Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death Review

The comedic duo of Wallace & Gromit are back with their latest caper, and right in time for Halloween, in the hilarious murder mystery Wallace & Gromit: A Matter Of Loaf and Death. As a part of their 20th Anniversary Collection, this recently released animated film, features Wallace & Gromit in a delightful who-dunit that will appeal to both children and adults alike.

In this latest adventure, Wallace tries his hand at the bakery business, opening a shop called "Top Bun," while the local newspapers are running a story about a string of murders of local bakers. In the process of a delivery, Wallace meets the Queen of the baking business, the rotund, Piella Bakwell (voice of Sally Lindsay) ironically, well known for her line lite bakery products. In the midst of the whirlwind romance, Gromit discovers that Piella will stop at nothing to get rid of the competition, as he races against the clock to prevent Piella from claiming Wallace as her next victim.

Director Nick Park draws on a variety of sources in this concise 30 minute caper, including some eerie Hitchcockian accents, as well, as spoofing scenes from a variety of mystery and horror films such as Ghost, starring the late Patrick Swayze, The Silence of the Lambs, and The Exorcist. The animators do an excellent job of creating suspense and capturing Gromit's emotions, primarily through the use of facial expresses and eye movement. As always, the claymation is state of the art, and flows naturally.

On the negative side, the cover indicates a run time of 87 minutes, which is a bit misleading, since the feature is only about 30 minutes. The DVD does  include an entertaining "How They Donut"-Making of the film featurette, audio commentary by the Director, a Wallace & Gromit Grand Adventures video game demo, and a bonus episode : "Shaun of the Sheep." entitled "Off the Baa!" The run time for the film, plus the bonus material may come closer to the 87 minute run time.

Overall, its hard not to recommend this concise, but entertaining comic murder mystery. It may not quite rise to the level of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Chicken Run, but fans of the Wallace & Gromit series are sure to enjoy this tasty morsel.