Did You Know?
In the first theatrical trailer, Roddy was not the only pet of the little human girl. There was also a cage with two small yellow gerbils, who seemed to be Roddy's menservants. However, in the final cut of the film, these two characters were removed, probably to advance the story, and make Roddy appear to be a character who is more "alone" than "spoiled". The first trailer also shows the discovery of Sid during the day instead of late at night.
Share this
Aardman's first fully-CGI feature film. The reason for using computer animation instead of the studio's trademark clay animation was the large amount of scenes involving water, which is nearly impossible to do convincingly in stop motion.
Share this
When Roddy is selecting a movie for the movie premiere, the DVDs with real titles are all Dreamworks films.
Share this
At the beginning of the film, when Roddy is going through his wardrobe, the outfit he chooses is an Elvis Presley-style rhinestone jumpsuit.
Share this
According to Peter Lord, co-founder of Aardman, this film's original concept involved pirates, and was pitched to Dreamworks soon after the release of Chicken Run. However, Aardman were told that there was no market for pirate films (this was before Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was made), and were told to modernize the concept. By the time the writer had done this, the project was temporarily shelved to make way for the production of Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Share this
The film uses software that was developed for the rabbits floating around the Bun-Vac 6000 in Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The software reproduces the 'imperfections' found in clay-mation (i.e. dropped frames, thumb-prints, etc.).
Share this
The books on Toad's shelf are "Warts and Peace" by Leo Toadstool, "Unfinished Verse" by Long Tung, "A Brief History of Slime," and his scrapbooks, "The Tragic History of the Great Great Toad, Vol. I," followed by Volumes II through VI.
Share this
In Tabitha's bedroom, as Roddy, Rita, and Sid are talking, there is a book behind them labeled "Animation".
Share this
The frog dressed as a mime is named Marcel. This is a reference/homage to famed French mime artist Marcel Marceau. The frog in question is dressed as Marceau's famed character named Bip.
Share this
Several of the names found in the DVDs and on Rita's father's cast belong to the children of producers, directors, and other people involved in the movie.
Share this
When Roddy and Rita are about to be 'iced' in the fridge, you can see that the controls panel the Toad is using is an early Atari 2600 game console (all the controls on the front). The game plugged into the unit is called "Froggie", a play on the old game "Frogger." When facing the Toad, the label on the back of the unit warns of "no service usable parts inside", and "opening the unit voids the warranty".
Share this
When the stove falls through the floor of Rita's house, a cockroach that was sitting behind it can be seen holding a book. The book is Franz Kafka's novella 'Metamorphosis', the protagonist of which turns into a (non specified) insect, which is often translated as a cockroach. The cockroach appears to be reading a French translation: the title "La métamorphose" is clearly seen, while the Ka- in Kafka is obscured by the insect's 'hand'.
Share this
company.