Rustling is rife in the countryside surrounding West Wallaby Street, forcing worried sheep to take refuge all over town. Work your way around the streets, seeking out those fugitive sheep. Rustle them from their hideouts, or from other players, and herd them in long lines safely back home. But beware! Sheep rustling’s a ‘gambol’! The more sheep you rustle – the more other rustling rascals will have their greedy eyes on your flock.
2-6 players
8 Years and Up
CONTENTS:
1 x Fleeced Gameboard
6 x Character Pieces
6 x Sheep Whistles
1 x Sheep Dip Bag
40 x Sheep Pieces
50 x Cheese Cards
7 x Sheep Hideout Cards
This is a great game that takes you back to the traditional fun family board games. With its twists and turns this game is set to be a future classic.
Nick Park joined Aardman in 1986 to work at the studio with Peter Lord and David Sproxton and at the same time to complete A Grand Day Out, a film he had started while a student at the National Film and Television School.
Nominated for an Academy Award, A Grand Day Out (1989) introduced the world to Wallace, the eccentric, cheese-loving inventor and his faithful dog, Gromit.
The story was pure comic-book adventure - building a space rocket and blasting-off to the moon in search of cheese. The characters, however, were strongly delineated; the naive, somewhat inept Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and the real brains behind the partnership, Gromit, whose facial expressions - wide, slightly mournful eyes - quickly register his despair, frustration or total incredulity.
The success of A Grand Day Out demanded a sequel, and in 1993 Wallace and Gromit returned in The Wrong Trousers, followed two years later by A Close Shave, all three films having been commissioned by Colin Rose of the BBC. The later films, both of which won Oscars(R), have tightly constructed plots involving a villainous penguin disguised as a chicken and a psychopathic mechanical dog.
This brings us to the most successful film to date 'Curse of the Were Rabbit' where we see Wallace and his loyal dog, Gromit, set out to discover the mystery behind the garden sabotage that plagues their village and threatens the annual giant vegetable growing contest. Which again leads the way in world wide annimation, again collecting many prestigious awards.
They are packed with visual jokes (Gromit reading a paper carrying the headline 'Dog Reads Paper') and verbal puns (Gromit's collection of records by Bach), and there is a proliferation of wacky gadgets, ranging from the ex-NASA Techno Trousers to Wallace's Knit-O-Matic machine via a porridge gun and a device that catapults dollops of jam onto a piece of toast as it springs out of a pop-up toaster;
Park's films work on many levels. Children respond to the broad character comedy, adults to the more sophisticated elements including the affectionate spoofing of movie genres such as horror films, thrillers, heist pictures, action movies and the deep shadows and crazy camera angles of film noir. This richness of character and relentlessly paced animation (the model train chase in The Wrong Trousers and the motorbike pursuit in A Close Shave) have carried clay animation to unprecedented heights.
Extract from the book 'Cracking Animation' by Brian Sibley
The two British animators of Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit are in Santa Monica ready to enjoy the Oscar experience, having chosen the BBC for their only pre-awards interview.
Box and Park have been working on speeches in the event of a win
Or rather, they would be enjoying it a lot more if they had not brought the British rain and snow with them and Park's luggage had no t gone astray at the airport.
"My tux was in the suitcase," he reveals. "I've only got the clothes I'm standing up in - well sitting in, anyway."
The pair do have their "good luck" bow ties, which designer Paul Smith made specially for them to wear at the awards.
"If I win, I could always just go up in my bow tie," Park adds, prompting various quips from Box about where to hold the Oscar.
Park, the winner of three previous Oscars (two for Wallace and Gromit short films, and one for Creature Comforts) is back after 10 years with his fifth nomination.
It is Box's first nomination.
-BBC News
