Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)

Dir: Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham

Cast: Ben Whitehead, Peter Kay, Lauren Patel, Reece Shearsmith

The eccentric inventor and his loyal canine make their long-awaited return in this warm and charming caper that sees them come face-to-face with an old foe

Here in the UK, we have never really had an animation studio match the legacy and scale of a Disney or a Pixar. We even see the cultural impact the movies of Japan’s Studio Ghibli worldwide, which while it does not quite measure up to its American competitors, it is equally if not more beloved by many, including myself. The biggest animation studio our small nation has to offer is that of Aardman Studios, but what the Bristol-based studio lacks in size, it more than makes up for in ambition.

Despite facing off against the insanely strong competition from oversees, Aardman have continued to produce iconic animations since the late seventies. Founded by Peter Lord and David Sproxton 52-years-ago, Aardman first rose to prominence in 1990 following the release of the Academy Award winning short film “Creature Comforts”. The short film’s unique claymation aesthetic and exceedingly British humour, set the template for what the studio would become, spearheaded by creator Nick Park. Over the past 34 years, Park and Aardman have produced several, now iconic animations, both short and feature length. These include “Chicken Run” (2000), “Flushed Away” (2006), “Arthur Christmas” (2011), “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!” (2012), “Early Man” (2018) and the “Shaun the Sheep Franchise”.

The tentpole franchise that has undoubtedly shaped the success of Aardman over years however, is without doubt “Wallace & Gromit”. The cheese-loving inventor and his canine friend have been entertaining audiences of all ages for over thirty years. The popular duo’s first adventure was to the moon in the 1990 short “A Grand Day Out”, which was followed by three more short films, “The Wrong Trousers” (1993), “A Close Shave” (1995) and “A Matter of Loaf of Death” (2009). All four shorts were nominated at their respective Academy Award ceremonies, with the middle two instalments taking home the coveted statuette. The success of the shorts led to the inevitable release of a feature-length outing in 2006, another Oscar-winning effort, “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”.

Being from the North of England I have grown up with “Wallace & Gromit”, whose home address of 62 West Wallaby Street in Lancashire, is not far from my neck of the woods, resulting in the majority of the northern based humour being refreshingly relatable to my younger self, especially when compared to the Americanisms of the Disney films of my youth. Even now in my early thirties, I found myself as excited as ever this Christmas Day, as the legendary double act made their long awaited return after a fifteen year absence from our screens, in their second feature-length, “Vengeance Most Fowl”.

This latest festive outing also marked the return of the series’ most iconic villain, the gun-toting, master of disguise, Feathers McGraw. Under the guise of a not so convincing chicken in “The Wrong Trousers” over thirty years ago, the eerily silent penguin was finally apprehended by Wallace (Ben Whitehead) and Gromit after he had successfully stolen the valuable Blue Diamond with help from the titular mechanic legwear. Now many years later, McGraw is back for vengeance having been incarcerated at the local city zoo. The penguin’s plan once again involves corrupting the latest of Wallace’s long line of inventions, a mechanical garden gnome aptly named “Norbot” (Reece Shearsmith).

Invented with the intention of helping Gromit with his gardening duties, Norbot soon becomes the talk of the town, and it is not long before Wallace puts his latest invention to the test by starting a business, hiring the handy robot out to local residents. Having seen this latest sensation on the news, Feathers McGraw manages to hack into Norbot’s programming remotely from his zoo enclosure, switching the gnomes setting to evil. It is not long before Norbot and his self-made army of gnomes begin stealing objects from various gardens in the community, resulting in Chief Inspector Mackintosh (Peter Kay) falsely concluding that Wallace is the culprit, despite dissent from the plucky PC Mukherjee (Lauren Patel). Determined to prove his masters innocence, the ever so loyal Gromit sets out to determine the cause of the gnomes’ new criminal activities, oblivious to the fact that McGraw has now escaped from captivity.

After sixteen years away from our screens, I can gladly report that the long awaited return of Wallace and Gromit was well worth the wait, with the cheese-loving companions starring in their most ambitious adventure to date. Chock-full of countless visual gags, some of which will only become apparent over multiple rewatches, “Vengeance Most Fowl” is a fittingly British and hilarious farce that constantly riffs on the action and heist genres. These range from not-so-subtle homages to the both “James Bond” and “Mission: Impossible” franchises, with a narrowboat chase climaxing with a stunt that even Tom Cruise would have been proud of.

There are very few key players here, as opposed to “Curse of the Were-Rabbit” where the a variety of residents had time to shine, but the handful of characters we do get make the most of their increased screen time. These include the recently promoted Chief Inspector Mackintosh and PC Mukherjee, with the young rookie continuously proving to be more capable and intelligent than her deluded superior officer. Norbot is also a great inclusion, with Reece Shearsmith bringing the energy and creepiness he has become renown for after years of work on “The League of Gentlemen” and “Inside No. 9”.

The real worry for me going into this highly anticipated sequel though was the change in voice casting of our vocal protagonist Wallace. Following his retirement in 2010, Wallace’s original voice actor Peter Sallis, left some sizeable loafers to fill, with Ben Whitehead taking over the role permanently following Sallis’ death in 2017. Whitehead has provided the voice of Wallace in various media since 2008, mainly adverts, video games and theme park amusements, but “Vengeance Most Fowl” marks his theatrical debut as the eccentric northerner. Whitehead does an excellent job of continuing Sallis’ legacy, I doubt even the finest tuned of listeners would be able to tell the difference between the two actors’ vocal performances.

The star of the show, as always, is of course Gromit. Despite never saying a word, the attention to detail in the claymation brings so much personality to Wallace’s devoted beagle. Their designs may be simple, but the execution in both Gromit and Feathers’ animation gives them so much character. The dastardly penguin, who would induce nightmares to many young viewers throughout my childhood, continues to terrify here with his signature, dead-eyed stare.

Knowing that our characters remain in the safe hands of Nick Park and the talented animators at Aardman, I can see the “Wallace & Gromit” series lasting for a very long time, whether it be through shorts, movies or even advertisements, and I am sure most of the British population, like myself, would embrace many more years of having one of the best ever British double-acts on our screens.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl aired on Christmas Day and is available worldwide on Netflix from Friday 3rd January

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