The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

Wallace and Gromit, a Grand Physics Stretch

                Wallace and Gromit likes to make its own rules. Even in their debut film A Grand Day Out they challenged common rules, common rules of physics that is. This is not unusual though as a lot of films like to push the boundaries of reality for drama or comedy. This is especially evident in fantasy/action films such as Back to the Future or Die Hard. Not all films can do it successfully though. Michael Bay’s Transformers series comes to mind as an obvious example. A Grand day Out is arguably far less beholden to the realities of physics than the films mentioned prior. What is important is the context in which these rules are bent. There are a few elements to the context of A Grand Day Out which lends itself to being believable and fun. I want to discuss some of the ways A Grand Day utilizes physics and some of the elements that help keep it believable in the context of its short story. These physics bends roughly break into three categories; Newton’s Third Law, Acceleration/movement, and Gravity.

                A Grand Day Out starts benign enough with nothing challenging the viewer’s notions of reality. As the film opens Wallace and Gromit are simply sitting at home in the living room. This is a fairly common and grounded sight. Everything seems normal, except it is not. Gromit is an anthropomorphic dog. He’s sitting reading a book as Wallace goes to look for cheese. As Wallace addresses Gromit it is clear that Gromit understands and emotes to what Wallace says. This seems inconsequential to the physics of the story but actually it subtly lets the viewer know right off the bat that this is a cartoon. This is a small step in shifting the viewer’s mindset away from reality. As a side note it becomes funnier as the viewer starts to associate how they feel with Gromit’s reluctance to some of Wallace’s more and more outlandish ideas. He is more the audience surrogate than Wallace is despite Wallace being the human. As the two of them debate where to find cheese they both pause and turn to look up at the moon. This is another step in shifting A Grand Day Out more solidly into the realm of cartoonish fantasy. I can comfortably say most people know the moon is not actually made out of cheese. By the time the first physics break actually occurs in the story the audience is more than warmed up to the idea that this cartoon is not reflective of reality.

                Now that I have established that A Grand Day Out has established itself as a cartoon I can discuss some of the physics breaks proper starting with some Newton’s Third Law breaks. This film is built on physical comedy and gags and so it is natural one physics break would happen in the rocket’s construction. As Gromit is drilling into a board with a power drill his drill gets stuck in the board. When he tries to drill further he and the drill spin violently until he is flung off by the centrifugal force. Most people who have used a power drill have experienced it getting stuck in materiel. All of the drill’s twisting motion is instead put in the wrist of the user. This can cause a mild shock as the expected twisting motion is reversed onto the user. A Grand Day Out takes equal and opposite reaction to an extreme at Gromit’s expense. Later in the film Wallace is almost bludgeoned by the sentient vending machine with a bat but it stops shy when its timer expires. The Robot freezes instantly with no follow through despite what looked like a lot of momentum. To compensate the arm of the robot does rattle violently. When the pair is trying to leave the moon the Robot tears a hole in the side of the rocket. This opening serves as an exit for exhaust gases which should exert a lateral force on the rocket as it takes off. The scene is so frenetic though and so late in the game of outlandish things to happen even mentioning this comes off as a minor gripe.

                There a few instance of unrealistic acceleration and deceleration in the film as well. After the completion of their rocket Wallace and Gromit hop in to hilariously start it up with a very low tech fuse. When the engine erupts the rocket shakes vigorously but goes nowhere. Gromit has to eventually let go of the parking brake before the rocket flies upward at extreme speeds. A few things are at play here. For one the rocket seems to build up energy from sitting stationary as if it were a car doing a burnout. When the rocket does finally start moving it is going extremely fast, exiting the atmosphere in seconds. To play off the fact that Wallace and Gromit are not immediately killed by the G forces that would be exerted on their bodies they are both rattled to the floor. This lends some believability to what is going on as there is an opposite reaction to the rocket’s acceleration; it is just not a truly realistic one.  Later when the rocket is leaving the moon and exhaust is escaping from the hole torn in the side of its hull the robot is launched from the rocket. Not only does it accelerate away at a constant speed but there is not arc on its trajectory. This is more of a cartoonish effect as a very straight trajectory is usually associated with having a lot of force behind something. Most of the occurrences on the moon exhibit strange acceleration and momentum but the robot skiing is notable. Because the acceleration due to gravity on the moon is about 17% of that on Earth the robot skiing at the speed it does is a stretch. The robot even builds enough momentum to do backflips at certain points. Most of the things the robot does in this short section of the film are towards the end and at this time nothing really matters too much anymore. It is more of a gag. It is a tall order to give a robot skiing on the Moon’s surface an air of fidelity.

                This brings me to some of my final examples concerning gravity in the film. Gravity is more or less optional depending on the scene. On their way to the moon within their spacecraft which is fashioned more like a house life continues as normal. Gromit is able to build a house of cards despite there being a lack of gravity in deep space. After landing Wallace also kicks a soccer ball into the air which comically never returns to him. In this instance the ball would return at some point because despite low gravity there is some on the moon. Wallace treats it as a lost cause though. A lot of these gravity flubs are all for the sake of comedy. One more conspicuous example though is when rocket fuel begins to pour out of a broken pipe. Liquid flow on the moon would be a lot slower due to the vastly reduced gravity. As well gravity plays a role in the acceleration of the robot up and down the hills of the moon. By this point Wallace and Gromit have landed on a moon made of cheese with no space suits so none of these occurrences is really of consequence at this point of the story.

                A Grand Day Out is a good example of boiling a frog. The audience is slowly accustomed to the various gags and physics breaks in the film and are immersed or figuratively boiled. Scenes taken out of context clearly make no sense but in the process of watching the film start to finish the buildup of physical gags is fairly seamless. Without this slow build up to more and more extreme physics breaks perhaps they would not have worked as well in the end. A Grand Day Out clearly knows how to use its medium to its fullest and to push the limits of reality to create comedy.