Saturday, 16 January 2010
Richard Moody's Mixture Of Favorite Movies
1. The Emperor’s New Groove (2000): Kuzco (David Spade) is the self-centered teenaged emperor of a mountainous jungle nation. One day, he summons Pacha (John Goodman), the headman of a nearby village, to inform him that he is building his summer home, Kuzcotopia, on the site of Pacha's home. Pacha attempts to protest, and is dismissed. Kuzco's ancient, power-hungry advisor Yzma (Eartha Kitt) and her easily-distracted lackey Kronk (Patrick Warburton) then attempt to poison Kuzco so that she can take control of the empire. However, the attempt is flawed, as the supposed poison turns out to be a potion which turns Kuzco into a llama. After knocking Kuzco unconscious, Yzma orders Kronk to dispose of him, but conscience-stricken Kronk loses the sack holding Kuzco. Kuzco ends up in Pacha's village, and after discovering that he has been changed, demands that Pacha help him return to the palace. Rebuffed, Kuzco attempts to return on his own and ends up surrounded by a pack of jaguars, only to be saved when Pacha has a change of heart. Pacha offers a deal to Kuzco—that he will help Kuzco if Kuzco will build his summer home elsewhere; Kuzco pretends to agree but only truly begins to change after the pair of them must work together to survive the collapse of a rope bridge. Yzma assumes command of the nation, but when Kronk reveals he never killed Kuzco, the two search the jungle for him. Kuzco, Pacha, Yzma, and Kronk finally arrive at the same roadside diner, where Kuzco is glad to see Yzma until he overhears that she is out to kill him. He and Pacha realize the only way to prevent this is to return to Yzma's laboratory and find a potion to return Kuzco to normal. A race between Kuzco, Pacha, Yzma and Kronk begins, with the latter pairing finally getting hit by lightning and falling into a chasm. Kuzco and Pacha arrive at the laboratory but find, inexplicably, that their pursuers somehow got there first. Kronk changes sides after a vicious tongue-lashing from Yzma, and gets dropped down a trapdoor. Yzma summons the palace guards, forcing Kuzco and Pacha to grab all of the transformation potions they can and flee. After trying several formulas that convert Kuzco to other animals, and then back to a llama, they escape the guards (but not Yzma) and find they are down to only two vials. Yzma accidentally steps on one of the two, turning herself into a tiny kitten. She still almost manages to obtain the antidote, but is thwarted by the sudden reappearance of Kronk. Kuzco becomes human again and sets out to redeem himself, building Kuzcotopia on the hill next to Pacha's home. Meanwhile, outdoorsman Kronk becomes a scout leader, with kitten-Yzma forced to be a member of the troop
2. Dinosaur (2000): The film revolves around the life of an Iguanodon named Aladar who is taken from his nest as an egg and after a long and precarious flight via a Pteranodon, his egg lands on Lemur Island where he is adopted by the family of lemurs; consisting of Plio, her father Yar, and her son, Zini. Years on, Plio has had a daughter named Suri and the family takes part in mating season which Zini fails to accomplish and goes without a mate. Moments after the mating season ends, a huge meteorite destroys the island and leaves only Aladar and his closest family members alive. The family move on and come across a herd of various dinosaurs, led by igunandon Kron and his lieutenant Bruton. Other herd members include elderly Brachiosaurus Baylene, Styracosaurus Eema, dog-like Ankylosaurus Url, and Kron's younger sister Neera.
Aladar and the lemurs accompany the herd across a desert to reach a nearby breeding ground the herd has visited before. However, they are stalked by Velociraptors and later Carnotaurus, referred to as "Carnotaurs" in the film. The herd stops at a lake that appears to be dried up, but the water is revealed to be underground, by Aladar hearing it underneath because he had been trying to get Baylene and Eema across. Carnotaurs attack, sending the herd into a panicked flurry. Aladar, the lemurs, Eema, Baylene, Url and Bruton are all left behind and regroup in a series of caves. The Carnotaurs attack them, but Bruton sacrifices himself to allow the others to flee, one of the Carnotaurs killed in the process. The group flee to the back of the caverns, then smash down a wall to reveal a path straight into the breeding ground. Eema spots that the usual entrance has been blocked off, prompting Aladar to find Kron and the rest of the herd. Kron, Neera and the herd are on the other side of the blocked off entrance, Kron ordering that the herd climb impossibly over the wall. Aladar arrives and suggests the route through the caves due to a sheer drop on the other side that would kill the herd, which Kron objects to and accuses Aladar of stealing his role as leader. The two fight until Neera steps in and defends Aladar, deciding to go with him and the herd through his route. The surviving Carnotaur appears, causing the herd to go into a panic. Aladar convinces the herd that the only way they can survive is by standing together. They fend off the Carnotaur and get past it, but the Carnotaur then notices Kron, who had refused to follow Aladar, and decided he would climb the wall to get to the nesting grounds. The Carnotaur begins to chase Kron down. Neera notices this, and rushes to try to aid her brother, soon followed by Aladar. In the fight that ensues, Kron is fatally wounded by the Carnotaur. Aladar forces the Carnotaur onto a cliff edge that collapses, sending it plummeting to its death. Neera comes to Kron but it is too late. The herd reaches the breeding ground, led by Aladar. Aladar and Neera have children as well as the rest of the herd, and the lemurs find more of their kind.
3. Bedazzled (2000): Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser) is a geeky and overeager young man working a dead-end job in a San Francisco call-center. He has no real friends, other than his co-workers who manipulate him for their own amusement, knowing he'll do anything for acceptance. He has a crush on his colleague, Alison Gardner (Frances O'Connor), but lacks the courage to ask her out. After Elliot is ditched at a bar while trying to talk to Alison, he says that he would give anything for Alison to be with him. Satan (Elizabeth Hurley), in the form of a beautiful woman, hears this wish and offers Elliot a contract. She will give Elliot seven wishes, and in return Elliot will give her his soul. As might be expected of a bargain with Satan, there is a catch to the deal. No matter what Elliot asks for himself, Satan grants each of his wishes, but each time also giving him something he didn't ask for.
• As a test wish, he wishes for a McDonalds Big Mac and a Coke. Satan takes him to McDonalds and places the order on his behalf. Elliot has to pay for it, because as the saying goes, "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch." After taking Elliott to her nightclub in Oakland in her black Lamborghini Diablo, Satan gets Elliott to sign her substantial contract, and delivers his further wishes:
• As his first wish, he wishes to be rich and powerful, with Alison as his wife. Satan makes him a Colombian Drug Lord whose wife despises him and is having an affair with her language tutor Raoul who was secretly working with Elliot's business partners to take Elliot's place in business. Satan points out that he never wished for Alison to be in love with him.
• Secondly, he wishes to be emotionally sensitive, but Satan deliberately makes him so sensitive he spends much of his time crying at how beautiful the world is. Alison then contradicts herself and says she wants to be with a man who is strong and shallow and soon leaves Elliot for another man which is strong, rude and completely different from romantic and emotionally sensitive Elliot.
• For the third wish, wishes to be a superstar athlete who would be a magnet for girls. Satan makes him an unstoppable seven-foot-plus tall basketball star, but also gives him an extremely small penis and equally low IQ (as evidenced by a limited vocabulary), which causes Alison to lose interest in him.
• As his fourth wish, he wishes to be intelligent, witty and well-endowed. Satan grants this by making him a famous writer with whom Alison immediately falls in love. When they arrive to Elliot's place to make love it is revealed that Elliot is actually gay, living with a male partner.
• Lastly, he wishes to be President of the United States to try to do the world some good. Satan, however, makes him Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on the night of his assassination.
In each wish, his co-workers are his nemeses, thwarting each one.
After each wish is renounced (by dialing 666 on a pager), Elliot returns for a meeting with Satan in which she blames him for not being specific enough in his desires and prompts him to try again. These meetings take place in a variety of locations, with Satan each time in a different role, in which she carries out a variety of everyday evil acts - dismissing a class full of students from their lesson without any homework other than to remember not to take any interest in being educated, swapping the medication on a hospital trolley for candy (although she explains that those were placebos), forcing parking meters to expire, and writing tickets for parked cars. The roles she plays (teacher, nurse, police officer, cheerleader) can be viewed as objects of typical male sexual fantasies. In one of the deleted scenes she also wears a French maid outfit. Eventually he goes back to work, taking time to think on what would be best to do with the two last wishes. Appearing to him once more, Satan points out that on their first meeting he asked for a Big Mac and Coke, although she explicitly stated earlier on that it was a mere test wish and did not count. This counts against his total, leaving just one wish remaining. Elliot finally loses patience with Satan and storms out of his office. He visits a church looking for God's help, where he briefly confesses to a priest who seems sympathetic. However the priest, upon being asked whether he thinks asking Satan for a Big Mac and Coke counts as a wish, has Elliot arrested. The sergeant decides to book him, and Satan, now dressed as a police officer, throws him in a cell, telling him that she really does like him, and it wouldn't hurt to have her as a friend. In prison, Elliot's cellmate (Gabriel Casseus, as an angel) tells him that he cannot possibly sell his soul as it belongs to God, "that universal spirit that animates and binds all things in existence" and although Satan may try to confuse him, in the end he will realise who he truly is, and what his purpose is. Mistakes are to be expected, but with an open heart and mind, eventually he'll get it right. Elliot questions the man as to his identity, but the response is simply "a really good friend". Elliot returns to Satan and asks her to cancel their contract. When Satan refuses, Elliot states that he will not use up his final wish. Satan angrily teleports both Elliot and herself to her domain, Hell, where she transforms first into a black horned monster, then into an enormous giantess, who is much bigger than the terrified Elliot in comparison. When Satan pushes him to make a final wish, Elliot blurts out that he wishes that Alison could have a happy life. Satan heavily sighs and Elliot falls into the depths of Hell. Elliot wakes up on a marble staircase, wondering if it is Heaven. Satan tells him that it is merely a courthouse and that, by the terms of his contract, a selfless wish voids the entire deal, so he gets to keep his soul. Before they part ways Elliott admits that despite her manipulation of him he has come to like Satan and regards her as a best friend, something she does not object to. She simply says that Heaven and Hell can be found on Earth; it is up to humans to choose. Elliot finally approaches Alison directly and asks her out, only to find that she is already dating somebody. He accepts this with good grace and continues with his life, but with a better understanding of who he is and renewed confidence. Later he is confronted by Bob, one of his "friends" at the office, who makes fun of his former attempts to be cool. Elliot finally loses his temper and grabs Bob by the shirt, but lets him go, simply saying "Nice talking to you." A threatening look sends his other coworkers scurrying. At home, he soon meets a new neighbor, Nicole Delarusso, with a striking resemblance to Alison personality traits and dressing styles similar to his. He offers to help her unpack and they presumably begin a relationship (though it is hinted that this is Satan's doing). While the two are walking along the boulevard, Satan and the cellmate, both dressed in white, are seen playing a friendly game of chess (Satan, true to form, tries to change the pieces while the man watches Elliot and Nicole), confirming some kind of bond between the two. The movie closes to the lyrics of "Change Your Mind" by Sister Hazel, and reveals that Elliot 'drinks from the carton', and Nicole 'hogs the covers'.
4. The Flintsones: Viva Rock Vegas (2000): Fred Flintstone (Mark Addy) and Barney Rubble (Baldwin) share a trailer while trying (unsuccessfully) to find girlfriends. They meet a little green alien called the Great Gazoo, who was exiled to Earth by his species in order to study the human mating and reproduction cycle (his own people reproduce asexually). Gazoo, whom only Fred and Barney can see, decides to follow Fred and Barney to gather information, even though his superior knowledge and personality annoys them. Wilma, meanwhile, is living in a mansion with her wealthy parents. Her control-freak mother, Pearl, thinks that her daughter's wish to do common things such as bowling are silly and wants her to marry rich smooth casino-owner Chip Rockfeller. After a fight with her mother, Wilma angrily storms out of the house and goes to a Bronto Burger King in Bedrock, where she is waited on by Betty. Betty mistakenly thinks that Wilma is a "caveless" person and offers to share her apartment with her. Wilma is also given a job at the restaurant. When Fred and Barney go to the restaurant for dinner, they are smitten with the girls and manage to talk them into going to a carnival with them. Fred goes with Betty and Barney goes with Wilma, but they later exchange girls. Wilma later takes Fred, Barney, and Betty to her father's birthday party, where Fred intends on proposing to Wilma. Once they get there, they are all shocked to find out that Wilma comes from a very wealthy family, when they all thought that she was poor, and Fred changes his mind about proposing to her after he meets Chip and realizes what he is up against. Fred and Barney humiliate themselves and Wilma at the dinner, but Wilma tells everyone that she is proud to be friends with them and they walk out of the mansion. Chip, however, devises a plan to get Wilma back by inviting the foursome to stay at his resort in Rock Vegas, believing that Fred will become caught up in gambling and Wilma will leave him. The four of them enjoy the start of their trip. Chip gives them a huge comfortable suite at his resort, and access to the pool, and spa treatment for Wilma and Betty. Fred decides to start gambling, but never bets any high amount. Chip and his girlfriend Roxie are visited by two men who reveal that Chip owes their boss a lot of money. Chip tells them that he will soon be married to Wilma and will use her family's money to pay off his debt, and Gazoo witnesses the entire conversation. Chip then invites Fred to play poker with the high rollers, and make more money, but Barney tries to prevent Fred from agreeing. Chip then tells Barney about the All-You-Can Eat buffet, and gets Roxie to seduce him into escorting her there. Fred gets caught up in gambling that he forgets that he and Barney were supposed to meet Wilma and Betty for dinner. While looking for Barney, Betty sees him wiping cream off of Roxie's chest and mistakenly believes he is touching her breast. She begins crying by a fountain and is approached by Mick Jagged, who is attracted to her. She tells him that her boyfriend was cheating on her and he comforts her, then invites her to go out on a date with him, which she accepts. Fred and Wilma get into an argument over Fred's obsession with gambling and Wilma breaks up with him. Chip then arranges to have Fred lose all of the money he won so he will be left with nothing. Wilma is walking around the resort and runs into Chip and she tells him about her breakup with Fred. He then tells her that there have been burglaries around the hotel and keeps her pearls in a safe. Fred, who has lost all his money, goes to Chip for help, and Chip puts Wilma's pearls in Fred's pocket. He then announces to the entire resort that someone has stolen the pearls, and tells Fred to empty his pockets, and shows all of the guests that Fred has the pearls. Security comes to arrest Fred and Barney as well when he tries to help Fred. Wilma and Chip get back together. While in prison, Fred and Barney are visited by Gazoo, who tells them about Chip's plan to use Wilma's wealth to pay his debt. Then once they think that they can not stop him, they realize that Barney can slip through the bars and he steals the guard's keys and unlocks the cell. The two disguise themselves as dancers and accidentally run into Jagged's dressing room and see Betty. Barney tells Betty he loves her, and they get back together. Chip proposes to Wilma just as Jagged comes on stage to sing, but once he turns around, it is revealed to be Fred. He sings to Wilma, and she realizes that she still loves him. He comes off stage and confesses his love for her and proposes to her. She rejects Chip and agrees to marry Fred. Fred and Wilma get married in the Rock Vegas Chapel of Love. Mick Jagged sings "Viva Rock Vegas" at a party. Wilma throws back her bouquet of flowers and Betty catches it and looks at Barney with a smile on her face and they kiss.
5. The Adventures Of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000): In 1964 saw the cancellation of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and life became rather miserable and melancholy for Rocky (voiced by June Foray) and Bullwinkle (voiced by Keith Scott). Rocky lost his ability to fly, their home Frostbite Falls was thrown into a deforestation of environmental issues and the two received rather cheap paychecks for re-runs of their old show. Even the show's old narrator (voiced by Keith Scott) has been forced to move in with his mother (voiced by June Foray) where he narrates the events of his own life. However, for the old villains of the show, Fearless Leader, Boris Badenov (both voiced by Keith Scott) and Natasha Fatale (voiced by June Foray), things seem to be looking up for them. After the Iron Curtain literally falls on them, and their country of Pottsylvania is freed from their dictatorship, the villains dig underground, popping up in a television set in Phoney Picture Studios in Los Angeles where they goad an executive Minnie Mogel (Janeane Garofalo) into producing the new Rocky and Bullwinkle Movie. She signs a contract and pulls it out of the television, bringing the villains with it who become live action characters. Six months on, FBI Director Cappy Von Trapment (Randy Quaid) and bungling but beautiful agent Karen Sympathy (Piper Perabo) visit President Signoff (James Rebhorn) at the White House, showing him that every single block of American cable programming has been bought by Fearless Leader (portrayed by Robert De Niro) and formed into a single network called RBTV - or Really Bad Television. Cappy explains that the television programmes will be so terrible, that they can "zombify" the entire country and make them vote Fearless Leader as the new President of the United States. Cappy sends Karen to summon Rocky and Bullwinkle from the cartoon world to save the country. She succeeds using a special green lighthouse, which she uses to literally greenlight them, summoning Rocky, Bullwinkle and the unseen Narrator to the lighthouse, Rocky and Bullwinkle becoming CGI characters, and the Narrator somehow turns invisible (seeing as how he is not even seen when they spin inside the bulb of the lighthouse). The trio head out across the country to save the day, but Fearless Leader hears of their return from a literal mole in the White House and he sends Boris and Natasha (portrayed by Jason Alexander and Rene Russo) to stop them. Armed with a truck of typical cartoon weaponry and a laptop called the CDI (Computer Degenerating Imagery) that can destroy cartoon characters, Boris and Natasha try to defeat the heroes with a safe, sticks of dynamite and a cannon, but the heroes steal their truck. Luckily, the villains locate a helicopter and secretly follow the heroes. Natasha, impersonating Karen, warns the state troopers of Oklahoma of their stolen truck. A trooper (John Goodman) arrests Karen and takes her to a woman's prison. Rocky and Bullwinkle continue on their own. Both are picked up by Martin (Kel Mitchell) and Lewis (Kenan Thompson), two students at Wossamotta U., Bullwinkle's old university where he was a football player. Bullwinkle heads to his old university to receive an "Honorary Mooster's Degree" after Boris and Natasha sent the university's chairman a money paycheque in Bullwinkle's name. Rocky spots Boris on a recently built water tower trying to kill Bullwinkle using the CDI, but the squirrel's old flying ability kicks in and he saves Bullwinkle's life. The crowd gathered to protest against Bullwinkle's degree are distracted by Rocky's heroics and applauds, although Bullwinkle (who has been gasbagging this whole time) mistakes them for liking his speech. The two leave Wossamotta U. using Martin and Lewis' convertible. Karen escapes from jail by tricking a lovestruck Swedish prison guard named Ole (Rod Biermann), leaving him waiting for her at a cinema while she drives off in his pickup truck. Boris and Natasha pursue Rocky and Bullwinkle through the city streets of Chicago. Boris and Natasha accidentally degenerating their helicopter with the CDI causing Boris and Natasha to land on a travelling mattress salesman (Billy Crystal). However, they rent a car from the Cheap-O Rent A Car Company. Rocky, Bullwinkle and Karen coincidentally are reunited only to be arrested by a bunch of policemen and put on trial with Judge Cameo (Whoopi Goldberg) presiding. Bullwinkle acts the lawyer which doesn't go well for Karen. Upon recognizing Rocky and Bullwinkle when she puts on her glasses, Judge Cameo freaks out and dismisses the case claiming to the prosecutor that "celebrities are above the law." Later, the trio of heroes buy an old bi-plane from Old Jeb (Jonathan Winters) and head back to New York, Boris and Natasha's attempts to stop them are thwarted by the car company employees. The two consider giving up their job and think about getting married and having children. Fearless Leader calls them and they lie that they killed Rocky and Bullwinkle. The bi-plane the heroes are in begins to lose altitude due to too much weight. Rocky airlifts Karen to New York while Bullwinkle flies the bi-plane to Washington DC to address Signoff about the deforestation of Frostbite Falls. Rocky and Karen break into the RBTV headquarters but are captured when they try to stop Fearless Leader. They are soon turned into vegetables, something of which was done to three other FBI agents (portrayed by Mark Holton, Doug Jones, and Jane Edith Wilson) previously. Meanwhile at the White House Bullwinkle, whom is revealed that his stupidity is immune to RBTV's zombificaton, is e-mailed to the RBTV building by Cappy at the White House. As Fearless Leader broadcasts to the American public to try and make himself President, pandemonium breaks around him as Bullwinkle pops out of a computer and disrupts the signal of the Quality Control, the device that is zombifying the American public. Rocky and Karen are restored to normal and fight the villains, defeating Boris and Natasha easily while Bullwinkle charges upon Fearless Leader, defeating him too. Bullwinkle broadcasts to the country, asking them to vote for whoever they want and for the winning candidate to replant the trees in Frostbite Falls. Karen destroys the Quality Control, freeing the country. Bullwinkle messes with the CDI to send thanks to Cappy, zapping the villains, sending them to the Internet forever. In the end, President Signoff wins the election, RBTV becomes Rocky and Bullwinke Television, Karen goes out with Ole to the cinema where they watch the Rocky and Bullwinkle Movie produced by Minnie Mogul. The Narrator is reunited with his mother, and Rocky and Bullwinkle's home has been restored. Bullwinkle concludes the film, remembering how they went to "New York to meet President Washington".
By Richard Moody & Tanya Ross
1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005): Charlie Bucket is a poor boy who lives near the Wonka Candy Company. The company's owner, Willy Wonka, has for long closed access to his factory due to problems concerning industrial espionage that led him to fire all his employees, among them Charlie's Grandpa Joe. One day, Wonka informs of a contest, in which Golden Tickets have been placed in five random Wonka Bars worldwide, and the winners will be given a full tour of the factory as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate, while one ticket holder will be given a special prize at the end of the tour. Wonka's sales subsequently skyrocket, and the first four tickets are found fairly quickly. The recipients are Augustus Gloop, a gluttonous German boy; Veruca Salt, a very spoiled English girl; Violet Beauregarde, a competitive gum chewer, and Mike Teavee, an arrogant television and video game addict. Charlie tries twice to find a ticket, but both bars come empty. After overhearing that the final ticket was found in Russia, Charlie finds a ten-dollar note, and purchases a Wonka Bar at a newsstand. At the exact moment it was revealed that the Russian ticket was forged, Charlie discovers the real fifth ticket inside the wrapper. Charlie first considers an offer of $500 for the ticket, but decides to keep it, and bring Grandpa Joe to accompany him on the factory tour. Charlie and the other ticket holders are greeted by Wonka outside the factory, who then leads them into the facility. During the tour, each of the bad children disobey Wonka's orders after being tempted by something related to their individual character flaws, and suffer various consequences: Augustus is sucked up a chocolate extraction pipe after falling into a chocolate river from which he was drinking, Violet is turned into an oversized blueberry after chewing unstable three-course-meal gum, Veruca is pushed into a garbage chute by worker squirrels after she tries to take one as a pet, and Mike is shrunk with a teleporter that he uses on himself. Wonka's employees, the Oompa-Loompas sing a song of morality after each elimination. The children later leave the factory with an exaggerated characteristic or deformity related to their demise – Augustus covered in chocolate, Violet blue-colored, Veruca covered in garbage and Mike overstretched. Wonka then invites Charlie to come live and work in the factory with him, and reveals that the purpose of the Golden Tickets and the tour was to make the "least rotten" child the heir of the factory itself. The only catch is that Charlie must leave his family behind, because Wonka believes family is a hindrance while a chocolatier needed creative freedom – a philosophy Wonka developed due to his dentist father, Dr. Wilbur Wonka, denying his son candy because of the potential risk to his teeth. After sneaking over a piece of candy, Wonka was instantly hooked, and ran away to follow his dreams. As his family is the most important thing in his life, Charlie refuses Wonka's offer. Charlie and his family are living contently a while later, however Wonka is too depressed to make candy the way he used to, and turns to Charlie for advice. Charlie decides to help Wonka confront and reconcile with his estranged father; Wonka finally realizes the value of family, while his father learns to accept his son for who he is, and not what he does. In the end, Charlie has the chocolate factory, and Wonka has patched up with his family.
2. Alice In Wonderland (2010): A retelling of Lewis Carroll's original story, the movie has Alice Kingsley, now 19, attending a party at a Victorian estate, only to find she is about to be proposed to marriage by a rich suitor in front of hundreds of snooty society types. She runs off, following a white rabbit into a hole and ending up in Wonderland, a place she visited many years before, though she doesn't remember it. The White Rabbit claims to have come back for Alice because she is the only one who can slay the Jabberwock, the beast who guards the Red Queen's empire. Alice remains completely unaware of why she is in Wonderland, and is confused about the fact that she had once visited Wonderland years before. She then embarks — assuming both large and small sizes — on an adventure of self discovery and to save Wonderland from the Red Queen's reign of terror with the help of her Wonderland friends.
By Richard Moody & Bill Ross
1. Wallace & Gromit in the Curse Of The Were-rabbit (2005): Tottington Hall's annual Giant Vegetable Competition is approaching. The winner of the competition will win the Golden Carrot Award. All are eager to protect their vegetables from damage and thievery by rabbits until the contest, and Wallace and Gromit are cashing in by running a vegetable security and humane pest control business, "Anti-Pesto". However, they are faced with two problems: the first is Wallace's growing weight and the second is inadequate space for the captured rabbits. Wallace comes up with an idea — use his Mind Manipulation-O-Matic machine to brainwash the rabbits, allowing them to run freely without harming everyone's gardens. While performing the operation, he kicks the switch and something goes terribly wrong, leaving them with a semi-intelligent rabbit who (in a slow metamorphosis) starts to behave like Wallace (down to his fondness for cheese) and whom Wallace names "Hutch". Soon the town is threatened by the "Were-Rabbit", a giant rabbit-like monster which eats vegetables of any size. During a chaotic yet hilarious town meeting, Anti-Pesto enters into a rivalry with Lord Victor Quartermaine to capture the Were-Rabbit and to win Lady Tottington's heart. After the first night of the Were-Rabbit, the townsfolk start to argue about what to do. After a hectic night-time chase, Gromit discovers that the Were-Rabbit (whom he assumed was Hutch at first) is, in fact, Wallace, suffering from the effects of the accident with the Mind Manipulation-O-Matic having caused him and Hutch to each take on aspects of the other; Hutch even displays Wallace's knack for inventions and regularly repeats some of Wallace's old phrases. Victor corners Wallace during the night, jealous of Lady Tottington's growing fondness for him because of his humane practice of pest control (whereas Victor thinks it's more effective to shoot and kill them). But then Wallace falls into the path of moonlight and transforms. Victor, having identified the Were-Rabbit, goes to Reverend Clement Hedges and gains access to "24-carrot" gold bullets - supposedly, the only things capable of killing a Were-Rabbit. During the final showdown, Victor and his dog Philip capture Gromit, who subsequently escapes and decides to make the ultimate sacrifice by using the marrow he had been growing for the competition as bait for Wallace who, in his rabbit form, has burst in upon the vegetable contest, causing panic. Victor tries to shoot what is apparently the monster, but Gromit is one step ahead of him, using a rabbit costume he and Wallace had created prior to the discovery of the Were-Rabbit's true nature as a trap. Unfortunately, the marrow cannot keep Wallace's attention as Victor tries to take the golden carrot award from a distressed Lady Tottington (The only vaguely bullet-like object left to him after he exhausted the gold bullets provided by the vicar). Wallace ascends to the rooftops, holding a screaming Lady Tottington in his hand. Discovering his identity, she promises to protect him, only to be interrupted by Victor. Meanwhile, in a mid-air dogfight in toy aeroplanes, Philip chases after Gromit. Gromit forces his foe out of the air in a fiery crash and explosion - but Philip manages to hold on to Gromit's plane and the two grapple with each other. The fight rages on and in the end, Gromit releases Philip, ironically, through the bomb doors and into a bouncy castle. On the roof of Tottington Hall, Gromit's toy biplane circles Wallace, who clings onto the flagpole at the top of the building for dear life. Victor, wielding the Golden Carrot trophy inside a blunderbuss he finds at an antiques table at the fair, tries one last time to shoot Wallace, but Wallace is saved by Gromit, who grabs onto a rope from a flagpole and swings his plane into the path of the improvised bullet. The enraged Victor throws down the blunderbuss and stamps on it screaming out "Potty poo!" Unfortunately, since it is a toy plane not intended for flying, when Gromit accidentally lets go of the rope, the plane begins to descend rapidly. Wallace jumps from the flagpole and catches the plane, thereby breaking Gromit's fall into the cheese tent below. Victor gloats, but is knocked unconscious by Lady Tottington, using a giant carrot. He falls into the tent too, where Wallace lies unconscious and seemingly dying of his injuries. To protect Wallace from the angry mob outside, Gromit dresses Victor up as the monster (using a marionette he used earlier as a lure for the Were-Rabbit), and throws him out of the tent. Philip, believing Victor to be the beast, bites his master, and the angry mob chases Victor away. Gromit and Tottington tend to Wallace who, seconds later, breathes his last and morphs back into his human form. Gromit, the rabbits, and Lady Tottington are saddened by their loss, but Gromit is able to revive Wallace with a slice of Stinking Bishop cheese. Gromit, for his bravery and his "brave and splendid marrow", was awarded the (now somewhat battered) competition trophy, and Lady Tottington turns Tottington Hall into a wildlife refuge where all the rabbits, including Hutch, can live in peace.
By Richard Moody, Greg Ross & Tanya Ross
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