take in a devious penguin lodger who drives Gromit from his room, and ultimately out of the house. The evil little bird also happens to be a master criminal and he soon exploits Wallace's peculiar genius to steal a diamond from the local museum. Of the Wallace and Gromit films made by the world-famous British animation studio, "The Wrong Trousers" is possibly the most accomplished of them all. It developed the characters and considerable talent showcased in "A Grand Day Out" and was merely reworked in their equally enjoyable third outing, "A Close Shave". Nick Park creates a kind of dynamic previously confined to two-dimensional animation and with tightly structured narrative pays homage to a broad cinematic heritage.
The penguin's efforts to drive a sleeping Wallace through the museum in a pair of remote-controlled trousers and the finale in which they hurtle around the house on a model train are set-pieces as thrilling as any in live-action blockbusters. Gromit is the most expressive cartoon dog since Snoopy, and without uttering a word he carries the story through its all too brief 30 minutes. Attention to detail makes it a rewarding film to watch and re-watch, with amusing headlines and daft wallpaper.
The Wrong Trousers premiered in the United States on 17 December 1993, and the United Kingdom on 26 December 1993 on BBC Two. It was commercially successful and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1994. It also inspired a charity fundraising day, known as "Wrong Trousers Day", one of several events. The short was followed by two sequels, A Close Shave, released in December 1995, and A Matter of Loaf and Death released in December 2008. Feathers McGraw would reappear in the 2003 video game Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo.
