The Wrong Trousers

The Wrong Trousers
Promotional poster
Directed by	Nick Park
Produced by	Peter Lord David Sproxton
Written by	Nick Park Bob Baker
Starring	Peter Sallis
Music by	Julian Nott
Studio	Aardman Animations
Distributed by	BBC
Release date(s)	December 26, 1993 (1993-12-26)
Running time	30 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Wrong Trousers is a 1993 short animated film directed by Nick Park at Aardman Animations, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit. It was his second half-hour short featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace and his quiet but intelligent dog Gromit, following 1989's A Grand Day Out, and preceding 1995's A Close Shave.

As in A Grand Day Out, the 30 minute film uses sight gags and exaggerated physical comedy, as well as a few subtle film parodies. Voice acting is performed by Peter Sallis. The film premiered in United Kingdom on 26 December 1993. It won the 1993 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

Plot

The film begins at 62 West Wallaby Street on Gromit's birthday. After falling downstairs from his bed via a trapdoor in the ceiling, Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) is greeted with a large pile of bills. Meanwhile, Gromit subtly attempts to remind Wallace that it is his birthday. After surveying their depleted funds, Wallace lets slip that he has not forgotten Gromit's birthday after all and presents Gromit with a somewhat unwelcome gift of a dog collar, and a second present of a pair of ex-NASA robotic "Techno Trousers", designed to alleviate the burden of taking him for walks. While Gromit is out on a "walk", Wallace decides that the only solution to their financial problems is to let the spare bedroom out. Thus, a lodger, an inscrutable-looking penguin named Feathers McGraw, comes to stay in the house, pushing Gromit out of his comfortable bedroom (and uses a old tattered room, which he sticks wallpaper to the wall using the Techno Trousers) and winning Wallace's favour. Upset that the penguin has intruded on his relationship with his master, Gromit leaves home in the rain. Viewing his departure, the penguin goes to work on altering the Techno Trousers for his own means.

After sleeping rough, Gromit hunts for suitable lodgings, noticing a police poster depicting the penguin with a rubber glove on his head and the caption "Have you seen this chicken?". Meanwhile, Wallace's normal morning routine is interrupted by the replacement of his expected trousers with the modified Techno Trousers. Trapped inside the robotic garments, Wallace is sent on an extended test run, driven by remote control, although he is unaware of the penguin's involvement. Gromit, seeing this spectacle, and having observed the penguin suspiciously measuring-up the exterior of the town museum, decides to sneak back into his old bedroom, uncovering the penguin's plans to steal a giant diamond from the museum using the trousers and Wallace as tools.

However, Gromit is too late to foil the plan and is forced to hide inside Wallace's bed, where he observes the penguin in his "chicken" disguise (a large red rubber glove on his head). Wallace, in a deep sleep after the day's misadventures, is unwittingly brought into the robbery by the penguin, and by nightfall breaks into the museum using the suction feet on the trousers to scale the wall and hang from the ceiling, avoiding the laser alarm system. The diamond has barely been hooked when a loose ceiling tile puts the trousers off balance, causing the hook to set off the alarm. This wakes Wallace, who has no idea where he is. After escaping back to West Wallaby Street, the penguin reveals his identity to Wallace and locks him in a wardrobe.

Making for the door with the diamond, Gromit confronts the penguin with a rolling pin. The penguin then pulls out a revolver and puts Gromit into the wardrobe along with Wallace, locking them inside. Being an expert with electronics, Gromit is able to override the Trousers' circuits and break open the doors. There then follows a fast chase aboard a train set,(Wallace is broken free from his pridicament by smashing into the kitchen window) as Gromit attempts to stop the penguin escaping with the diamond, aided unsuccessfully by Wallace. After the penguin's train is abruptly stopped by the trousers, he is caught and handed in to the police station. In the final scene, the penguin has returned home to the zoo and is clinging furiously to the prison-like window bars. For catching Feathers, Wallace and Gromit are given a substantial reward, which pays off their debts. Meanwhile, the trousers, unceremoniously consigned to the dustbin, walk off by themselves into the sunset, presumably to the junkyard.

Soundtrack alterations

In the original aring of the film; Gromit's birthday card plays "Happy Birthday to You" as it is associated with birthdays in Britain, Australia and North America. But when the film was released on DVD by Warner Home Video in 2000, and by Dreamworks Home Entertainment SKG in 2005, this was replaced with 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow' to avoid copyright infringements. Also removed for the DVD (again for reasons of copyright) are two specific songs from the penguin's radio replaced with random Hammond organ music. The particular pieces removed are "Happy Talk" from the musical South Pacific and "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?", along with Wallace's humming of it the subsequent morning. "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" was left intact though. In addition, Gromit's TV at breakfast no longer plays the Open University theme. However the original soundtrack can still be heard in the background of the commentary track of the DVD release. In the 2009 HD version of the film, Julian Nott's soundtrack appears to have been remixed or rerecorded.

Reception

The Wrong Trousers was voted as the 18th best British Television Show by the British Film Institute, it has a unanimaously positive score on Rotten Tomatoes with 24 reviews, 100% positive and an average score of 9.1/10.

External links

• The Wrong Trousers at the Internet Movie Database
• The Wrong Trousers at Rotten Tomatoes