A Close Shave - A Movie Review

Is it me, or do we have a lot of sheep?

A Close Shave is a 1995 Wallace and Gromit short. One day, as the duo is window cleaning, Wallace meets Wendoline Ramsbottom, the owner of a wool shop. Head over heels in love with her, Gromit notices a suspicious scene involving sheep.

I binged all the Wallace and Gromit shorts just like when I was a kid. It was great watching them again. A Close Shave was one of my favorites. It was the first Wallace and Gromit short to do something different. It is a dramatic short with more characters and succeeds in new challenges.

Aside from our main duo, an assortment of different characters appear in this short. I remember being excited when we were introduced to more characters. Wendoline Ramsbottom was Wallace’s first love interest. She has a lot of subtleties. Carrying baggage, Wallace and Wendoline connected for a brief period.

The late Peter Sallis and Anne Reid did a wonderful job leading their voices in their roles. I like Wallace’s characterization in this short. There is more to him than his quirky inventive side. As more shorts were made, I feel like the writers didn’t conduct enough emotional moments from Wallace.

Introducing another menacing villain, Preston always intimidated me. Fun fact: Preston was actually the name of the town in which Nick Park grew up. Similar to Feathers McGraw from The Wrong Trousers, Preston never speaks. His cold icy stare is intimidating enough. He puts Gromit in the ultimate fight.

Speaking of Gromit, I always love his scenes. We always know how Gromit is feeling because he is so expressive. The Wallace and Gromit franchise is the best representation of body language. Gromit is always here to protect everyone. That’s what I like about him.

All the sheep made for memorable comedic scenes. A Close Shave introduced Shaun the Sheep who earned his own TV series and movie. He was adorable every time he was seen onscreen.

The process of how A Close Shave was made is fascinating. Clay animation is a busy world. Nick Park is up to any challenge. A new layer of special effects was invented to further test the stop motion process.

To create the suds, hair gel and glass beads were used. Unfortunately, it would the set smell by the end of the day. And to make the porridge look stickier, beeswax was added to the mix.

Park concentrated long hours with a handful of characters. A total of 40 animators worked on this film. If only I could go back in time to see what it was like to animate several sheep in one scene. It had to have been a difficult process, but in the end, the short looks incredible.

More sets were created like the town, the wool shop, and the factory in the climax. It’s a chance to see more of this world. It felt like a real town the more it expanded with each episode.

Park also did a good job with the pacing. He did great work with the funny moments. Humorous references were thrown in. This short contained more emotional moments. That’s another challenge that Park succeeded in. He’s very good at directing suspense.

The car chase scene is one of my favorites. I always go on Youtube to look up this clip. This sequence is a very impressive action scene. Julian Knott added the best soundtrack to excite audiences.

If you are going to watch any Wallace and Gromit shorts, watch A Close Shave. It’s the definition of clay animation.