A Grand Day Out

Plot synopsis:
As Wallace and Gromit relax at home, trying to decide where to spend their upcoming bank holiday, Wallace decides to fix a snack of tea with cheese and crackers. Finding no cheese in the kitchen, he decides that the pair should go to a place known for its cheese.
After browsing several possible locations, a glance out the window at the night sky gives them the idea to travel to the moon, since, according to Wallace, "everybody knows the moon's made of cheese." They build a rocket in the basement and pack for the trip, but after lighting the fuse, Wallace realises that he has forgotten the crackers. Hurrying to the kitchen, he grabs multiple boxes and returns to the rocket just in time for lift off.
When they arrive on the moon, they discover that the entire landscape is in fact made of cheese. They set up a picnic and sample some, but are unable to match its taste to any cheese they know. Looking for a different spot, they encounter "The Cooker", a wheeled, mechanised, coin operated device that resembles an oven and storage cabinet.
Wallace inserts a ten pence coin, but nothing happens immediately; only after he and Gromit have left does the Cooker spring to life, popping jointed arms out of its side panels. When it finds the picnic site, it becomes agitated and gathers up the dirty dishes; finding a skiing magazine nearby, it develops a desire to travel to Earth and experience the sport. The Cooker glues a discarded spike of cheese back onto the spot from which Wallace cut it, issues a parking ticket for the rocket, and becomes annoyed by an oil leak from the craft.
The Cooker spots Wallace and Gromit in the distance, Wallace having cut another spike of cheese, and sneaks up with a nightstick in hand. However, before it can hit Wallace over the head, the money Wallace inserted runs out and it freezes in place. Wallace takes the nightstick as a souvenir, inserting another ten pence in exchange, and he and Gromit prepare to leave. Returning to life, the Cooker realises that the rocket can take it to Earth and excitedly chases after them. Wallace panics, thinking that the Cooker is angry over the cheese he is taking, and he and Gromit retreat into the rocket.
Unable to climb up the rocket's ladder, the Cooker cuts its way into the fuselage with a can opener, but accidentally spills and ignites some fuel. The resulting explosion blows it backward and allows Wallace and Gromit to lift off. The Cooker is left on the moon, with nothing but two strips of metal ripped from the fuselage; initially crushed by its failure to reach Earth, it fashions the strips into a pair of skis and is soon happily skiing across the lunar landscape. It waves goodbye to Wallace and Gromit as they return home.

Tags: comedy, psychedelic, humor, entertaining

Review:
In this Wallace and Gromit short, the clay twosome voyage to the moon in order to replenish their cheese supplies.
But all that came later.A Grand Day Out was the first Wallace and Gromit film.
The entire story is designed to minimise the need for sophisticated animation and to maximise the excuse for shortcomings (perhaps dogs and people would move a bit like that on a cheese moon).Yet it is extraordinary to see how much of the Aardman genius is already there in this short film.
And a machine (is it an Aga?) that daydreams about skiing when it sees Wallace's holiday magazines.Of course TWT, ACS and Were-Rabbit are better movies, but this film is so worth seeing as a sign of early genius and indeed in its own right as a crude but wonderful animated film..
Although A Grand Day Out is arguably the weakest of the three existing Wallace and Gromit films, it's still very funny, and very entertaining.
I also recommend A Close Shave and The Wrong Trousers, which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film..
Nick Park has created such funny characters with Wallace and his faithful dog Gromit.
This time, they run out of cheese and decide to get it on the moon, as 'everybody knows it's made of cheese'.They make their own spaceship and finally make it to the moon, where the cheese doesn't really taste like anything and they have an encounter with a local robot, whose secret dream is it to ski (as we see in a lovely dream sequence with the W&G theme playing on the background, loved that!).This short picture is so funny, I can recommend it to anyone.
"Gromit, we've forgotten the crackers!" Wallace and Gromit are very funny, very cute little claymation characters that go on adventures so that everybody can have a good time.
When they get there, it's a bit different than they expected, but that doesn't stop them from exploring around and running into a little mischief with a robot thing that happens to be left there (and take Earthling money, too...).It's quite a charming little duo, this Wallace and Gromit.
You can't take a short film like this seriously, it's all in good fun.I think Nick Park and his crew did an excellent job with this film.
I think this is down to an experimentation with the characters and a finding of their place.The plot itself is very silly, and it follows the man (an absent-minded inventor) and his dog (who happens to be smarter than the man himself) on a trip to the moon in search of cheese.
What more can one say Nick Park at his best.The best part in the film has to be when  the dog clicks his fingers when he remembers he has left the hand brake on.But then again who else would think of going to the moon in search of cheese..
STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits In this debut effort for Nick Park's beloved man and dog, they are forced to fly to the moon when good old Wallace runs out of cheese.As well as being the shortest feature at just 22 minutes, this W/G adventure is also the earliest and it kinda shows.
The plasticine animation is a little creaky and funny here, sort of reminiscent of the Mork animation about the little man in the box.Admirable though the craftsmanship behind it is, I've never actually been hugely into Wallace & Gromit (maybe a bit too clean and traditional for someone of my generation.) The only one I've really enjoyed is The Wrong Trousers (and that was more from when I was younger and less aware of, shall we say, the seedier pleasures of life.) I was driven to actively seek out this early effort due to the resurgence in popularity as a result of the hugely successful recent film adaptation.As technically impressive as the first two (all things considered!) this one lacks the emotional angle it's successors were to possess.
It's also a good story, that appeals to both adults and children.Is it the best of the 'Wallace and Gromit' films?
But it has stood the test of time, and there's lots of flashy big budget animated films that won't do that.I think people will still watch this film for many years to come..
Although my favourite Wallace & Gromit film will always be THE WRONG TROUSERS, a 30 minute short which got absolutely everything right - I remember wearing out my old VHS tape of it - Nick Park originally made the characters back in the 1980s and their first outing was this 1989 short.
It's a slightly cruder version of the characters we've come to know and love over the years, but the magic is there from the beginning and the seeds of greatness were sown here.The story is quite simplistic in this film and lacks the kind of quick-fire gags that the series became known for.
The best thing about the film is Gromit, who seems to have appeared on the screen fully formed, while the doughy-headed Wallace needed a little more tinkering before achieving perfection in THE WRONG TROUSERS (the bit where he descends the cellar steps looks really, really dodgy).
In light of its fantastic graphics and lovely story, it was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film--which it lost, oddly enough, to another film from the same studio!
CREATURE COMFORTS is a much simpler film--shorter and with a single gimmick (which you either loved or hated--I hated it) and I have no idea why the Wallace and Gromit short lost--it was head and shoulders above this other film.This short has to do with both introducing the characters as well as giving them something to do--in this case, taking a trip to the moon to satisfy Wallace's pathological love for cheese!
There is a lot of be admired about the Wallace and Gromit short films.
In this, the first film out of three directed by Nick Park  not including the Oscar-winning feature length film of 2005  'A Grand Day Out' is a genuinely entertaining 23 minutes of imagination and creativity, completed over six years by Park, who produced the film as part of his graduation project from the National Film and Television School.I have heard some remark that the animation in this film is poor, and yet I find myself wondering how they came to this conclusion.
The story begins on a rather dull banking holiday, and the good-natured Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) is unsuccessfully trying to decide where he and his canine companion Gromit are to spend their day off.
And so  as anybody might do in such a situation  the pair endeavour to travel to the Moon, which everybody knows is comprised of cheese.Wallace, being an enthusiastic inventor, casually tosses together a space rocket, and pretty soon they are ready for their big journey.
Their picnic on the lunar surface offers a hint of imaginative absurdity, with the main storyline concerning a coin-operated gas oven who lives on the Moon, writes out parking tickets and dreams of skiing.All this makes for a quirky, clever and humorous short film that literally anybody can enjoy.
Interestingly, 'A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit' was nominated for Best Animated Short at the 1991 Academy Awards, but failed to take the statue.
Aardman Animation and writer Rick Park comes up with a brilliant stop motion short entitled Wallace and Gromit - A Grand Day Out. It tells a story of two inventors (Wallace and his dog Gromit) who want to go for a holiday and decided to go to the moon because that's where cheese are found!
I won't divulge more information about the storyline so one will have to watch the film to find out.In my opinion, this is the least in terms of quality and the storyline as compared to the other two shorts ('Wrong Trousers' and 'Close Shave').
Indeed, he has gotten a lot better with his other films.I would say if you are not already a fan of Wallace and Gromit, I'd suggest that you watch the other W/G shorts first before watching this one as you may feel a bit disappointed with this film..
This short film was the start of an amazing career for claymation artist Nick Park, in a film involving an inventor and his clever canine.
Wallace, and his clever hound Gromit, construct a big rocket to take them to the moon.
There's something special in this type of clay animated short.It has to do with an inventor "Wallace" and his silent dog "Gromit" planning to go somewhere for what the British would call a vacation "holiday".
The animation may not be up to scratch, but this is the first long feature by Nick Park and so cannot be compared with the later films such as 'Chicken Run', 'The Wrong Trousers' or 'A Close Shave' because the studio learned, developed and improved their ground-breaking skills with every new production.
This short animated film introduces us to the characters Wallace and his faithful dog Gromit.
Wallace's quest for cheese shows his inventive side as he and Gromit build a rocket in their basement, with the intention of taking a holiday on the moon.
I've watched this film many times, and enjoy it more with each viewing.This would be my favorite animated short film of all time, were it not for the two follow-up films, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave..
The short, simple story is fun, the music catchy, the imagery great, and the animated figures incredibly engaging (Peter Sallis voices Wallace).
This first Wallace & Gromit short is sometimes thought of as the best but it's not.In case you don't know the characters, I'll catch you up.Wallace is a not so smart inventor and Gromit is his very intelligent dog.Wallace is always doing dumb things while Gromit sits back and watches.Maybe because he can't speak or maybe he's just a jerk,they never broach the subject.In this adventure, Wallace discovers they are out of cheese and decides they should go to the moon because it's made of cheese.I understand this series isn't meant to be realistic or factual but sometimes they push it a bit far.
So anyway, Wallace builds a rocket out of a wooden door with some help from Gromit.They go to the moon and meet some weird vending/washing machine that takes British money and is sentient.After reading Wallace's vacation magazines, the machine gets some ideas of how to have fun on the moon.This is definitely something all kids and some adults should watch at least once..
After 8 years of production Nick Park introduces us in this short, but sweet film to the now legendary characters of Wallace and Gromit.
In the short, Wallace and Gromit decide to take a trip to the moon after they run out of cheese to bring back to Earth, after they become bored during a Bank Holiday (this is based on an old folklore tale that the moon is made of cheese.) While there they meet an old rusted gas cooker that initially attempts to see them off before having a rather humorous dream of becoming a skier.
Despite the character models and sets not being as refined as the follow-up shorts 'The Wrong Trousers' and 'A Close Shave' also not particularly having a complex or well developed plot.
A Grand Day Out is a bold statement to how much of an impact a simple stop-motion clay animation short has on the world of film.
He and his dog Gromit build a rocket and travel to the moon.
The robot gets fascinated from Wallace's travel magazine about skiing.Nick Park has created one of the funnier claymation characters in this 23 minute short.
Wallace and Gromit is the best of the lot, though Chicken Run is great too.
I loved the idea of Wallace thinking the moon was made of cheese, and the plot never ran out of steam.
A Grand Day Out for Wallace and Gromit.
It was probably because of the other two had better clay graphics but that just shows Wallace and Gromit have evolved which is good too.
The story wasn't really a story and wasn't good compared to the other two, the story was about Wallace was about to have his afternoon tea (cheese and crackers) were he finally sees there is no cheese in the house he decides to go to another place that has cheese....The Moon!
Wallace begins work on turning their shed into a space rocket for a moon picnic.Park's first Wallace & Gromit adventure started a line of success for him but it doesn't compare well with later efforts.
The plot is as good as all his films but the animation looks old and a little thin  the budget is clearly smaller for this first outing.
However it still manages to be clever and very funny.Wallace is well voiced and is suitably set out character and Gromit is ever present to raise an eyebrow here and there when his master appears to be foolish.
The Best of the Wallace and Gromit Films.
Wallace (Peter Sallis) and Gromit have run out of cheese and this provides an excellent excuse for the animated duo to take their holiday on the moon, where, as everyone knows, there is ample cheese.Frankly, I never got the charm or appeal of the Wallace and Gromit animations, and do not really care or much of anything Aardman has done.
Although the Aardman animation (or 'claymation' if you prefer) has improved over the years, I still really love the look and feel of this short.
Wallace and Gromit claymation shorts are always based on inventive ideas and that's where most of the appeal comes from.
Here, Wallace and Gromit are on holiday, so they travel to the moon, because they were all out of cheese.
He won with his three follow-up Wallace and Gromit films then, the last being a full feature.I quite like this short film, not as much as The Wrong Trousers, but more than A Close Shave.
Park is on such a creative high that year that he brings us Wallace & Gromit, almost in their ultimate shape, with a great catchy tune and also already a prospect of things to come in the famous Aardman sheep on the picture at the wall of the rocket.
Anyway, watching this short film I had to think of French movie pioneer Georges Méliès' Trip to the Moon which shows quite a few parallels: the planning, the rocket building and finally the flight from the inhabitants.
The introduction to British stop-motion studio Aardman Animations' 1st Wallace and Gromit adventure "A Grand Day Out" - and the perfect introduction as well!
The reviews here on IMDb for this first film short featuring Wallace and Gromit range the gamut from calling it the least enjoyable to the best.
With the premise of the story having Wallace and Gromit heading for the moon in a spaceship to score some cheese, what it looked like to me was Gromit slicing off a piece of play-dough for his crackers.
Wallace is a Lancastrian man with a taste for cheese and Gromit his dog who actually seems to be the more intelligent of the two.As the story opens they are trying to decide where to go on their holidays; then Wallace realises that they are out of cheese so decides to head to the moon as everybody knows it is made of cheese.
We soon see that Wallace is also a bit of an inventor as he designs a rocket then builds it with Gromit.
They also find a coin operated machine which when activated doesn't approve of the damage the visitors are doing to the moon it also sees a travel magazine they brought and dreams of skiing!This isn't the best of the Wallace and Gromit shorts but it is still a lot of fun and does a great job introducing the now familiar characters.
There is a great inventiveness about the story; I loved the fact that Wallace is an ordinary person; of course it helps that Peter Sallis does such a fine job providing the voice of the character.
Gromit is equally good; managing to be a great character without making a sound; the way he is animated brilliantly shows what he is thinking though.
But when they get there, they instead have to contend with a ski-obsessed oven/cooker, who won't leave them in peace.Even in they're debut, Wallace & Gromit and A Grand Day Out is a charming adventure.
A Grand Day Out is probably the weakest of the Wallace & Gromit shorts.
All of the other Wallace & Gromit films are driven by far stronger stories.
The plot, such as it is, is made to take a backseat to the (admittedly funny) visual puns and Wallace & Gromit's effortless double-act.Perhaps A Grand Day Out hasn't aged as well as the other films, but a lot of the things we've come to love about Wallace & Gromit are already in place.
Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out. This was the very first of the ever popular special short films starring Plastercine stars Wallace the bald-headed inventor and Gromit the dog.
Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and Gromit are looking at holiday magazines when they decide to have their favourite cheese and crackers.
They decide that this location will be the moon, since its made of cheese (or at least in this animation).
Wallace and Gromit were number 11 on The World's Greatest Comedy Characters, and they were number 15 on The 100 Greatest Kid's TV Shows, and as part of Aardman Animations, they was number 15 on The 100 Greatest Cartoons.