In a series of brilliant short films that culminated in the Oscar® winners Creature Comforts, The Wrong Trousers, and A Close Shave, the artists at Aardman Animations set new standards for acting and direction in clay animation. The BBC series Rex the Runt was clearly made on a smaller budget that precluded full animation. The program plays like a cross between Gumby and a minor skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus or The Goon Show. The characters are made from flat sheets of clay, and most of the animation is two-dimensional. The main characters are canines: pop-eyed lavender Rex is the most sensible of the four; Wendy is a fussy female with breasts and a bow; Bad Bob sports an eye patch and carries a pistol; dimwitted, snaggletoothed Vince suffers from "Random Pavarotti Disease," which causes him to bellow snatches of opera. They're not an endearing lot, and the writers strain to find things for them to do. The foursome likes to go on adventures, but the stories don't really go anywhere; the verbal patter that should flow effortlessly sounds labored. Even a routine physical gag, like having the characters thrown out of a car and into a snowbank, is so badly timed it has no punch. It's far more entertaining to watch The Wrong Trousers for the 20th time than to sit through Rex the Runt once. (Unrated, suitable for ages 12 and older: gross/toilet humor, minor profanity, cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon
Discover the Joy of Rex. Join REX THE RUNT and his chums -- the pert-bum-loving Wendy, Chuffy-chomping Bad Bob and our own little Hoover-hankering Vince -- for bizarre Telly adventures with Easter Island stone-head aliens, singing sausages, a Sinister Secret Laboratory, the Go-Back-In-Time-A-Tron? and more! REX THE RUNT, the cult hit that originally aired on the BBC (from the company that brought you Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run), is an amazingly stupid and stupendously amusing romp that'll challenge everything you thought you knew about plasticene dogs. Watch the first two seasons now, before Rex becomes a cult and tries to take your life savings.
DVD Features: Photo Gallery; Character Biographies; Rex The Runt Series Creator Biography; Season Two Trailer; Wendy Photo Shoot; Weblink to rextherunt.com; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection
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