1989 saw the release of A Grand Day Out, an animated short film that featured the debut of a certain duo - Wallace and Gromit.

Six years later they made their feature length screen debut in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, that gets a timely release here, celebrating as it does its 20th anniversary.

Getting ready for a giant vegetable growing competition are the folk of Tottington, that’s going to take place shortly at Tottington Hall, the home of Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter).

It’s such a big event it even needs its own security, taken care by Anti-Pesto, run by Wallace (Peter Sallis) and Gromit. It’s keeping them busy as there happens to be an outbreak of rabbits, who are keen to sink their teeth into all the luscious veg that’s being grown everywhere.

To try and put an end to it, Wallace creates a machine that gets into the bunnies heads and takes away their desire to eat vegetables. It’s an impressive device, that harnesses the power of the moon, but when the machine does more than it should, Wallace finds that he’s not quite feeling himself anymore, and Gromit is soon confronted with one giant hungry rabbit that looks set to ruin the competition, but can he stop it?

It’s probably a testament to Park and his creative Aardman team at how timeless his stop-motion technique is, especially when you consider this is now 20 years old.

It’s still a treat for young and old, with the film brimming with a cheeky charm that will entertain all.

It just goes to show that you don’t need a multi-million, colourful, state of the art CGI-centric film to engage an audience. Sometimes you just need a hell of a lot of clay, a great imagination, and plenty of time and patience on your hands.

Aardman have proven themselves to be pioneers in the stop-motion field, as they show time and again with their features, both short and long form.

The only surprise that comes with this film is that it’s only one of two full length Wallace and Gromit films released, with the only other one being the recent Vengeance Most Fowl. All the others are shorts, of which there are four of them.

And if we were being picky, their bunnies have a positively piggy feel to them; maybe pig faces were easier to do than bunnies back in the day, either way, they’re still cute.

That said, the film does include Peter Kay and ultra thespian Ralph Fiennes, who you can just tell is having a lovely time playing a clay-made cad.

It may well be 20 years old, but Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit remains an utter delight, which is just as much a joy to watch now as it was the day it was released.