Wallace, England’s Inspector Gadget, and his trusty dog/sidekick Brain… Err, Gromit are returning to their trouble-making, cheese-eating ways in a sequel to their charming feature debut, Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Despite the recent split between Aardman Animation and Dreamworks Animation, Reuters says that creator Nick Park is busy at the drawing board planning a second film.
"Wallace and Gromit are alive and kicking," said Arthur Sheriff, Aardman spokesman, on Wednesday. "There is a project on the table right now. It could be television, it could be a feature film. That depends on how the storyline develops. It will go into production as soon as he has finished writing it."
It’s good to hear that the Dreamworks break up hasn’t stopped Aardman and Park from getting back to work on two of the most loveable animated characters. After collaborating on Chicken Run (2000), Were-Rabbit (2005) and the recent Flushed Away (2006), it’s a shame that Dreamworks dropped Aardman to focus on computer-generated animation.
Although Aardman was slated to produce five pictures for Dreamworks, the deal was cut short after the third. Never mind the critical praise and awards the films received, including a 2005 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Dreamworks is more than happy with C.G. movies full of pop culture references and innuendo.
Dreamworks’ decision to drop Aardman and Park, who creates characters with more heart and spunk than any silicon-blooded caricature, baffles the mind. Especially when anyone with an iMac and iMovie are busy making C.G. movies (just look at Hoodwinked). Stop-motion animation is an art from that is not easily mastered. But Dreamworks seems more interested in slick C.G., as oppose to the naïve fun produced by Aardman and Park.
