That original cover really is a million times better. Gah!

So now we’ve all seen A Matter of Loaf and Death, what do we think?

For me it kind of derails around 17 minutes in, with Piella yelling at Wallace that she hates flour, bread and bakers. Until then it’s all seems to be going somewhere, with Gromit discovering the truth and needing to find some way of communicating to Wallace that she can’t be trusted. It looks like it’s working towards a fairly good mystery thriller. At the moment she yells at Wallace, though, this suspense dissipates, and before long we’re into a series of set-piece Tom and Jerry moments. Sadly, while I found it to be cheery and fun Christmas fare, it’s their worst outing so far, for me. I remain very fond of them, but I can’t help feeling that with each new outing, I’m just waiting for Wallace and Gromit to return to the greatness of The Wrong Trousers, which has the most charming and subtle animation, and perfect narrative and comic timing. Unfortunately I don’t think there will ever be such a return, unless Nick Park returns to animating most of it on his own, without the techniques employed from A Close Shave onwards to quicken the process (like the multiple ready-prepared mouths). Very unlikely.