“The Wrong Trousers” is an all round comedy that is aimed at audiences of all ages. It is able to do this as it combines various different types of comedy into one enjoyable adventure. “The Wrong Trousers” shows us that slapstick humour (which is more suited for Children) can be intertwined with subtle humour (more suited for Adults), for example at the beginning of the film when Wallace is being hit in the face with Jam (slapstick) whilst Gromit (a dog) is reading a Newspaper which Headlines “Dog Reads Newspaper”. Also I think that comedy can be found due to the naïveté of Wallace, for example his shock when he realises that his Penguin lodger is actually the “Chicken” that has been robbing local banks, his disguise? A red rubber glove. In my opinion these mixtures of comedy are funny without being offensive to any cultural or ethnical groups. This means that both adults and children can enjoy “The Wrong Trousers” as they can all take in something different from the film.
It is said that mans best friend is his Dog, and that leads me to a greatly influential character in the Wallace and Gromit series, this of course being Gromit, the dog. I believe that his personification has been cleverly done as it is not completely conspicuous, by this I mean that whilst Gromit is granted Human qualities (such as the ability to read), his lack of a voice means that we do not recognise him as a human, therefore leaving him with his canine status. Therefore, essentially Gromit is a human yet isn’t, he drinks tea, reads newspapers and even has his own dog specific library of books but then he doesn’t possess a voice. I think that Nick Park has created the character of Gromit to demonstrate to us, as the audience, the true brains behind all of “Wallace’s” ingenious inventions that are found within their household.
Nick Park, being British himself, has incorporated much of our culture into the Wallace and Gromit series. However, perhaps trying to emphasise the importance of Britain’s cultural independence from America, he has exaggerated many aspects of “stereotypical” northern British culture. Examples of this are Wallace’s Yorkshire accent with pet phrases such as “Good Grief!” and “Crikey”. The cultural independence (or just to emphasise the dreary British weather) is also portrayed with the drab colours that fill up the house. Other Examples of culture are the “tea and toast with jam” traditions of Britain, which is shown when Wallace and Gromit are sitting down, drinking tea, eating jam on toast and (in Gromit’s case) reading the newspaper! Gromit is also shown in such a way that he represents the obedient British dog that collects (and sometimes reads) the newspaper and retrieves his/her owners slippers.
In this particular outing of Wallace and Gromit there is the added effect of sounds effects, these are used to create tension and feed the various suspicions that we may have. Examples are the change in music that occurs when we encounter the Penguin, obviously as an indicator to show us that all is not what it seems when he is around. Generally the music aids the well written script and helps create a better setting surrounding the story. As well as the music and sound effects in the film, the camera angles have also been used to a good effect to try and raise the tension. I believe that a prime example of this is when Gromit (after moving out of the house) decides to follow the Penguin, he then hides underneath a box and cuts out two eye holes, all seems then to be going well until (through Gromit’s view we see) the Penguin looking right back at us. However, there is another piece of comedy as when we see the box from the Penguins point of view we see that Gromit cut out eye holes exactly where the eyes were on the picture of the dog.
“The Wrong Trousers” is created using a wide variety of Genres that change constantly in line with different occurring events which I would presume are to help it cater for the different ages of the viewers. Basically the story shows the daily, incident filled lifestyle of Wallace and Gromit – this would be what the adults would be looking for in the animation, the fact that it has a story.
However, we can see straight away that the film is also a comedy, the slapstick obviously used to give viewing pleasure to the younger viewers. It also shows how their lives are intertwined with the introduction of new characters, for example, they take in the Penguin as a lodger due to their low cash supply and how this affects their lives. With the introduction of the Penguin a whole new story develops and the film becomes more of a Heist style film with his appearance – once again a Genre more suited to the Adult viewers. An example of this is when the Penguin reprogrammed the “Techno Trousers” and used them to steal a massive diamond. This is followed by the “chase” and then the concluding events after his capture; in the true style of a heist movie the bad guy is caught!
In Conclusion, it is my opinion that “The Wrong Trousers” is an extremely entertaining film that will appeal to a wide range of audiences. It has a good storyline with many comical incidents threaded throughout. Within the story it proposes many things that will make you think, for example, the Penguin is put into a Zoo as a punishment, perhaps implying that a Zoo is like a prison for an animal and that perhaps it is wrong. Then also there is the overall moral of Technology in the wrong Hands and what consequences these things can have. Then we see the problems that perhaps can arise from a problem, for example the seemingly unconditional loyalty between Wallace and Gromit wavers during their period of financial disarray, eventually leading to Gromit leaving the house to live on the streets! However, Gromit eventually comes to his senses and helps come to the rescue, giving us the underlying moral of the film. This being well emphasised in the concluding dialogue with “Alls well that ends well, that’s what I say Gromit” this allows a happy and satisfying ending.