"Actor: Wallace And Gromit"

• Wallace & Gromit, 'A Grand Day Out', The 'Wrong Trousers' & 'A Close Shave' | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £5.19   |  Saving you £10.80 (208.09%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A Grand Day Out Nominated for an Academy Award in 1990, the first short-film adventure of Wallace and Gromit was this 24-minute comedy, created by clay animator Nick Park over a six-year period at the National Film & Television School in London, and at the Aardman Animation studios that Park boosted to international acclaim. In their debut adventure, Wallace and his furry pal Gromit find themselves desperate for "a nice bit of Gorgonzola", but their refrigerator's empty and the local cheese shop is closed for a holiday! Undeterred, Wallace comes up with an extreme solution to the cheese shortage: since the moon is made of cheese (we all know that's true, right?), he decides to build a rocket ship and blast off for a cheesy lunar picnic! Gromit's only too happy to help, and before long the inventive duo is on the moon, where they encounter a clever appliance that's part oven, part robot, part lunar skiing enthusiast ... well, you just have to see the movie to understand how any of this whimsical lunar-cy can make any sense! It's a grand tale of wonderful discoveries, fantastic inventions--and really great cheese! The Wrong Trousers Clay-animation master Nick Park deservedly won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Animated Short for this 30-minute masterpiece, in which the good-natured inventor Wallace and his trusty dog, Gromit, return for another grand adventure. It all begins on the morning of Gromit's birthday, when Wallace gives his beloved pooch the gift of his latest invention--a pair of mechanical "techno-trousers" that can be programmed to take Gromit out for "walkies" while Wallace sits comfortably at home. Gromit's not exactly thrilled with the new gadget, and things go from bad to worse when Wallace rents a room to a new boarder--a rather suspicious-looking penguin--to offset his rising expenses. As it turns out, the penguin's a notorious thief, and the amazing techno-trousers provide a foolproof method of pulling off a diamond heist! It's Gromit's big opportunity for canine heroics, and The Wrong Trousers turns into one of the funniest, most inventive caper-comedies ever made, with an action-packed climax on a speeding miniature train. Will the notorious "Feathers" wind up in jail where he belongs? Will Gromit finally get his due recognition? Watch this amazing marvel of clay animation to see why Wallace and Gromit have become global celebrities--this is comedic ingenuity at its finest. A Close Shave Hot from the international triumph of The Wrong Trousers, clay animator Nick Park knew that his third Wallace and Gromit film was going to have to be the biggest and best adventure yet for the mild-mannered inventor Wallace and his perceptive pooch Gromit. With the ambitiously zany plot of A Close Shave, Park and his fellow animators rose to the occasion and their film won the 1995 Academy Award (Park's second Oscar) for Best Animated Short. This time out, Wallace and Gromit have teamed up to provide a window-washing service, and that's how Wallace meets the lovely Wendolene Ramsbottom, a wool-shop owner whose malevolent dog Preston turns out to be the mastermind of a sheep-napping scheme! Of course, no Wallace and Gromit adventure can be without a grandiose gadget, so Wallace's latest invention is the Knit-O-Matic, a yarn-making machine capable of shearing a whole flock of sheep just a bit too efficiently! When the villainous Preston gains control of the mechanical knitting marvel, Gromit must race to the rescue, and A Close Shave reaches new heights of clay-animation mastery. Every shot is a testament to Nick Park's patience, his clever ingenuity, and his film-making flair. The movie's so technically impressive, in fact, that the whole world wondered where Park could go next. It was no surprise, therefore, to find him making the transition to the big screen with Chicken Run. --Jeff Shannon

• Wallace And Gromit - 3 Cracking Adventures | DVD | (24/09/2007) from £5.76   |  Saving you £2.23 (27.90%)   |  RRP £7.99

  A Grand Day Out: Wallace likes a nice bit of cheese with his crackers so when this eccentric inventor finds his fridge empty and the local cornershop shut for the Bank Holiday he is forced to look further afield for his cheddar. His faithful dog Gromit is used to his master's flights of fancy but this time his ears prick up with excitement because our two plasticine heroes are about to blast off in their home-made rocket on the ultimate day trip - Wallace and Gromit are off to the moon! The Wrong Trousers: This time it's action and laughter all the way as our plasticine stars are plunged into a hilarious tale of skullduggery involving an extraordinary pair of automated trousers and a villainous penguin. Posing as an innocent lodger the friendish fish-easter sets about recruiting mild mannered Wallace as an unwitting accomplice to his dastardly plot - a diamond heist with a technically advanced trouser-inspired difference. It is left to the faithful Gromit to turn detective and save the day as malice and mayhem culminate in a breathless train-top chase - around the sitting room! A Close Shave: Trade is booming for Wallace and Gromit's Wash'n'Go window cleaning service and love is in the air as Wallace falls for the owner of the local wool shop the lovely Wendolene Ramsbotom. But Wallace has a new incentive - a Kinit-O-Matic machine - and adventure looms: sheep are being rustled wool is in short supply and Wendolene's malevolent pooch is on the prowl . . .