Saturday, January 4, 2025
FantasyMoviesReview

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Review

Aardman returns to deliver a fantastic new instalment in their ‘Wallace and Gromit’ series, with ‘Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’. The classic duo return, with Wallace coming up with more and more dangerous inventions, culminating in Norbot, a helpful gnome. Unfortunately for Wallace and Gromit, the evil penguin Feathers McGraw has escaped prison and is searching for vengeance most fowl on his old enemies. 

Peter Sallis, the original voice for Wallace, unfortunately passed away in 2017, so when the character returns in ‘Vengeance Most Fowl’ he’s voiced by Ben Whitehead. His voice acting is indistinguishable from Sallis’ own, an impressive feat and something that gives this film the necessary continuity to fit seamlessly. Gromit remains mute as usual, but his feelings of shock, annoyance and more are still conveyed through effective animation.

Feathers McGraw is a top class villain, a lesson in how to make a character look evil without them saying a word. His beady eyes and thin head do most of the work here, along with the villainous music. He’s a testament to the success the feelings pure animation can generate, as Aardman conveys the sense of unease whenever he’s onscreen. Other notable characters are Chief Inspector Macintosh and PC Mukherjee, who make several appearances.

Aardman sticks to their classic stop-motion claymation that made the studio well-known and gives their films life and soul. While computer effects are used to augment what’s going on – notably the water, which has evolved from Aardman’s previous films – they’re never there to replace Aardman’s style, something that must have been difficult not to give into.

The theme of technological overreliance permeates through the film, with Wallace building more and more technological terrors, such as the Pat-O-Matic, which while effective at patting Gromit, does it without any love. Of course it culminates in the Smart Gnome Norbot, a series of helpful AI gnomes that can perform basic tasks. Gromit is immediately suspicious of the bot, echoing contemporary fears about AI. These fears grow as Wallace replaces him in their repair business, again leaning into fears that AI will take over jobs. Overreliance on technology is a trap that humanity has fallen into with modern society, being represented by Wallace in the film, unable to live without his inventions. 

These fears are realised when Feathers hacks into the Gnomes, and uses them as his own personal army. He wants the Blue Diamond (again) and will enact a sinister plan to get it, framing Wallace in the process. It’s a story that lasts for an economical hour and 19 minutes, directors Nick Parks and Merlin Crossingham don’t waste a beat with what’s happening. But none of the moments feel rushed either, each are allowed the perfect time to have the desired impact. 

‘Wallace and Gromit’ has always been a franchise full of humour and visual gags. ‘Vengeance Most Fowl’ doubles down on this, drawing off British culture in all sorts of clever ways, like the news media, or county rivalry that Yorkshire inspires. Even if this goes over a viewers’ head, there are plenty of jokes that will land. 

There are plenty of references to other franchises, most notably ‘James Bond’ and the original ‘The Italian Job’, and the farmer from Aardman’s other successful franchise ‘Shaun the Sheep’. There will likely be many others to recognise, like the use of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue, which has been solidified as a villainous classic. It makes spotting these on a rewatch of the film a fun challenge.

‘Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ is a successful franchise resurrection, with Aardman carefully creating a story for their well-known characters. It’s full of strong performances, animation, humour and more, allowing audiences to have a complete blast throughout. Parks hasn’t lost his touch.

Kieran Burt

My name is Kieran and I am based in the UK. I love writing about all things science fiction and fantasy, particularly Star Wars and Marvel. When I’m not writing or watching anything sci-fi related, you can probably find me exploring the open worlds of alternate lands through my Xbox.

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