Larger Than Life review – Wallace, Gromit and the gang say cheeeese for hilarious Aardman origin story
Lightroom, London From Shaun’s barn to Gromit’s box, these immersive behind-the-scenes renderings of the wide-grinned, cheeky characters are joyful, enormous – and a bit hard to follow Nothing is safe from the scourge of immersification. They’ve turned Gustav Klimt and Vincent Van Gogh into vast, projection-mapped digital environments; they’ve told the stories of the moon landings and the dinosaurs and David Bowie…
Key points
- Larger Than Life at Lightroom in London celebrates Aardman Animations and its claymation characters.
- The show mixes documentary storytelling with immersive projections but is hard to follow.
- Critic says it feels like an advert for Aardman and lacks enough for kids or adults.
A new immersive show called Larger Than Life has opened at Lightroom in London, celebrating Aardman Animations, the company behind Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. The Guardian review describes it as a big, eye-popping tribute that moves between documentary storytelling, behind-the-scenes insight and large-scale projections of the studio's characters.
The show covers how Peter Lord and David Sproxton met in suburban Surrey and began working with clay, before teaming up with Nick Park. It also explains how Morph was first made from a ball of clay and how animators act out scenes themselves before switching to puppets.
What the show includes
The experience features clips from Aardman's biggest films, including 1989's A Grand Day Out, the first Wallace & Gromit film. At the large scale, the review notes that every lump and bump in the clay, every fingerprint and smudge, becomes visible.
Side screens place visitors inside settings such as Shaun the Sheep's barn and Gromit's cardboard box as he spies on Feathers McGraw. The show also recreates Creature Comforts and presents the video for Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer at an enormous scale.
I think people still crave imperfection
— Lucy Izzard
Criticism of the format
The review says the experience does not know what it wants to be, ending up half-documentary and half-clip show, and a bit hard to follow. It argues the show could be bolder and make more use of Lightroom's immersive capabilities.
The reviewer brought a four-year-old named Solomon, who asked halfway through when the movie was starting and said it was just ads. The review concludes the show lacks enough for children and strong enough storytelling for adults, calling it more of a rubber glove on the head than a crowning achievement.
