Another outing for the famous pair in this the third part of the Wallace and Gromit trilogy - and this time love is in the air too..

**the plot**

Wallace and Gromit are window cleaners (no, I don't know why either) and they go to clean the windows of a wool shop in the middle of a wool shortage. Anyway, it turns out that Wendolene (who Wallace falls for) is involved in a sheep rustling scan because of her errant cyber dog which Gromit gets put in prison for. But with the help of Shaun the sheep (that's worse than one of my puns...) Gromit's innocence is proven and they nearly live happily ever after except for the fact that Wendolene hates cheese!!!

**the background**

The Wrong Trousers had been a massive hit (please see my other review. No really. Do. And rate it while you're there!) and Colin Rose at the BBC went to Aardman and Nick Park with the idea of making another one and they decided it would be ready for Christmas 1995, giving 18 months to do the whole thing from scratch - not a lot of time at all! The shoot started in November 1994 for ten months.

**five things you should know**

1. Because they did it so quickly it cost more than previous films - a lot more. The Wrong Trousers had cost £650,000 - this had a massive £1.3 million pound budget!
This meant more model-makers, cameramen and animators and a less hands-on, more director type role for Nick Park.

" I did animate the prison sequence with Gromit, and some other bits and pieces, but not much."

2. There are yet more film references in this film - notably Brief Encounter, Indiana Jones, The Third Man and Alien.

3. In the rush, they ended up with 5 extra minutes of animation and they actually had to edit out shots.

4. The sound track by Julian Nott for A Close Shave is on a grand scale - a 65 piece orchestra to be precise, which would be the envy of many a live action film!

5. There were just two months of post-production before A Close Shave premiered on 16th November at the 1995 London Film Festival.

**my opinion**

You'd never know there was anything rushed about it - it's yet another beautifully thought out story that actually makes you want the 2 little plasticine people to get it together! And I love the fact that the attention to detail is still there that you saw in The Wrong Trousers - this time look out in particular for Gromit's reading material through the film. favourite scenes in this include the motorcycle pyramid made out of sheep (!?) and Wallace's face when he realises Wendolene hates cheese... The only thing that makes me prefer The Wrong Trousers a bit more, is that this is rather scary in places for little ones, with a sinister dog and machines trying to eat the heroes! But all in all, another great little film.

**the bottom line**

Voice of Wallace: Peter Sallis
Voice of Wendolene: Anne Reid
Animation: Steve Box, Loyd Price, Peter Peake, Gary Cureton, Nick Park
Art Director: Phil Lewis
Director of Photography: Dave Alex Riddett
Editor: Helen Garrard
Music: Julian Nott
Writers: Bob Baker and Nick Park (based on original characters by Nick Park)
Executive Producers: Peter Lord, David Sproxton and for the BBC: Colin Rose
Producers: Carla Shelley and Michael Rose
Director: Nick Park

An Aardman production of a Nick Park film in association with BBC Bristol & BBC Children’s International