Save Our Bacon

A pig farmer, voiced by Warren Clarke, in conflict with an oleaginous supermarket buyer, voiced by Simon Callow. He has one week to deliver ten pigs or he will lose the farm, but he's only got one, and she's fussy.

With more than a few echoes of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun The Sheep, this is a bit closer to the realities of farming - if not tooth and claw then sausages, with no small measure of the birds and the bees. It's there that the film really starts to earn its chops - Dennis has a doctorate in pig farming, a talent for engineering, and desperation on his side. The studs he finds aren't impressive enough for his fussy little piggy, but then his eye falls upon an earthworm...

Peter Baynton's direction is confident, and with co-writer Davey Spens he has woven a tale of agricultural exploitation and corporate two-facedness. It's entertaining, with good human and animal character design. Sadly, it will suffer in comparison with Aardman's work, but that's no fault of those involved - it isn't as wholesome as Wallace et al, but it is more mature, or at least less shackled by licensing and habit and a Children's BBC timeslot.

This is a fun farmyard outing, but it's a small story that will have trouble finding an audience - shorts rarely get the exposure they deserve, and adult animation will often have problems. Despite its quality, like rare breed pigs Save Our Bacon is a tasty treat hampered by a lack of access to distribution.