A Matter of Loaf and Death

A Matter of Loaf and Death is a 2008 clay-animated short film. Created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations, it is the fourth short in the Wallace and Gromit franchise, and fifth film overall.

Wallace and Gromit have gone into the baking business at a rather inopportune time, as there's a serial killer bumping off bakers! With twelve already dead, is Wallace at risk of becoming the final entry in a baker's dozen? With him too smitten with his new love interest, former pin-up girl and bread company mascot Piella, it falls to Gromit to crack the case.

• Bigger on the Inside: Somehow, a full bakery factory with machines, chutes and cogs manages to fit into the dimensions of a small two-story house - which still has room for a kitchen, dining room and bedrooms.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Piella Bakewell in Loaf and Death.
• Black Widow: Piella Bakewell.
• Break the Cutie: Fluffles comes pre-broken, evident from the trembling.
• Cartoon Bomb: In Loaf and Death. Not only is it your classic cannonball-with-a-fuse, but it has "BOMB" written on it in large white letters. Cue Wallace: "Oh, Gromit! It's a bomb!"
• Cute Mute: Fluffles
• The Dog Bites Back: Literally in the case of Fluffles.
• Epiphany Therapy: Fluffles in Loaf and Death.
• Fan Disservice: We get to see Wallace's buttocks in "A Matter of Loaf and Death".
• Kick the Dog: A literal, yet surprisingly subtle example. Piella kicks Fluffles twice before her true nature is revealed, yet both times the action could be interpreted as her nudging the poodle to greet Wallace. Of course, Fluffles downcast personality gives the game away to the audience, but not to Wallace.
• Lampshade Hanging: from Loaf and Death

"Ow! Wallace, he bit me!" Gromit has no mouth.

• • • Dog bite marks are also completely different from human bite marks, but Wallace is so enamored, he probably would have seen whatever Piella wanted at that point.
• Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard: Locking Gromit in the balloon storeroom.
• Mini-Mecha: With oven mitts.
• Mood Whiplash: Loaf and Death is made of this.
• Something Else Also Rises: In "A Matter of Loaf and Death", when Wallace and Piella touch, we're treated to a shot of bread rising.
• Take That: Gromit is trying to dispose of a bomb at the end of Loaf and Death. He goes to one window--there are cute little ducks in the pond underneath. He goes to another window--nuns collecting charity for kittens. He goes to a third--the Yorkshire border. He prepares to throw.
• Take the Wheel: In A Matter of Loaf and Death, Wallace hands the wheel off to his dog while he makes a death-defying leap to save a bread heiress.
  • And when Wallace says it, he means it literally. Apparently that particular incarnation of the ever changing Wallacemobile has a socket for the steering wheel on either side. Hopefully the peddles are replicated on both sides as well.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Piella pulls a quite unnerving one on Gromit, biting her own arm.