A Grand Day Out

Plot

While deciding on where to go on their bank holiday, the cheese-loving inventor Wallace (Peter Sallis) and his dog, Gromit, find their fridge empty. Knowing that the moon is made of cheese, they build a rocket and fly up to the Moon. After landing, they set up a picnic and sample some of the moon's surface. They encounter a coin-operated robot; Wallace inserts a coin, but nothing happens. After he and Gromit leave, the robot comes to life and gathers the dirty plates left at the picnic spot.

The robot discovers a skiing magazine, and yearns to travel to the Earth to ski there. It repairs a broken piece of landscape, issues a parking ticket for the rocket, and is annoyed by an oil leak from the craft. The robot sneaks up on Wallace and prepares to strike him on the head with a truncheon, but the money Wallace inserted runs out, and it freezes. Wallace takes the robot's truncheon as a souvenir, inserts another coin, and prepares to leave with Gromit.

Returning to life, the robot follows Wallace and Gromit. Wallace panics, and he and Gromit retreat into the rocket. Unable to climb the ladder, the robot cuts into the fuselage with a can opener and accidentally ignites some fuel. The explosion throws it off the rocket, and Wallace and Gromit lift off. Although initially dejected, the robot fashions twisted and buckled bits of rocket fuselage into skis, and begins skiing over the moon's slopes, waving good-bye to Wallace and Gromit as they return home to the Earth.

Production

Nick Park started creating A Grand Day Out in 1982 just as a graduation project for the National Film and Television School. In 1985, Aardman Animations took him on before he finished the piece, allowing him to work on it part-time while still being funded by the school.

To make the film, Park wrote to William Harbutt's company, requesting 1 LT of Plasticine. The block he received had 10 different colours, one of which was called "stone"; this was used for Gromit. Park himself had wanted to voice Gromit, but he ultimately realized that the voice he had in mind – that of Peter Hawkins – would have been difficult to animate. Park wrote to Peter Sallis asking him to voice Wallace, and Sallis agreed in return for a donation of £50 to a charity of Sallis' choice. Park wanted Wallace to have a Lancashire accent like his own, but Sallis could only do a Yorkshire accent. Inspired by how Sallis drew out the word "cheese", Park chose to give Wallace large cheeks. When Park called Sallis 6 years later to explain he had completed his film, Sallis swore in surprise. Sallis wrote that Park got him into the studio to provide more dialogue and sounds as Wallace. Sallis said he was impressed by the Wallace and Gromit figures, and less so about the robot which he called a "petrol pump" though he later grew fond of the character.

Gromit was named after grommets, because Park's brother, an electrician, often mentioned them, and Park liked the sound of the word. Wallace was originally a postman named Jerry, but Park felt the name did not pair well with Gromit. Park saw an overweight Labrador Retriever named Wallace belonging to an old woman boarding a bus in his hometown of Preston. Park commented it was a "funny name, a very northern name to give a dog".

According to the 2004 book The World of Wallace & Gromit by Andy Lane, Park originally planned the film to be 40 minutes long and to spoof Star Wars with numerous characters and a fast food restaurant on the Moon. However, he shrank the story when he realised it would take him several more years to complete.

Home media

The short film was released on VHS in the 1990s by BBC Video. It was also reissued as a DreamWorks Pictures release along with 1993's The Wrong Trousers and 1995's A Close Shave on the Wallace & Gromit in 3 Amazing Adventures DVD by DreamWorks Home Entertainment on 20 September 2005. In the United States, it was released on DVD on 10 February 2009 by Lionsgate Home Entertainment and HIT Entertainment. In the United Kingdom, it was again released on DVD in the 2000s.

The short was released on Blu-ray by Lionsgate Home Entertainment as part of Wallace and Gromit: The Complete Collection on 22 September 2009, for the 20th anniversary of the franchise. A remastered version was released on 4K UHD Blu-Ray by Shout! Studios on Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection on 10 December 2024.

In the United States, Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection would later be added to Amazon Prime Video.

Release

The short debuted on 4 November 1989 at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol and debuted in the United States on 18 May 1990. It was also shown on Channel 4 on 24 December 1990 in the United Kingdom. It aired on BBC Two on 25 December 1993 to promote The Wrong Trousers.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, A Grand Day Out has a approval rating based on reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. It won the inaugural Best Short Animation award at the 43rd BAFTAs in 1990 and was nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the 63rd Academy Awards in 1991. Creature Comforts, another Park short, was also nominated for both awards and beat A Grand Day Out for the Academy Award.

In July 2019, the film was ranked at the 2nd place in a Rotten Tomatoes list of "38 Moon Movies To Celebrate The Moon Landing".

References

References

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