''Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave'' is a 1995 British stop-motion animated short film co-written and directed by

Nick Park Nicholas Wulstan Park (born 6 December 1958) is a British animator who created ''Wallace and Gromit'', ''Creature Comforts'', ''Chicken Run'', ''Shaun the Sheep'', and '' Early Man''. Park has been nominated for an Academy Award a total of ...

and produced by

Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited (also known as Aardman Studios, simply Aardman or Aardman Animation and stylised as AARDMAN as of 2022) is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion and clay ani ...

with Wallace and Gromit Ltd.,

BBC Bristol The BBC campus, Broadcasting House Bristol, is located on Whiteladies Road, Bristol. The first building to be occupied was 21/23 Whiteladies Road, which was built in 1852 and is a Grade II listed building, with four radio studios. It was form ...

and BBC Children's International. It is the third film featuring

Wallace and Gromit ''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British stop-motion comedy franchise created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series ce ...

, following '' A Grand Day Out'' (1989) and ''

The Wrong Trousers ''The Wrong Trousers'' is a 1993 British stop-motion animated short film co-written and directed by Nick Park, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit, and was produced by Aardman Animations in association with Wallace and Gromit Ltd., BBC ...

'' (1993). In ''A Close Shave'', Wallace and Gromit uncover a plot to rustle sheep by a sinister dog. Like ''The Wrong Trousers'', ''A Close Shave'' won the

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1 ...

. ''A Close Shave'' saw the first appearance of Shaun, who became the protagonist of the ''

Shaun the Sheep ''Shaun the Sheep'' is a British stop-motion television series and a spin-off of the '' Wallace and Gromit'' franchise. The title character is Shaun (previously featured as the sheep named "Shaun" in the 1995 short film '' A Close Shave'' and t ...

'' spin-off series.

Plot

The inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit operate a window cleaning business. Wallace falls for the wool shopkeeper Wendolene Ramsbottom. Her sinister dog, Preston, rustles sheep to supply the shop. After a lost sheep wanders into the house, Wallace places him in his Knit-o-Matic, which shears sheep and knits the wool into jumpers. Wallace names the sheep

Shaun Shaun is an anglicized spelling of the Irish name Seán. Alternative spellings include Shawn, Sean and Shawne. Notable persons with the given name include: People *Shaun (musician) (born 1990), South Korean musician *Shaun (YouTuber), British vi ...

. Preston steals the Knit-o-Matic blueprints. When Gromit investigates, Preston captures him and frames him for the sheep rustling. Gromit is arrested and imprisoned, while Wallace's house is inundated with sheep. Wallace and the sheep rescue Gromit and hide out in the fields. Wendolene and Preston arrive in the lorry to round up the sheep. When Wendolene demands Preston stop the rustling, he locks her in the lorry with the sheep and drives away, intent on turning them into dog food. Wallace and Gromit give chase on their motorcycle. When Gromit's sidecar detaches, he activates its aeroplane mode and resumes the chase from the air. Wallace becomes trapped in the lorry and he, Wendolene and the sheep are transported to Preston's factory, where Preston has built an enormous Knit-o-Matic. The captives are loaded into the wash basin, but Shaun escapes. Shaun activates neon signs to reveal the factory's location to Gromit, who attacks Preston. Shaun sucks Preston into the Knit-o-Matic, removing his fur. Wendolene reveals that Preston is actually a robot created by her inventor father for good, but became evil. When the Knit-o-Matic dresses Preston in a sweater made of his fur, he inadvertently hits the controls, and the group become poised to fall into the mincing machine. Shaun pushes Preston into the machine, crushing him. Gromit is exonerated and Wallace rebuilds Preston as a harmless remote controlled dog. Afterwards, Wallace is saddened when Wendolene leaves and tells him that she is allergic to cheese. When he tries to cheer himself up with some cheese, he finds that Shaun has eaten it all.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''A Close Shave'' has a perfect score of 100%, based on 20 reviews.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Close Shave, A 1990s animated short films 1990s children's fantasy films 1995 fantasy films 1990s stop-motion animated films 1995 animated films 1995 comedy films 1995 films 1995 short films 1995 television films Aardman Animations short films Animated comedy films Animated films about animals Animated films about robots Best Animated Short Academy Award winners BBC Television shows British animated short films Clay animation films Films about dogs Films about sheep Films directed by Nick Park Films with screenplays by Bob Baker (scriptwriter) Films with screenplays by Nick Park Stop-motion animated short films Wallace and Gromit films 1990s British films