A Grand Day Out works out the kinks, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave blow our minds, the wererabbit movie is a Rabelaisian celebration of kid-appropriate bawdry, as well as being a Simpsons-esque compendium of intertextual/post-modern reference. This latest one seems to have nothing left to prove. It simply tells us another story and has another good time. Think of The Who By Numbers maybe, without the neurosis.
In other words, A Matter of Loaf and Death is artful professionalism itself, confident, comfortable, and eschewing for the moment the ambition and profundity of which the gang at Aardman is fully capable. Still, it’s quite indescribably good in the way it combines absolute technical mastery with the most sure-footed comic construction and character elaboration. The old lady on the bike. Piella, generally. “There’s a bomb in me pants!” Wallace’s bottom. Excesses and implausibilities are, as usual, really pleasing. These are films that reason not the need, but rather rejoice in superfluity. Kierkegaard’s aesthetic stage (Either/Or, etc.), but in the very best sense.
Tweet Review:
Saw #AMatterofLoafandDeath. The film masters are feeling relaxed. Breezy, even bawdy, but w’ hints o’ something deeper. Chaucer, for kids!