Shortcuts: "A Close Shave" and "A Matter of Loaf and Death"

The summer Aardman retrospective continues with Wallace and Gromit's other shorts, originally released either side of their big-screen debut. 1995's A Close Shave, notably, was also the film that launched Shaun the Sheep, this studio's other, woollier breakout, who trots into shot as a refugee from an illicit sheep-rustling operation. Around this fresh-faced ovine, signs of growing ambition on Nick Park's part: W&G's terraced house now has fathomless depths, the contraptions (which here stretch to a porridge squirter, a wash-slash-knit-o-matic device, and "a sheep-mincing thing") were multiplying and getting bigger, and our heroes, sent out to earn their bread for the first time (as window cleaners), find themselves embroiled in a full-on crime plot. Does it matter that it's slightly unclear why Gromit is being framed, and what he's being framed for? Or that the finale is really no more than a blockbuster expansion of The Wrong Trousers, replacing the toy train with a biplane? At this length, probably not, and certain elements now feel appreciably bedded in. Park and co-writer Bob Baker have learnt to write for Peter Sallis as Wallace (you hear it clearest in the early "the bounce has gone from his bungee" and the later, heartbroken "what's wrong with Wensleydale?"); Julian Nott's score goes into Dam Busters/633 Squadron pastiche at the exact right moment; and any of the sight gags involving Wallace and the flock of sheep who serve as temporary Gromit replacements is a guaranteed good time.

To the earlier shorts' escaped prisoners and frame-ups, 2006's A Matter of Loaf and Death adds a serial killer, bumping off bakers just as Wallace and Gromit have decided to get into yeast in a big way. This is the short that tends to be forgotten about, somewhat unfairly: our heroes' house has never before seemed so cavernous (and those exterior sails must have called for some planning permission); getting Wallace up and out of bed becomes an entire setpiece, not just a throwaway gag; and we get much more detail about these characters' personal lives. (Wallace's hamfisted attempts at courtship prompt a Ghost homage that makes the inspired connection between dough and the plasticine this franchise was fashioned from.) The series can do cute - see Gromit's affectionate bond with the killer's poodle Fluffles, which may have legs to go walkies as we leave it - but it's never been sentimental in the Paddington vein, partly because the central relationship is one-way traffic: Wallace gives no more of a hoot about Gromit than James Stewart's Scottie does about Midge in Vertigo. Partly, it's because Park can no more resist a sight gag than Wallace can a big hunk of cheddar. It's not enough that Gromit should feel obliged to install a metal detector in the pair's hallway, he also requires a cap with "SECURITY" on the front of it; similarly, when a cake turns out to have a bomb in it, it's one of those cartoon bombs with the word "BOMB" written on the side. Everyone here was more than ready for a full feature: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit returns to our screens in two weeks' time.

A Close Shave and A Matter of Loaf and Death return to cinemas nationwide today.