Search - Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf or Death on DVD

Jorge S. (jorgito2001) from WESLEY CHAPEL, FL
Reviewed on 2/8/2010...

This was great! Wallace & Gromit never cease to crack me & my kids up! There's even some double entendres an adult can easily spot that'll go RIGHT over the heads of the little ones! I just wish it was longer! Hope to see more like this!

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Watch out

Donald Leighty | Western Pennsylvania USA | 09/22/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I admit to not having done my homework on this, but still... You have to be able to make an impulse purchase every once in a while without getting ripped off.

I was out shopping for a pack of batteries when I saw a new Wallace and Gromit DVD on the shelf. Didn't know Nick Park had done anything since The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, so I quickly investigated. The front of the package said "All New Animated Feature" and the running time said 87 minutes. Now "feature" to me means a full-length presentation (as in "our feature presentation")... a short might be called a featurette. So I assumed this was more than just a 30-minute short (which is what it actually is). They must have totalled all of the supplemental clips on the disc to get that "87 minute" total time. Nice.

Also, since I couldn't find a widescreen copy anywhere in the stacks, I guessed that this had been animated full screen. Wrong. Lion's Gate apparently decided to release only a butchered pan-and-scan version of the short. I didn't know anyone still did that these days. How ignorant.

While I'm sure this short is fun, it went back to the store unopened. I'll wait for a better version to show up someday.

"

Single-disc Release Crops Widescreen Movie to Full-Frame

Edward C. Liu | Princeton Junction, NJ | 09/22/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Just getting a new Wallace & Gromit short is good news, but "A Matter of Loaf and Death" feels a whole lot like a remake of "A Close Shave." It's still rather entertaining, but it feels rather derivative. It also seems to use a lot more pop-culture gags than the older films did, though admittedly they're old enough that they have become permanent fixtures on the pop-culture landscape and only one isn't funny if you don't know the reference.

I would NOT get this single-disc release, though, because it is a cropped full-frame (1.33:1) when the movie itself was animated in widescreen. The documentary on the making of the movie is in anamorphic widescreen, and often reveals how cramped some of the cropped shots are. It seems that the 4-disc DVD complete collection is in full-frame as well. The Blu-ray of the Complete Collection presents this movie in its proper widescreen format (as well as "A Close Shave"), and should be the one you buy if you have a choice. The Blu-ray remasters the original shorts as well, and they look spectacular."

Good Entertainment But a Bit Violent for Little Ones

WryGuy2 | Arlington, VA | 09/24/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have all of the Wallace and Grommit shorts, crackling contraptions, and movie, so I can say from experience that there is no such thing as a bad Wallace and Gromit feature. A Matter of Loaf or Death keeps the good streak intact, and is fine entertainment, albeit perhaps not as quite as good as A Close Shave or The Curse of the Wererabbit, in my opinion. But I've been anxiously awaiting release of A Matter of Loaf or Death here in the States, and it finally arrived today.

Although the package states that the running time is 87 minutes, the actual feature is only about 30 minutes. Also included is a "making of" segment, and a "Shaun the Sheep" episode, so counting all three of these probably is how the 87 minutes were derived.

So, I popped the DVD into the player, gathered the wife and kiddies around (the kids are only two and four years old, but they love Wallace and Gromit), and we watched the feature. It was funny, and the animation was great, as usual. However, it was more violent than previous entries, and I felt a bit uncomfortable at some of the scenes as my two and four year old watched them, particularly with regards to how Gromit and another dog are mistreated. The kids didn't have any problems or get scared, but you may want to watch the feature first before showing it to your young children. Its mostly cartoonish violence, but the other dog's owner, Miss Piella Bakewell, is a bit mean.

But I'm pleased with my purchase, and strongly recommend A Matter of Loaf and Death. This is probably not the best DVD to get if you've never seen Wallace and Gromit before ... you should start with the original 3 shorts ... but its a "must have" if you're a Wallace and Gromit afficionado like myself."