History WesternAnimation / ACloseShave

* NotSoStoic: As Wallace keeps track of Gromit's trial in the papers, [[FunnyBackgroundEvent the sheep merely flock in his house, chewing mindlessly]]. When the final verdict is given however, they are all huddled silently behind Wallace reading with sorrowful, teary eyed looks. Later, Gromit breaks down in tears when he receives the sheep jigsaw puzzle from Wallace.

--> '''Wendolene''': [[WhaneLine He's malfunctioning]].

--> '''Wendolene''': A robot!

--> '''Wendolene''': He's malfunctioning.

--> '''Wendolene''': (scared) Malfunctioning. [[spoiler:Preston]] is a cyber [[spoiler:dog]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: Unrequited love, sheep rustling, blackmail, [[spoiler: attempted murder, implied ''actual'' murder]]... and WordOfGod says that it was originally supposed to be ''even darker!'' Of course, because this is Wallace & Gromit, it's all played as ridiculously as possible.

* PunnyName: Shaun rhymes with "shorn" (as in "sheared") in non-rhotic varieties of English. The DVDCommentary has an amusing bit of Creator/NickPark trying helplessly to say it with an American accent.

* ToTheBatpole: Wallace has a ludicrously complicated set of slides and machines to transport himself from his armchair to his motorbike and get dressed for work. (Gromit then simply [[MundaneSolution walks into the garage through a door from the kitchen]], [[OnlySaneMan rolling his eyes]].) Wallace's method of getting to the motorbike is a huge nod towards ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}''. As is the flipping pond when they leave the garage. He doesn't even ''press the gas on his motorcycle himself'' - instead, he has a different boot extend from the wall on a mechanical arm and start the engine when there was [[UpToEleven no obvious reason why he couldn't have just pressed it himself.]]

* TotemPoleTrench

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:In the climax of the film, we get to see the Mutton-O-Matic, the meat mincer that Preston has been using to create his dog meat with. The machine ends up being his own undoing when Shaun knocks him into it with an anvil.]]

* BehindTheBlack: Gromit somehow doesn't manage to notice that his 5000-piece jigsaw puzzle [[spoiler: has a message telling he's going to be rescued that night]] until putting in the ''5000th piece'' and the camera pans down to it. This could be explained by Gromit having the ability to fit the puzzle pieces together without even looking at them properly, in a possible subtle CallBack to the lightning speed with which he was able to fit together toy train-tracks in ''WesternAnimation/TheWrongTrousers''.

* BehindTheBlack: Gromit somehow doesn't manage to notice that his 5000-piece jigsaw puzzle [[spoiler: has a message telling he's going to be rescued that night]] until putting in the ''5000th piece'' and the camera pans down to it.

* CharacterTics: Before it is revealed that Preston is a robot, it is very subtlely hinted by his slow, slightly robotic movements and stiff body language.

* StopMotion

* BreakTheCutie: Gromit isn’t happy about being falsely accused of sheep rustling and the subsequent incarceration he was given, but he tried to make the best of this unfortunate situation...until he gets a package from Wallace in his cell, which consists of a jigsaw puzzle with a flock of sheep design. The magnitude of this whole unfair situation finally comes crashing down on him and he weeps while pounding his fist on the table.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Wendolene points out the portrait of her inventor father holding a spanner, Preston is also predominantly in the picture, [[spoiler:foreshadowing the fact that her father actually built him]].

* ShoutOut: Lots of clever thematic ones to the Tim Burton ''Batman'' films and the two ''Terminator'' films in the climactic scenes. Also, the sequence of Wallace going through the automated process of getting dressed into his window-washing overalls is a big {{Homage}} to ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' (the music for the scene is even called "Wallace and Gromit Are GO!").

* BrandX: Played with inasmuch as Wallace and Gromit are working as window-cleaners when they meet Wendolene; "Windolene" is a cleaning product sold for cleaning glass. Wallace is also seen holding a box of "Sud-U-Like" soap flakes.

* SkewedPriorities: Played for laughs with Wallace, who is more outraged that [[spoiler:Preston stole his knitting machine]] and then impressed by [[spoiler:Preston also having built a giant meat grinding machine]] than the fact that [[spoiler:he and the others are about to be fed into said machines]].

** Wallace, after seeing a bite missing from his newspaper, asks Gromit whether they should call in the pest controllers. In WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromitTheCurseOfTheWereRabbit, Wallace and Gromit are pest controllers.
** Near Wendolene's shop is a billboard saying, "Try Bob's Buns", foreshadowing the latest Wallace and Gromit short, ''A Matter Of Loaf And Death''.

* KilroyWasHere: Behind Gromit's head in his prison cell are the words, "Feathers Was 'Ere", also a reference to WesternAnimation/TheWrongTrousers.

* BlackScreenOfDeath: Played for comedy and possibly implying brief unconsciousless. When Wallace, at the base of a human (sheep?) ladder, slips on a bar of soap, he looks up to see all the sheep falling on him, and the screen goes black upon impact. The immediate next scene shows him perfectly healthy!

* PerpetualFrowner: Much like how Feathers =McGraw= in ''WesternAnimation/TheWrongTrousers'' has a default expressionless face, making him TheStoic, Preston is almost always seen wearing a surly, unnerving frown.

* PerpetualFrowner: Much like how Feathers McGraw in ''WesternAnimation/TheWrongTrousers'' has a default expressionless face, making him TheStoic, Preston is almost always seen wearing a surly, unnerving frown.

* BeardOfSorrow: The normally clean-shaven Wallace gains one after Gromit is taken to prison, Wendolene says she's no good for him and he's forced to take in a flock of sheep for a week as they eat his belongings.

* BeardOfSorrow: The normally clean-shaven Wallace gains one after Gromit is taken to prison, Wendoline says she never wants to see him again and he's forced to take in a flock of sheep for a week as they eat his belongings.

* {{Melodrama}}: The romance between Wallace and Wendoline plays out like a soap opera, especially when she comes to his house and tells him to stay away from her "silly, silly windows" while the music swells and [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight a flock of sheep much on everything in the background]].

* ToTheBatpole: Wallace has a ludicrously complicated set of slides and machines to transport himself from his armchair to his motorbike and get dressed for work. (Gromit then simply [[MundaneSolution walks into the garage through a door from the kitchen]], [[OnlySaneMan rolling his eyes]].) Wallace's method of getting to the motorbike is a huge nod towards the old Thunderbirds show. As is the flipping pond when they leave the garage. He doesn't even ''press the gas on his motorcycle himself'' - instead, he has a different boot extend from the wall on a mechanical arm and start the engine when there was [[UpToEleven no obvious reason why he couldn't have just pressed it himself.]]

* AccidentalHandHold: Wallace and Wendolene accientally reach for the same ball of yarn on the floor, and their hands touch. HeldGaze and [[CannotSpitItOut nervous stammering]] immediately follows.

* BreakTheCutie: Gromit isn’t happy about being falsely accused of sheep rustling and the subsequent incarceration he was given, but he tried to make the best of this unfortunate situation...until he gets a package from Wallace in his cell, which consists of a jigsaw puzzle with a flock of sheep design, in which the magnitude of this whole unfair situation comes crashing down on him as he weeps while pounding his fist on the table.