Steve Box's work with Nick Park finds its funniest moments in the patience of a dog. We rate their feature highly, with one reservation: its small domestic jokes are better sustained than its monster plot.
Fi1m perspective
Gromit has to tolerate one more of Wallace's ideas, and his silent exasperation is enough to make the scene funny. In Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), co-directors Steve Box and Nick Park preserve that unequal partnership even with a mutant rabbit requiring attention. We laughed at Gromit's patience because the small, precisely judged gestures let us feel how much is being asked of him. The filmmakers understand why we might rather watch the dog than get on with the chase.
Box had already animated Wallace and Gromit in The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995), before working on Chicken Run (2000). Stage Fright (1997), his own short, combined credits for writing, directing, producing and animation. Co-directing Were-Rabbit meant taking responsibility for a larger team of animators. The shared credit matters: we can judge the comedy without pretending to know which director supplied each joke. He later directed the television series Moominvalley (2019–), an adaptation of Tove Jansson's characters.
The screenplay for Were-Rabbit, by Park, Box, Bob Baker and Mark Burton, is strongest in its sight gags. Even an obvious pun usually has something in the picture to reward our attention, so the dialogue never has to do all the work. Ralph Fiennes's Victor Quartermaine and Helena Bonham Carter's Lady Campanula Tottington are broad enough to belong here without their voices overwhelming the figures. The film's sympathy for animals gives the monster comedy feeling and keeps the creature from becoming merely something to chase.
The reservation is the thin story, stretched by action that sometimes feels like a way of keeping everyone running a little longer. Park and Box are surer with the ordinary domestic irritations between their leads, and those scenes justify our affection for the film. Start with The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and do not worry about recognising every horror reference; understanding what Gromit has to put up with is quite enough.
Biography
Steve Box (born 23 January 1967) is an English animator, director and writer. He joined Aardman Animations in 1990 after early work on the claymation series The Trap Door. He animated on the Wallace & Gromit shorts The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995), and was key animator on Chicken Run (2000).
Box co-directed and co-wrote the feature Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) with Nick Park. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. He also wrote, directed and produced the short Stage Fright (1997), which won a BAFTA, and directed the music video for the Spice Girls' "Viva Forever" (1998). He has contributed to Shaun the Sheep projects and directed episodes of Moominvalley.
