Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

"Gromit, we have a problem!"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown February 18, 2024

In "The Wrong Trousers", the second humbly infectious, delightfully deadpan animated short film in The Complete Cracking Collection, amateur Rube Goldbergian inventor Wallace says to his faithful canine Gromit, with a perfectly British blend of utmost sincerity and enthusiasm: "I think you'll find this present a valuable addition to our modern lifestyle. They're techno-trousers! Ex-NASA. Fantastic for walkies." Wallace beams. Gromit grimaces. He's played this game with his human pal one too many times, and while the robo-futurism that piques his best friend's claymation mind is always a visual treat and funny-bone favorite, it also always seems to land the pair in trouble. On the moon. At home. In a shop, or a bakery. Everywhere is a minefield when you're as optimistic and likeable as Wallace. Love proves to be a constant trap too for Wallace, luring him closer to danger than he belongs. Thankfully, good ol' Gromit -- at risk of life, limb or incarceration -- is ever there to save the day. Or at least to keep Wallace a literal hair's breadth away from a nasty fate at the hands of villains like a duplicitous penguin, a vicious serial killer, a rogue moon-bot, or a con- woman eager to make a few hundred pounds or so.

From the Academy Award-winning Nick Park comes four half-hour specials and ten shorts featuring the charming and eccentric inventor Wallace and his faithful, four-legged friend Gromit. "A Grand Day Out" finds Wallace on a quest for his favorite snack, taking Gromit on an out-of-this-world adventure to discover if the moon really is made of cheese. In "The Wrong Trousers", Wallace takes in a mysterious lodger, while Gromit's suspicions are aroused when the new arrival shows interest in his master's techno-trousers. "A Close Shave" finds the duo ensnared in a deadly mystery involving sheep rustling, a malevolent guard dog, and true love. "A Matter of Loaf and Death" involves Wallace and Gromit's new bakery business facing danger when the town's bakers start to mysteriously disappear. Finally, a series of ten "Cracking Contraptions" showcase Wallace's wonderfully wacky and eccentric ideas to make a person's life easier.

Click here to read Casey Broadwater's 2009 review of the same four short films, declaring the "quaint, homey, handmade, and absolutely British" specials' stars as "more than just an animated duo—they're bonafide ambassadors of Britain and British culture... as man and dog, master and mind."

Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 2009 Lionsgate release of Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection was impressive in its day, but infrequent (relatively minor) issues like aliasing, shimmering, and a bit of occasional pixelation have since rendered it outdated. Ladies and lads, introducing Shout Factory's similarly titled Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection, featuring the same four specials but with a new 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer that doesn't seem to suffer from any of the previous visual anomalies. (I'll get to the audio problems in a moment.) Colors are strong and vibrant across all four specials, as is contrast, black levels and detail. There are differences from special to special -- the oldest of the four, "Grand Day Out", has a more pronounced grain structure, while the freshest of the four, "A Matter of Loaf and Death", is slicker, smoother and cleaner -- but it's all in keeping with the original elements and analog or digital stop-motion photography that was utilized. Edges are nicely defined, textures are apparent (love the quaint fingerprints in the clay of the characters), every little divet and dent in skin is resolved with perfect imperfection, and fabric, strands of wool, frayed yarn, and other subtle touches are there for the admiring. (Again, minus the aliasing and what not that crept into the previous release.) For my money -- literally, no screener on this one -- this is the best Wallace & Gromit has looked.

Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

And so we come to the audio. Sigh. Our previous review of the 2009 Lionsgate release circled, but never quite nailed down, an issue with the four animated specials' audio. Later, forum detectives here and elsewhere would crack the case: audio pitch issues that affected both the fidelity of the collection's voices and music. Unfortunately, and let me emphasize unfortunately, the new Shout Factory edition doesn't solve the problem. Efforts were clearly made to address things, as there portions of the sound design have been restored/improved/corrected (pick your poison), but in every instance, the full problem hasn't been resolved. (To take a quick, uber-detailed crash course on the various audio issues and a discussion about what likely caused such a derailment, click here and begin reading our forum members' ongoing analysis.) For brevity's sake, though, allow me to simplify: sometimes voices or music are pitched too low, sometimes altered songs haven't been restored, and sometimes conversion mistakes between PAL and NTSC (possibly) come into play and cause a ruckus. Bottom line? The audio has problems all around; in one special it will be the 5.1 track that suffers, in others the stereo mix, in another it's both. Double sigh.

Do the specials still sound decent? Yeah, yeah. I suppose. Chances are most people won't notice anything's amiss. They'll adjust the volume as they see fit and not give any of it a second thought. Admittedly, unless it really grinds your gears, the quality of the audio doesn't exactly fully spoil the minimalistic brilliance of Wallace & Gromit. That said, it sure is a disappointment (particularly since it was a known issue on a previous release and, fifteen years later, should have been spotted a mile away), it isn't faithful to intent and original presentation standards, and it shouldn't sit well with fans. Here's hoping Shout Factory will course correct and issue a disc replacement program (which currently seems less and less likely as the months tick by), or if that isn't in the cards, that a future distributor will release a U.S. collection of the four featured specials with a proper audio treatment.

Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 2009 Lionsgate Blu-ray release included a number of additional features that aren't a part of Shout Factory's collection. However, the 10-episode, 25-minute "Cracking Contraptions", which originally aired on the BBC and the Wallace & Gromit website, is included. Each episode/short revels in one of Wallace's Rube Goldberg inventions, among them the Crackervac, the Tellyscope, the Turbo Diner, the Snowmantron, the Soccamatic, Shopper 13, the Christmas Cardomatic, the Snoozatron, the Bully Proof Vest, and the Autochef. All good fun.

The aforementioned 2009 Lionsgate release contains quite a bit more: audio commentaries on all four short films (with filmmaker Nick Park and various members of his animation and voiceover team), three making-of documentaries that focus on all but the first special (clocking in at 50 minutes altogether), a history of Wallace & Gromit featurette, an episode of Shaun the Sheep, invention "scrapbook" blueprints and instructions, and more. Suffice to say, a lot has been left behind in the creation of this release. Paired with the audio issues, it verges on waving people away and issuing a strong warning against purchasing The Complete Cracking Collection.

Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Want the best picture? This collection is for you. Looking for the best audio? Turn to the UK. Neither the 2009 Lionsgate nor 2023 Shout Factory editions feature issue-free audio; both are plagued by numerous problems. Looking for the biggest supplemental punch? Go with the Lionsgate release. In other words, there's no ideal edition (as far as I know) that offers the best of all three worlds. Wallace & Gromit deserves better. Here's hoping someone comes along and delivers a release fans of all stripes can be excited to watch -- distraction free -- and delighted to own.