The Wrong Trousers
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''The Wrong Trousers'' is a 1993 British stop-motion animated short film co-written and directed by
Nick Park Nicholas Wulstan Park (born 6 December 1958) is a British animator who created ''Wallace and Gromit'', ''Creature Comforts'', ''Chicken Run'', ''Shaun the Sheep'', and '' Early Man''. Park has been nominated for an Academy Award a total of ...
, featuring his characters
Wallace and Gromit ''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British stop-motion comedy franchise created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series c ...
, and was produced by
Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited (also known as Aardman Studios, simply Aardman or Aardman Animation and stylised as AARDMAN as of 2022) is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion and clay an ...
in association with Wallace and Gromit Ltd.,
BBC Bristol The BBC campus, Broadcasting House Bristol, is located on Whiteladies Road, Bristol. The first building to be occupied was 21/23 Whiteladies Road, which was built in 1852 and is a Grade II listed building, with four radio studios. It was form ...
, Lionheart Television and BBC Children's International. It is the second film featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace (voiced by
Peter Sallis Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...
) and his dog Gromit, following '' A Grand Day Out'' (1989)''.'' In the film, a villainous penguin named Feathers McGraw uses Wallace and Gromit's robotic "Techno-Trousers" to steal a diamond from the city museum. This was the last Wallace and Gromit film to have Wallace as the only spoken character. ''The Wrong Trousers'' premiered in the United States on 17 December 1993, and the United Kingdom on 26 December 1993 on
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
. It was commercially successful, and won the
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...
in 1994. It also inspired a charity fundraising day, known as "Wrong Trousers Day", one of several events. The short was followed by two sequels, ''
A Close Shave ''Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave'' is a 1995 British stop-motion animated short film co-written and directed by Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations with Wallace and Gromit Ltd., BBC Bristol and BBC Children's International. It is ...
'', released in December 1995, and ''
A Matter of Loaf and Death ''A Matter of Loaf and Death'' is a 2008 British stop-motion animated short film produced by Aardman Animations, created by Nick Park, and is the fourth short to star his characters ''Wallace and Gromit'', the first one since ''A Close Shave'' ...
'' released in December 2008. Feathers McGraw returns in the 2003 video game '' Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo''.


Plot

On Gromit's birthday, Wallace gives him two presents: a collar and lead set, and some robotic ex-
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
Techno-Trousers, which can take Gromit for walks. While Gromit is out on a forced "test run", Wallace, realising that he does not have enough money to pay the bills, decides to put an empty room in the house up for rent. A penguin arrives to rent the room, but decides he likes Gromit's bedroom better. Unable to say no to a paying guest, Wallace moves Gromit into the empty room. The penguin takes an interest in the Techno-Trousers after watching Gromit use them to walk on walls and ceilings. By playing loud music all night, and taking up all of Wallace's time and affection, the penguin deliberately drives Gromit to run away from home. Once Gromit has gone, the penguin removes the controls from the Techno-Trousers and converts them into a portable remote. He then replaces Wallace's normal trousers with the Techno-Trousers, so that Wallace will accidentally put them on. Once Wallace is stuck in the "Wrong Trousers", the Penguin uses the remote to send Wallace running and jumping all over town, eventually exhausting him into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, Gromit notices a wanted poster for the criminal Feathers McGraw, supposedly a chicken but really the penguin in disguise. Noticing McGraw has been controlling the Techno-Trousers, Gromit begins to follow and spy on him, eventually returning to the house. His research confirms McGraw's identity and uncovers a plot to steal a huge diamond from a local natural history museum. Gromit is detained when one of Wallace's inventions accidentally triggers. McGraw puts a special helmet on the sleeping Wallace's head and uses the remote to march the Techno-Trousers, with Wallace inside, to the museum. Directing the Techno-Trousers into the museum through the air vent, McGraw secures the diamond via a toy crane claw built into the helmet; however, Wallace awakens when a burglar alarm trips. Returning to the house with Wallace, McGraw holds him and Gromit at gunpoint, and attempts to flee with the diamond. An extended chase follows throughout the house atop Wallace's sprawling
model train Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...
set; Wallace is eventually freed from the Techno-Trousers, and Gromit manages to capture McGraw in a milk bottle. McGraw is returned to his prison cell in the wall of the city zoo, and Wallace pays off all his debts with the reward money, throwing the Techno-Trousers into the rubbish. However, they walk off into the sunset on their own.


Soundtrack alterations

In the original airing, first VHS release of the film and the 1999 DVD release, Gromit's
birthday card A birthday card is a greeting card given or sent to a person to celebrate their birthday. Similar to a birthday cake, birthday card traditions vary by culture but the origin of birthday cards is unclear. The advent of computing and introduction of ...
plays "
Happy Birthday to You "Happy Birthday to You", also known as "Happy Birthday", is a song traditionally sung to celebrate a person's birthday. According to the 1998 ''Guinness World Records'', it is the most recognised song in the English language, followed by "For ...
". In subsequent home video releases and airings, this was replaced with "
For He's a Jolly Good Fellow "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" is a popular song that is sung to congratulate a person on a significant event, such as a promotion, a birthday, a wedding (or playing a major part in a wedding), a retirement, a wedding anniversary, the birth of a ...
" to avoid copyright infringements (likely due to this version of Happy Birthday being copyrighted). Also altered (again for reasons of copyright) are two specific songs from the penguin's radio, which were replaced with unidentified pieces of music, played through a
Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
. "
Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" is a song recorded by Tony Orlando and Dawn. It was written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown and produced by Hank Medress and Dave Appell, with Motown/ Stax backing vocalist Telma Hopkins, J ...
", also played through the same instrument, was left intact due to being in the public domain. The pieces that were removed are " Happy Talk" from the musical '' South Pacific'' and "
(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window? "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" is a popular novelty song. It was written by Bob Merrill and first registered on September 25, 1952, as "The Doggie in the Window". On January 27, 1953, its sheet music was published in New York as "( ...
", along with Wallace's singing of the latter during the subsequent morning. In addition, Gromit's television during breakfast no longer plays the
Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
theme, although an announcer can still be heard saying, "Welcome to Open University". However, the original soundtrack can still be heard in the background of the commentary track of the DVD release, although the Blu-ray release features the commentary track with the altered soundtrack. The original soundtrack can also be heard in non-English versions of the film.


Reception

''The Wrong Trousers'' was voted as the eighteenth-best British television show by the British Film Institute. The film has an approval rating of 100% on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 26 reviews, and an average score of 9.10/10. The critical consensus reads, "An endearing and meticulous showcase of stop motion animation, ''The Wrong Trousers'' also happens to be laugh-out-loud funny." The film was awarded the Grand Prix at the
Tampere Film Festival The Tampere Film Festival ( fi, Tampereen elokuvajuhlat) is a short film festival held every March, mostly at the Finnkino Plevna movie theatre, in Tampere, Finland. It is accredited by the film producers' society FIAPF, and together with the shor ...
, and the Grand Prix at the World Festival of Animated film –
Animafest Zagreb World Festival of Animated Film Zagreb ( hr, Svjetski festival animiranog filma), also known as Animafest Zagreb, is a film festival entirely dedicated to animated film held annually in Zagreb, Croatia. Initiated by the International Animated Fil ...
in 1994. ''The Wrong Trousers'' won the
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...
in 1994.


See also

*
List of films featuring powered exoskeletons There is a body of feature films, mainly live-action, featuring powered exoskeletons. *Films featuring cyborgs are distinct from those featuring exoskeletons, and such films include '' RoboCop'', its sequels, and the remake. * Films featuring mec ...
*
List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, a film has a rating of 100% if each professional review recorded by the website is assessed as positive rather than negative. The percentage is based on the film's reviews aggregated by the webs ...


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wrong Trousers, The 1990s animated short films 1990s stop-motion animated films 1993 animated films 1993 comedy films 1993 films 1990s heist films 1993 short films Aardman Animations short films Animated comedy films Animated films about penguins Animated films about animals BBC Television shows Best Animated Short Academy Award winners British animated short films Clay animation films Films directed by Nick Park Films set in museums Films with screenplays by Bob Baker (scriptwriter) Films with screenplays by Nick Park Films about penguins Stop-motion animated short films Three-handers Wallace and Gromit films 1990s English-language films 1990s British films