The legendary duo return to cinemas & streaming for a short yet sweet romp full of humour & heart.

(slight spoilers ahead)

Honestly, there would be no better way to start this review by simply mentioning how much I love Wallace & Gromit. Developed by Aardman Animation back in 1989, the good willed inventor and his mute dog have charmed audiences for decades & have become as closely tied to the British identity like those boys from Liverpool. As a child, I loved the witty humour and slapstick that paired well with the use of claymation. As an adult, I appreciate the use of claymation as a medium to go beyond what you’d see in traditional animation, alongside the subtle & simplistic humour that resonates with children & adults alike. As a 2000’s kid, I became familiar with Wallace & Gromit through the 2005 Oscar winning Curse of the Were-Rabbit. However, many wouldn’t expect that the next time we’d see Wallace & Gromit wouldn’t be for almost two decades, finally getting a new motion picture & a partnership with Netflix. So call me biased for showing love for a franchise that I’ve been with since I was four, but Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is brilliant & I loved every second of it.

Initially, this movie works best if you’ve seen some of Aardman’s previous Wallace & Gromit shorts, mainly The Wrong Trousers, as the antagonist Feathers McGraw seeks revenge on Wallace & Gromit for sending him to jail (or the zoo in this case). Meanwhile, Wallace invents a new garden gnome robot (or Norbot) as a means to earn some cash and pay the bills. Hijinks ensue and Feathers manages to use this to his advantage. First, I want to mention how well this film works for all audiences. Kids will appreciate the bright colours & squash and stretch slapstick, while the adults loved the comedic aspects of the film. My theatre was mostly older adults who laughed at everything & noticed all the references & callbacks, especially with Wallace’s computer password being “cheese”. I also appreciate how the film gives a valuable moral about technology & what happens when we become overdependent. Oh, and penguins are capable of true evil. This isn’t the most complex narrative out there, and aspects of the story are predictable, but it’s a family movie. Things will happen for the sake of a joke or just to keep the plot going but it occurs in a way that’s super charming & well developed. If you’re really expecting narrative complexity from Wallace & Gromit, you’ve been eating too much cheese.

Just like Curse of the Were Rabbit, you have Gromit standing in as our key protagonist. Although mute, he’s very expressive & works well in every scene that he’s in, ranging from interacting with Norbot for the first time, to facing off against Feathers in the finale. Speaking of Feathers, I also like how they brought him back as the antagonist since he’s not only someone who has a history with Wallace & Gromit, but he also contrasts Gromit as a mute animal who works against our heroes. His scenes were some of the most comedic & inventive in regards to the animation, and his scenes got the most reactions from those in the theatre. Then there’s Wallace, the good willed inventor who creates Norbot to help Gromit with his gardening, but soon gets in over his head. I wish that we saw more of Wallace here since the film is more geared towards Gromit. He doesn’t take much more action throughout the film, and only does right at the climax. There’s also the Norbot, a cheery yet sinister robot garden gnome who has his moments to shine when he contrasts whatever is happening on screen (i.e. cleaning a monitor in the middle of an important chase). Then you have the B-plot which I felt was a little weak, with Chief Inspector Makintosh & the new hire PC Mukherjee trying to see if Wallace is up to anything nefarious with the Norbot. It felt like they existed just to stretch out the runtime & if you cut them out, you’d probably have a more consistent project.

With this being an Aardman production, it’s not a surprise to say that the claymation is superb. From characters, scenery, and even attention to detail, everything is executed flawlessly. One of the aspects that I love about Aardman projects, especially Wallace & Gromit, is how the studio manages to make the mundane feel so unique. In almost every Wallace & Gromit film, you always see Wallace get up for his morning routine, but every film delivers a different unique that’s delivered flawlessly. Instead of getting up & going to the bathroom, you’ll see Wallace flung from his bed into a bathtub that sends him into a water slide that ends up having him fall into his clothes, as he lands in his chair with breakfast laying there ready for him. Or when Wallace & Gromit confront Feathers at the end of the film. You appreciate how much work it takes to construct all this with Plasticine & keep everything consistent. I even love when we get close ups of characters like Feathers and we can see the soft fingerprints. Even details like that show to me at least that this was a project made from love & not something born from a executive board room.

Also, hearing the Wallace & Gromit theme for the first time in years hit me right in the nostalgia & I had a big smile on my face throughout the film. I’d honestly say that the biggest issue with Vengeance Most Fowl is the runtime, being an hour & twenty minutes. Mind you, animation, especially stop motion is expensive so its honestly more of a case of me being greedy but I’m still happy being able to see Wallace & Gromit: again on the big screen. I even saw it in theatres a day before its release on Netflix because I was so excited.

Overall, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is great, a return to form for both Wallace & Gromit & Aardman. The film is available now on Netflix & if you have an hour & a half to spare, I encourage you to give it a look for some classic British humour. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of Wallace & Gromit: considering that A: Wallace & Gromit is a recognizable brand that would flourish with more projects, and B: Netflix is Netflix & they would farm as much content as possible if they could. Netflix knows that many faithful, like myself, would be down. So if this is the last time we see Wallace & Gromit until another project comes in like a century, I hope I get the chance to show the next generation what they’re missing out on.

8/10

(should’ve had more cheese jokes)