Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection (2009)

Update: This film has one big problem. The third film, A Close Shave is in the 16:9 format on this disc while the original was in 4:3. This means the original film has been cropped to fit a widescreen TV. Pretty upsetting that they wouldn't include the three original videos in their original form. The first two, A Grand Day Out and The Wrong Trousers are in their original 4:3 format.

This is a great collection of the Wallace & Gromit films. The films all look excellent in HD and the behind the scenes features and commentary tracks are wonderful to listen to and really provide a lot of insight into the creation of the films.

For example, the commentary track for A Grand Day Out, the first film, talks about its production over about 6 years and the tricks that Nick used to film each shot. I'm pretty sure that these commentary tracks are taken from the DVD release, so they are nothing new if you have that version. The film also has several behind the scenes features which are also a lot of fun to watch and give good insight into the animation process, Nick Parks career, and the growth of the Wallace & Gromit franchise.

The packaging consists of a standard blu-ray case with a paper sleeve that has the same art as the case. There is no booklet with the film, just the disc.

I think the only thing missing from this collection is the full length feature film, but I think Wallace & Gromit works best in this shorter format.

I would recommend this collection to any Wallace & Gromit fan. The noticeable improvement in quality when viewed in HD and the behind the scenes and commentary tracks make it a joy to re-watch these excellent films and notice all the little details in the sets and animations.

I'll leave for others to talk about Wallace & Gromit themselves and focus here on the Blu-Ray offering.

There are four "movies" included on the disc. Each of these is about 30 minutes long. The first three were previously included on the DVD, "Wallace & Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures." Also included on the BR disc are the features that were on the DVD. New to this release are the short "A Matter of Loaf and Death," the episode of Shaun the Sheep, "Off the Baa!," and at least one of the short features. A game demo is also included, but you need a BR player on your computer (PCs only) to play it. The first two features are full frame and the second two are widescreen. The features all look great on BR (though I don't know if they were remastered for this release).

The disc doesn't include "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit," so one might quibble that it doesn't include all the W&G material, but it does include all the shorts (including the two that won Academy Awards).

Overall, I thought this was a very good presentation for a very funny duo and well worth the price.

Buy Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection (2009) Now

I have always been a fan of the intelligent wit of Wallace and his faithful dog Gromit. I did not expect to see the series on blu-ray, but it is a joy that we now have 4 of their exploits on high definition. I had to travel over 30 miles to find a store (Best Buy) with the item in stock and was able to price match Wal-Mart, making each movie just $5.

I've watched two of the films so far (A Close Shave and A Matter of Loaf and death) and Wallace and Gromit has never looked or sounded better than on blu-ray. I can give a hearty thumbs up on this collection it is well worth owning.

Some items of note: This is a 1 disc blu-ray release, not 4 discs (which would not make any sense). This collection is also not "complete". We are missing Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Curse of the Were Rabbit has to be their best film, so it is sad that it is not included here. The films we do get are great.

Movie: 5.0/5.0

Video: 4.5/5.0

Audio: 4.0/5.0

Extras: 3.0/5.0

Overall: 4.5/5.0

Read Best Reviews of Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection (2009) Here

This looks to be the best collection of Wallace and Gromit short films yet. First off all of the films will have a commentary by Nick Park. This should be a treat for fans. You also get a number of documentaries:

"Amazing Adventures of Wallace & Gromit" featurette

"Inside The Wrong Trousers" featurette

"How It Was Done" featurette

"How They Donut" The Making of A Matter of Loaf and Death featurette

You also get an episode of Shaun the Sheep: "Off The Baa" and all ten of the Cracking Contraptions shorts that aired on the BBC website and AtomFilms back in 2002. Technical aspects include MPEG-4 AVC video in 1080p with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.

Just a little bad news. It looks like it's confirmed that the short film "A Close Shave" is the altered version that doesn't have the Happy Birthday song in it. Instead of that song another one is dubbed just like in the WB DVD release. Kinda sucks that they won't pony up the royalties to make this disk as true to the original broadcast as possible. Oh well... it's a small detail.

If you like Wallace and Gromit and have any of their previous disks this collection may be worth the double dip.

Want Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection (2009) Discount?

Pay no attention to the negative reviews for this movie. Most of them are referring to the DVD version. Three of the movies are in widescreen HD format, and A Grand Day Out is presented in fullscreen. I don't find this to be an issue since this stays true to the original format. Would you expect to watch Casablanca in widescreen?

Seeing these old favorites in HD is simply amazing. It's so clear you can even see the fingerprints in the clay. A great deal of time and effort was put into the visuals for these films, and finally, seeing them on the widescreen can do them justice. The sound is another great attribute. Hearing the sounds of Wallace's lab in surround sound really puts you in the moment. Bottom line, even if you have these movies on DVD, seeing them on Blu-Ray feels like a whole new movie.

The extras on this disc aren't much to brag about (the drawings are kind of lame) but I really enjoy the "Cracking Contraptions" and more so, I'm glad they filled the disc with special features as opposed to just the 4 films.

Chicken Run and The Curse of the Warerabbit were enjoyable, but can't hold a candle to these four movies. Any Wallace and Gromit fan should definitely pick up a copy of this, and those new to Nick Park's work will really enjoy seeing these classics in HD.

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