Wallace and Gromit in The Wrong Trousers (1993)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Last Chance Pants

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

This second of the three Wallace & Gromit clay-animated shorts takes a far more conventional, three-act Hollywood approach to its story, complete with a diamond heist! Wallace & Gromit are forced to take in a lodger, a creepy penguin, who slyly begins to use Wallace's latest invention -- a pair of automated trousers -- for robberies. It's much more spectacular, but less surrealistic than A Grand Day Out. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. Lionsgate has re-released the three Wallace and Gromit shorts on three separate DVDs, priced at a mere $10 each. Park provides a commentary track for each, and each one has a bonus "making-of" short. (See also A Close Shave.)