When a small village sees its prime vegetables disappearing at an alarming rate, thanks to an ever-growing band of rabbits, panic ensues. Who will save their precious carrots and pumpkins, with the annual Giant Vegetable Competition only days away? Quick-thinking Wallace, never one to miss a business opportunity, sets up a humane removal service. Soon every garden is protected by Anti-Pesto; when a burglar alarm (cleverly concealed in a garden gnome, of course) goes off, our intrepid heroes race to the scene and bag the offending bunnies. Once trapped, he stores them in his basement where they multiply like, well, rabbits. But the villagers can sleep safe in their beds once more.
Love Amongst the Vegetables
Meanwhile, up at Tottington Hall, the lady of the manor is also being plagued by excess rabbits. Which is particularly bad news, as this is the site of the annual vegetable jamboree, which means no giant cauliflower or marrow is safe? Voiced by Helena Bonham Carter, this is the upper class in all its glory: terribly posh, none too bright, heart in the right place, and a succession of vegetable-themed dresses and carrot-shaped hair. Of course Wallace will fall for her! Once he’s used his Bun Vac 6000 to vacuum up all the frisky bunnies first, and made a deadly enemy of her money-grubbing not-quite fiancé Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes) by sucking up his toupee along with the rabbits. You can tell he’s the villain of the piece because a) his preferred method of getting rid of the pests involves a large shotgun and b) he has a very nasty little dog, unlike clever, resourceful Gromit, graduate of Dogwarts University.
Just a Bit of Harmless Brain Alteration
So what can Wallace do with a basement full of veg-mad bunnies? Just hook up that Bun Vac 6000 to his latest invention, the Mind Manipulation O-Matic, and have a mass brainwashing session. Yes, it’s Rabbit Rehab – with the power of his mind, plus a little added boost from the full moon, Wallace will turn them off vegetables forever. Alas it all goes too well, and Wallace ends up having an extremely close mental encounter with a rabbit named Hutch. And soon the villagers have, literally, an even bigger problem to worry about. A giant rabbit is on the rampage, but where is Anti-Pesto?
Hard at work, of course, building a giant lady rabbit to lure the evil beast away from those tempting gardens. But come the next full moon, and with Wallace mysteriously absent, Gromit’s attempt to lasso him merely results in more chaos and large muddy paw prints leading back into their house. Cue the dastardly Victor who bravely steps in and offers to rid the terrified population of the monster once and for all, using special “24-carat” gold bullets. Unlike Lady Tottington, he knows the true identity of the Were-Rabbit, and sees this as a perfect way to eliminate the competition as well as being the hero who saved all the innocent vegetables.
Who’s the Real Monster?
From then on it’s one grand, glorious farce as Gromit battles to stop Victor, prevent the giant rabbit from destroying the prize veggies and get Wallace back to normal. There’s a genuinely touching King Kong moment when the Were-Rabbit scoops up Lady Tottington to keep her away from Victor, as well as a brilliantly staged “dogfight” between the two opposing canines. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is another triumph for Aardman Animation, proving clay is mightier than the computer in an industry where special effects equal box office success.
