Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Review | Feathers McGraw Strikes Back in a Claymation Masterpiece

Nick Park and the stop-motion, claymation masters at Aardman Animations are back with a new Wallace & Gromit feature that rivals their best Oscar-winning films. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl will have audiences laughing hysterically at the return of a diabolical villain and his dastardly plan for fiendish retribution. Hide your valuables, folks. Feathers McGraw, the infamous criminal mastermind penguin, first seen in The Wrong Trousers, has again donned his rubber glove hat in a comical tale of technology gone awry. Our lovable protagonists learn the hard way that machine dependence isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Technology Fixes Everything, Until It Doesn't

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl follows the beloved inventor Wallace and his loyal dog Gromit as they embark on a new adventure to uncover the mystery behind a series of poultry-related incidents in their town. Amid the chaos, they encounter unexpected adversaries and challenges that test their bond.

Release Date

October 27, 2024

Director

Merlin Crossingham , Nick Park

Cast

Ben Whitehead , Garth Jennings , Reece Shearsmith , Peter Kay , Maya Sondhi , Diane Morgan , Lenny Henry , Adjoa Andoh , Muzz Khan , Lauren Patel

Writers

Mark Burton , Nick Park

Pros

• Laugh-a-minute hilarity with brilliant visual gags with delightful characters.
• Astounding stop-motion animation features Aardman at its best.
• A great villain, and pertinent themes that warn us about technology.

Another beautiful day dawns at 62 West Wallaby Street. Faithful pooch Gromit gets out of bed and starts the automated process of waking Wallace. The clever inventor has designed a plethora of gadgets to make his morning routine a breeze. Wallace, now voiced by Ben Whitehead after Peter Sallis' passing, does nothing as he's bathed, teeth brushed, clothed, and plopped down for a tasty breakfast of toast and tea, with each marmalade-slathered slice fed into his chomping mouth like a conveyor belt.

Gromit can hardly be bothered with such fanciful nonsense. A dog just needs his trusted bowl of brown flakes before perusing a stack of mail. Gromit's brows furrow with concern at the avalanche of collection notices and unpaid bills. Wallace tells his loyal companion not to worry. He's created something new that will solve their money problems and revolutionize their already lazy lives: Norbot.

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Gromit watches in horror as Norbot (the great Reece Shearsmith), a robotic garden gnome with a creepy demeanor, trims hedges and guillotines the begonias while cheerfully whistling, "There's no job too small!" The neighbors clap in awe. They can't wait to hire Norbot. Good news travels fast. Wallace is soon feted on the local news for his ingenious handy gnome. But an old adversary imprisoned at the zoo senses an opportunity for vengeance against the cursed inventor and his little dog too.

The Return of Feathers McGraw

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl has so much glory to be shared. Every aspect of this film is masterful and fabulously entertaining. Let's start with the brilliant screenplay. Mark Burton, who also penned Madagascar, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Shaun the Sheep: The Movie, skewers our modern fixation on a technological answer for every task. Wallace wrongly believes that automation is the key to happiness. He loses sight of the joy of simple pleasures by having gizmos do everything. Why pet Gromit when a machine can tap his cranium for you?

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The rub is that the dutiful Norbot can be hacked, just like your cell phone, computer, vacuum, and bank accounts. Everything that was previously easy and taken for granted becomes a nightmare when no longer accessible. Wallace's diminutive robot transforms into a formidable adversary when reprogrammed with Feathers McGraw's malicious intentions. Norbot isn't mowing people down like the Terminator, but shows the realistic dark side of humans (and dogs, of course) losing control of artificial intelligence. Chaos ensues, and it's not nearly as simple to get the rabbit back into the hat. Raise your expectations for Norbot's misdeeds.

Gnome Your Enemy

Park and co-director Merlin Crossingham, a longtime Wallace & Gromit animator, go bigger and bolder with marvelous set pieces. Feathers McGraw is a true puppet master, with his Norbot tentacles stretching through quaint Lancashire. Gromit, who's always the true hero, has to use old-fashioned wit and cunning to escape McGraw's penguin clutches. This involves multiple close calls, hair-raising escapes, and gnome chases that would make the Fast & Furious jealous. Park and Crossingham, to their wisdom and credit, never allow the superb visuals to overshadow the story and its message. The incredible animation always serves the narrative first.

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The animals are intelligent but never communicate out loud with bumbling humans. Gromit and Feathers McGraw can't speak. It's akin to watching classics like Charlie Chaplin and Tom and Jerry. Their actions are purely physical, thus making the comedy difficult to achieve and more impactful at the same time. Feathers McGraw has no mouth. He literally just squints his beady eyes the entire time and hilariously petrifies every other character. Some of the biggest laughs come from silence.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl nails the perfect pacing. The film clocks in at a lightning fast 80 minutes. You're glued to the screen from the opening frame, giggling like a tickled hyena throughout, and then the credits roll before you have to pee from laughing so hard. Kudos to Park and Crossingham for zero fluff to the cotton candy. They craft an all-killer, no-filler experience that will delight old school fans and new audiences alike.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is a production of Aardman Animations. It premieres theatrically on October 27th at the AFI film festival with a Netflix exclusive streaming debut on January 3, 2025.