review for A Grand Day Out on AllMovie

The first of the Wallace and Gromit series of stop-motion short films took the animation world by storm in 1990, and it's easy to see why. Creator and director Nick Park's signature style -- well-defined teeth, expressive brows, and wry, well-timed humor -- combined with the antics of the easygoing Wallace and his slightly more perceptive dog, Gromit, made for an instant hit with animation aficionados. It took Park six years to create A Grand Day Out, five of which were spent working on his own before being discovered by Bristol, U.K.-based Aardman Animations. As such, the level of technical proficiency is a little uneven, though still remarkable. But ultimately it's the story that matters, and the characters and situations are charming enough to make the short's 23 minutes pass all too quickly. It's worth noting that this is the only one of Park's shorts that hasn't won an Oscar; the statue was taken that year by Creature Comforts, another one of his films.