A Grand Day Out

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A Grand Day Out
Wallace and Gromit picnic on the moon.
Directed by	Nick Park
Produced by	Soozy Mealing
Written by	Nick Park Steve Rushton
Starring	Peter Sallis
Music by	Julian Nott
Distributed by	BBC Aardman Animations
Release date(s)	25 December 1989 (UK) 13 January 1990 (USA)
Running time	22 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Followed by	The Wrong Trousers (1993)

A Grand Day Out (full name A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit) is an award-nominated 1989 animated film directed and animated by Nick Park at Aardman Animations in Bristol, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit. This was the first adventure featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace and his quiet but smart dog Gromit. Its sequels are 1993's The Wrong Trousers, 1995's A Close Shave, 2005's The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and 2008's A Matter of Loaf and Death. In the film, Wallace and Gromit spend a bank holiday by building a rocket to the Moon to sample some cheese.

Background

Nick Park started making the film in 1982 as his graduation project for the National Film and Television School. Aardman Animations took him on before he finished the piece, allowing him to work on it part time while still being funded by the school. To make the film, Park wrote to William Harbutt's company, requesting a long ton of plasticine. The block he received had ten colours, one of which was called "stone"; he used this for Gromit. Park wanted to voice Gromit, but he realised the voice he had in mind – that of Peter Hawkins – would have been too difficult to animate to.^[1]

For Wallace, Park offered Peter Sallis £50 to voice the character, and his acceptance greatly surprised the young animator. Park wanted Wallace to have a Lancastrian accent like himself, but Sallis could only do a Yorkshire voice. Inspired by the way Sallis drew out the word "cheese", Park chose to give Wallace large cheeks. When Park called Sallis six years later to explain he had completed his film, Sallis swore in surprise.^[1]

Gromit was named after grommets, because Park's brother, an electrician, often mentioned them, and Nick Park liked the sound of the word. Wallace was originally a postman named Jerry, but Park felt the name did not fit with Gromit. Park saw an overweight labrador retriever named Wallace, who belonged to an old woman boarding a bus in Preston. Park remarked it was a" funny name, a very northern name to give a dog".^[2]

Plot

One night, Wallace and Gromit are pondering where to go for the upcoming bank holiday. Wallace gets up to prepare tea with cheese and crackers, only to discover they are out of cheese. Making the most of their situation, Wallace decides they should go somewhere where there is plenty of cheese, ultimately choosing to go to the moon, since "everyone knows the moon is made of cheese." The two build a moon rocket in their basement, complete with easy chairs and a wallpapered cabin. Once the two complete packing provisions for the journey, Wallace lights the rocket's fuse. With only a minute to go in the countdown, he discovers that they have forgotten to pack crackers. He rushes out of the rocket and hurries up to the kitchen to get crackers, making it back to the rocket a few seconds before the engine ignites. Even with the engine running, the rocket refuses to lift off. Gromit realizes he has forgotten to release the hand brake and does so, allowing the rocket to lift off.

Upon reaching the moon, which is indeed made of cheese, Wallace and Gromit set up a picnic. They try out the lunar cheese, trying to determine what kind it is, but realize it's like nothing they've ever tasted before. They decide to try another spot, where they find a strange vending machine of sorts called "the Cooker". Wallace puts a coin into the machine, but nothing happens, so he and Gromit continue on their way. Once they’ve left, the Cooker grows robotic arms and springs to life. It discovers Wallace and Gromit’s picnic site; agitated by the mess, it cleans up the dirty dishes. It then discovers a magazine advertising skiing holidays, and develops a desire to travel to Earth and go skiing.

Shortly afterward, the Cooker notices Wallace. Aggravated by his littering, illegally-parked and leaky rocket, and unrestrained consumption of moon cheese, the Cooker approaches Wallace to bludgeon him with a truncheon. Just as Gromit notices the machine, it runs out of money and shuts down. The previously-oblivious Wallace notices the Cooker, decides to take the truncheon as a souvenir, and inserts another coin into it for no apparent reason. As Wallace and Gromit leave for the rocket, the Cooker comes back to life. Realizing the rocket can take it to Earth where it can fulfill its dream of skiing, the machine chases after Wallace and Gromit. As the two friends prepare for emergency takeoff, the Cooker breaks into the rocket with a tin cutter. Blundering about in the dark interior of the rocket, the Cooker lights a match near the fuel tank, causing an explosion. The Cooker tries to hang on, but eventually is thrown across the lunar surface as the rocket launches, tearing off two strips of metal from the rocket. Initially crushed by its failure to get to Earth, the Cooker realizes it can use the two metal strips as a pair of skis. While happily skiing on the lunar surface, the Cooker waves goodbye to Wallace and Gromit, who return home.

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film, but lost to the short Creature Comforts, which was also a creation of Nick Park.

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Wallace and Gromit

• A Grand Day Out at the Internet Movie Database
• Wallace and Gromit character website