“Early Man” Is Too Skinny for a Feature

There are too many characters and too little plot too fit into and fill its 89 minute run time.

I’ve loved Aardman since ’89, when I was living in Britain, and first met Wallace, the eccentric Lancashire inventor of Rube Goldberg-like devices, and his more cultured and intelligent companion, Gromit, the dog.

Wallace expressed himself via his impossibly broad grin and accent, while Gromit (who, as far as I can tell, is mute) expressed himself via body language and facial expressions, and the odd book or sign. We always knew what Wallace was thinking because he was guileless, he told us. We always knew what Gromit was thinking because he was us.

Yes, Gromit was a character, but not just, he served a higher function, he was self-aware, but not just aware of himself, he was aware of us, and Wallace’s folly. Every time Gromit shrugged, so did we.

They weren’t just endearing bits of clay, they were irresistible characters, whom we got to know through a handful of shorts before they appeared in their first feature length film.

Nick Park has since developed other characters, Rocky Rhodes and Ginger, and Shaun the Sheep, but even though we loved “Chicken Run” and “Shaun the Sheep”, both films suffered from too large casts…