Wallace and Gromit got the big screen treatment this last month in the new film, Wallace and Gromit - the Curse of the Were-Rabbit. In the film, our unlikely heroes run a pest control business, keeping rabbits away from the critical crops. They're doing pretty well, until Wallace pulls one of his usual hare-brained (hare - get it? Okay, so maybe it's not that funny) ideas, and ends up creating a monster. This giane Were-Rabbit is going to make a mess of things unless W&G can put a stop to him.

Mcfarlane Toys picked up the license to do all kinds of product for the film, including plush characters, PVC's and a regular set of action figures. The regular set is in a 6" scale, and they 'deluxe' edition to this regular set is the huge Were-rabbit himself.

I'm expecting these to hit retail in the next week at the latest, and I have the usual suspects linked at the end of the review if you want to pick them up on line.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"The Were-Rabbit (Wallace and Gromit)"

The regular series actually consists of eight figures - two versions of Wallace, two versions of Gromit, PC Mackintosh, Lady Tottington, Hutch and Victor Quartermaine. The Were-Rabbit is the deluxe boxed set for this first series.

Packaging - ***
This is one huge rabbit, really, he's huge. I was shocked at how big he was when I first saw him. He's quite heavy as well, so the box had to be mighty sturdy to contain him. The window shows him off pretty well, and the colors are in line with the movie.

It's not particularly collector friendly, and as is far too often the case, the people putting in the twisties appear to be very, very angry individuals. You'll want your wire cutters for this one, since the twisties are larger than usual and double knotted for your pleasure and amusement.

Sculpt - ***1/2
Did I mention how big this fuzzball is? At about 10 inches tall, he towers over the 6" figure line. I've included a couple photos with them to give you some idea.

The head sculpt is excellent, and matches the film extremely well. The approximation of fur is nicely done, although the film actually has some sort of fuzzy material on this rabbit. That's odd for W&G characters, where are usually uniformly smooth. It's probably due to his sheer size in the film though, where that much smooth clay would have looked less interesting.

While the fur approximation on the face is good, I'm not as happy with it over the rest of the body. Perhaps they were concerned with the mental health of the sculptor, who surely would have gone made sculpting litte fur lines over his entire body, so instead they went with a clumpy, rough look. It looks just like stucco, which makes a great wall covering, but not such a great animal fur.

That's my only concern though, and what pulled this score down from a perfect 4. If you don't mind the weird body texture, you'll score him higher in this category. The proportions are well done, the ears look terrific, and the overall pose makes sense considering his ponderous bulk.

Paint - ****
While I had a nit with the sculpt, that's not the case with the paint. Oh, sure, there's not much detail here to screw up, but even when doing large surfaces you can have problems - poor consistency, lighter or darker areas, odd changes in finish, too much dry brushing or wash - but none of those problems exist with the brown color that covers the majority of this figure.

The work on the few detail areas, like the eyes, nose, teeth and tail, is clean and well masked, with no bleed or over spray. I'm betting every figure sports a similar paint job, so you won't have to worry about an online purchase.

Articulation - *1/2
Okay, so while he does great in the first two categories, he doesn't do quite as good here. That's probably no surprise considering the character design, and it's only going to take a small hit in my overall, but your mileage may vary.

The big hairball has a cut neck, cut shoulders, but I was surprised to see he didn't have cut ankles. The arms can move forward, but because of the way they are turned inward at the shoulders, the paws hit each other at center height. The neck articulation isn't particularly useful either, since turning it slightly exposes the smooth plastic underneath. This is a figure that is really a statue, looking good in one pose.

Accessories - *1/2
There's only one accessory, his display base. The base is nicely sculpted, and includes what appears to be a turnip, and a partially eaten carrot.

His feet attach easily to the pegs in the base, and he stays up well enough. The base isn't really necessary, since he does stand if you keep his paws in close to his body, but the stand helps him stay up in a high wind and improves the overall visual appeal.

Fun Factor - ***
This is really a line trying to make two groups happy - older fans of the show who want something to display in their cube at work, and kids who loved the movie and are looking to play. That's usually a tough tightrope to walk, but they've done a pretty good job here. Kids should have a good time with the entire line, including the Were-Rabbit, and build strong muscles at the same time lugging him around.

Value - ****
By going with less articulation and almost no accessories, they managed to keep his price really low. I'm shocked that this guy is only $15, and I had expected a $20 - $25 price tag easily. Considering that this is a licensed movie figure, and that the small 6" characters run $11 - $13 each depending on the store, this is one of the best deals I've seen in quite awhile.

Overall - ***1/2
This is almost a four star figure, and might very well be for you, if you don't have the same aesthetic issues I did. I'm not real fond of the stucco sculpt work on the body, and since it's such a monsterously huge body, it's pretty obvious to the eye. Also, while I understand the limitations of articulating a figure like this, some design work should have been done to make him at least a squigh more poseable.

However, you might not have those same issues, and if you don't, you're going to find this guy as close to perfect as you can get. He really does look amazing, particularly with the rest of the line, and big fans of the film should rejoice. They are getting an excellent treatment from Mcfarlane, with the very best action figures ever produced off this license.

Where to Buy -
These will hit specialty stores, but I'm not sure about mass retailers, like Toys R Us. You'd think so, but then you never know these days...online options include:

- Killer Toys has the Were-Rabbit for $15, and the full set of eight figures for just $85.

- Clark Toys has the rabbit for $15, and the individual figures for $11 each.

Related Links -
Check out the following for more W&G goodness:

- this is the official Wallace and Gromit web site, where you can see trailers of the various films, buy goodies like Middle Age Spread, and other cool features.

- there's a separate official movie site for the new film as well.

- I will also have a review up later today of the six of the first series of regular action figures at my other site.

- I've already reviewed the set of plush from the film, as well as one of the PVC sets based on the film.