Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2009)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Bread Winners

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Fourteen years after the last Wallace & Gromit short film, A Close Shave, and four years after the inspired feature film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Nick Park returns to his beloved characters in the short form once again, with this new half-hour entry. It's as technically sophisticated as anything Park has done so far, but the plot doesn't really offer anything new; it's very much a re-tread of A Close Shave. Operating a high-tech bakery, Wallace and Gromit are on a delivery when they rescue the former "Bake O Lite" girl, Piella (voiced by Sally Lindsay), from a runaway bicycle. Wallace falls madly for her, and she moves in and proceeds to make changes around the homestead. Gromit doesn't trust her, and worse, there's a murderer on the loose that's targeting bakers. This series is funniest when Gromit gets to show some of his low-key deadpan behavior, but this particular plot requires him to be ramped-up and anxious the entire time. Call it the weakest of the series, but still a likeable enough visit with these two wonderful characters.