Nominated for four Academy Awards, and winning three, Wallace and Gromit have become the Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse of Aardman Animation Studios, and their popularity led to what would later become an ill-fated partnership (but more of a distribution deal) with Dreamworks Animation. The duo are still popular in the UK, where they played hosts to a family reality series, Wallace & Gromit’s World of Inventions, which takes a fun look at various inventors (good and bad) throughout history.
Wallace & Gromit's World of Inventions
Studio: Lionsgate
US BD Release Date: March 13, 2012
Original Broadcast Year: 2010
Rated: Not Rated
Running Time: 174 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English)
Subtitles: English (SDH)
Movie: 4 out of 5
Nick Park’s popular Man and Dog team, Wallace & Gromit, have starred in four Oscar-nominated short subjects (two of which went on to win) and an Oscar-winning animated feature. The duo have now successfully made the transition to the small screen in a six-part reality series celebrating something they know a great deal about: inventors.
Each episode has a central theme (nature, aviation, home, senses, safety, and transportation), with three human correspondents consisting of Ashley Jensen (who narrates most of the stories), Jem Stansfield (who hosts a special segment on inventions that have not quite made it off the drawing board yet), and John Sparkes (who narrates the weekly Contraption Countdown). Peter Sallis returns as the voice of Wallace dim-witted the inventor. Merlin Crossingham (Creature Comforts America) takes over the directing duties from character creator Nick Park, and manages to keep the same tone and feel during the host segments that fans have become familiar with in the prior shorts and feature film. The writing team also brings much of the same style of humor, including Wallace’s cringe-inducing puns and back-firing inventions. The animation is also at about the same level as the last short subject, A Matter of Loaf and Death, with Gromit’s body language and eyes conveying his emotions entirely. Episodes can be viewed individually or all at once using the Play All feature.
Although fans may be disappointed that the series is a mix of animated host segments and live-action news-style segments, the show is quite entertaining, filled with amusing stories, and is perfect for the entire family.
Video: 3.5 out of 5
Produced for British television, Lionsgate brings Wallace & Gromit’s World of Inventions to Blu-ray in a very nice 1080i transfer using the AVC codec on a BD50 disc, retaining the show’s original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1. Because the show uses some archival footage during its invention segments (including silent film footage and standard definition video), the picture quality can vary significantly. The host segments, however, look amazing, with good color saturation and consistent color tones, excellent detail, and virtually no motion or compression artifacts. I did notice some overlapping frames when occasionally pausing during the host segments, but never found it distracting when playing at full speed.
Audio: 3 out of 5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is about what you would expect for a reality-style show of this type. There is good separation in the front 3 channels, with dialogue coming mostly from the center channel (although there are a few panning dialogue effects when Wallace goes off camera). Surrounds are used mostly for ambience and music, and there is little to no LFE.
Special Features: 3.5 out of 5
Your World of Invention (HD, 38:02): Host Ricky Martin demonstrates how you an build your own version of some of the inventions featured in the series, such as an Atmospheric Railway (using an old vacuum cleaner), Wind-Powered Sprinkler (using some CD/DVD coasters), Fin Ray Grabber (using a milk bottle and clear CD protectors), Air Rocket (using a soda bottle), Spy Camera (using a disposable camera and old toothbrushes), and Upside-Down-O-Scope (using two magnifying lenses and a cereal box).
Overall: 3.5 out of 5
This is a highly entertaining and fun little series, perfect for family entertainment and may inspire your kids to be an inventor (or at least a junior MacGyver).
