There’s nothing I like more than an energetic chase scene in a movie. It’s one of those clear-cut story beats where you can clearly see the motivations and goals of everyone involved.
When it comes to chase scenes, there are so many that stick out as great. But recently, I was scrolling Twitter, wasting time, and saw that this one was going viral.
Let’s dig into one of the best, if not the best, chase scenes of all time.
The Train Chase Scene in ”Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers”
“Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers” is a 1993 British stop-motion animated short film created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. It’s the second installment in the beloved Wallace and Gromit series, following A Grand Day Out.
The film was meticulously crafted using stop-motion animation, a painstaking technique where objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played back.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1994, cementing its place as a masterpiece of animation.
When I was a kid, I remember getting a bunch of these stories on VHS tape and loving them. as an adult, I found Wallace and his dog, Gromit, on streaming.
Still, as I watched “The Wrong Trousers”, I was filled with a youthful exuberance. It was so much fun watching the hijinks and felt so exciting seeing the creativity behind the camera.
While there are many chase scenes in the movie, I think the train chase is the best. It shows the layers of creativity you need to make a scene like this pop.
As I said up top, there is a clear motivation to everything happening on screen. The penguin has stolen from Wallace, and he and Gromit are after him. Things get complicated when they get on a toy train, and have to use extra tracks to keep up.
This scene has some awesome escalations. First, it’s a penguin with a gun, shooting at them. Then, it’s the moving train. Everything that happens, has a distinct reason. Gromit is shot off a light, but then that light becomes a shield for other bullets.
They land on a train, but find extra tracks to keep going. Wallace’s mechanical trousers send him through a wall onto a laundry cart, but then that can roll alongside the train. Gromit is knocked into the kitchen and hit with an empty milk jar, which eventually becomes how they catch the penguin.
These actions and reactions are so intricately woven, every writer and director should study them.
When you launch into your own chase scenes, think about how they can build like this, and not just involve one person running after another.
The chase scene in “The Wrong Trousers” is a testament to the creativity and technical skill of the filmmakers. It’s a masterclass in comedic timing, visual storytelling, and stop-motion animation.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
