VENGEANCE MOST FOWL - Mark Reviews Movies

Vengeance Most Fowl, Netflix

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Review by Mark Dujsik | December 17, 2024

The first Wallace and Gromit adventure in 16 years, Vengeance Most Fowl sees the British duo doing what they do best: Wallace inventing unnecessary contraptions, Gromit becoming silently annoyed and perturbed, and both dealing with the unexpected repercussions of those inventions turning on them. This isn't the first feature-length outing for the pair, although, unlike The Curse of the Were-Rabbit from 2005, it is the first one that fully gets at the spirit of what made their early short films such inspired, comedic joys.

That makes plenty of sense, too, given that the film is a direct sequel to "The Wrong Trousers," the best of the Wallace and Gromit shorts. Those who don't know the 1993 masterpiece (Yes, it deserves that word) should catch up with it regardless but especially to understand how and why our beloved duo are in such a pickle this time around.

They really are a loveable pair. Wallace has his hopeless optimism, which borders on but never crosses the line of being irritating, and his belief that inventions are the solution to every problem, while never comprehending that they end up being the cause of all of his problems. Meanwhile, Gromit doesn't say a word, because he's a dog, but communicates depths of affectionate annoyance with his owner with a simple roll of his eyes. The dynamic here is inherently clever, as Wallace is clearly an engineering genius but Gromit has the real smarts of the two, since he's the one who knows his owner's gizmos and doohickeys are mostly useless.

There's a good reason—many of them, actually—that Wallace and Gromit have endured for 25 years. Beyond the fact that this new film is very funny and a lot of fun, it gives us some hope that co-director Nick Park, who created the characters and has been associated with every significant project involving them since their inception, has more ideas for the pair.

This entry begins with the ending of "The Wrong Trousers," as Wallace (voice of Ben Whitehead, taking over from the late Peter Sallis) and Gromit have foiled the cunning Feathers McGraw, a criminal mastermind who happens to be a penguin. With Feathers behind bars at the local zoo and Wallace not learning a single thing about how his inventions could be used for dastardly deeds, the inventor and his dog have gone about their lives.

Years later, there are still bills to pay, so Wallace, who's gadget-assisted morning routine has become more elaborate (The best bit of it might be the tubes he uses to dry himself after a bath, because they stick out of the house and are clear, causing Gromit to avert his eyes from the public nudity), decides a brand new invention is in order. This one's a garden gnome that does gardening work—a "nifty, odd-jobbing robot" called Norbot (voice of Reece Shearsmith—an appropriate name for an actor playing the character, that).

The early gags here show that screenwriter Mark Burton understands, not only the relationship between the clay-based stars, but also the appeal of them simply being who they are and interacting with each other. The adventure and action and plotting aren't the point, because that's what the two want to avoid, as Wallace tries to make his own life as comfortable as possible and, here, Gromit just wants to be petted by his owner. When the complications arise, it's funnier if neither realizes just how big a problem the mess will turn out to be.

Norbot goes about his work, then, turning Gromit's precisely planted and pruned garden into a blandly geometrical layout of shrubbery. The rest of the neighborhood notices, loves the idea of not having to do yardwork, and starts hiring Wallace and Norbot to do the same to their gardens. Poor Gromit has to watch as yet another invention gets in the way of his owner paying any attention to him.

It's so simple, and that's why it's so enjoyable. There's also the fact that Park and co-director Merlin Crossingham haven't taken many, if any, shortcuts here in bring Wallace, Gromit, Feathers, the rest of the cast of supporting or background characters, and this quaint little world to life. The shorts, as well as the previous feature, were made using stop-motion animation, and despite all of the technological advances in the quarter century since Wallace and Gromit first appeared, the filmmakers refuse to let them take over here.

The animation is undoubtedly smoother and more complex than we've seen from these characters before, but that's just because Aardman Animations, one of the few studios still working in this specific medium, have become experts in the process over decades of experience. We know the animators did the hard work of moving these figurines step by little step, because the evidence is there. The signs of fingerprints and indentations are most noticeable on Feathers' body, as he hears about Wallace's new invention and hatches a plan to sabotage Norbot for his own ends.

The penguin's scheme for revenge and to retrieve the rare blue diamond he failed to steal many years ago allows the filmmakers' imaginations to run free, as well as for the jokes to keep coming. The plot eventually leads to an entire army of evil garden gnomes (We can tell, because the penguin hacks them to be set to "EVIL," as opposed to "REALLY NASTY"), a pair of hapless coppers (voiced by Lauren Patel and Peter Kay) who are convinced Wallace is behind it all, and some chases.

The action may be more complicated—to use an understatement—than the model train chase in the film's narrative predecessor (or anything else Wallace and Gromit have encountered). Wisely, Burton, Park, and Crossingham don't let that get in the way of the humor, which includes a high-intensity but super-slow-speed pursuit and Feathers, a "master" of "disguise," donning his most convincing pun of one so far.

At the center of it all, though, is our unflappably endearing pair, who seemed to be on the verge of disappearing along with the stop-motion technique that gave them ebullient life. Instead, Vengeance Most Fowl resurrects Wallace and Gromit in physical form and spirit, and here's hoping we don't have wait a decade or more to reconnect with them.

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