It feels a little silly expounding on a metaphor when we’re talking about a 79-minute Wallace & Gromit feature, but Vengeance Most Fowl has laid one out like cheese in a mousetrap. The triumphant return of two Northern icons – the cheddar-fixated, genius inventor Wallace (Ben Whitehead, who took over from Peter Sallis after his death in 2017) and his mute, downtrodden canine companion Gromit – sees the pair face the most topical of foes: an AI gnome, or Norbot (voiced by Reece Shearsmith), invented by Wallace as a way to further automate his life.
The lesson here is that while technology has its place and its advantages, “there are some things a machine just can’t do”. That may as well be the motto of Aardman Animations, the makers of Wallace and Gromit, who have stuck by stop-motion in an industry obsessed with the latest gadgets and gizmos.
Of course, Wallace should already know how easily machines can turn against him – this is, after all, a direct sequel to the 1993 short The Wrong Trousers, which involved a rogue pair of steampunk pantaloons (it is, however, the second feature film for the pair following 2005’s The Curse of the Were-Rabbit). Yet, he’s so hopelessly addicted to finding shortcuts for life’s basic tasks that he’s invented the “Pat-o-matic” to save him the hassle of petting his own dog. That lethal determination to take every possible shortcut unfortunately makes Wallace a prime target for AI.
So, when the Norbot turns evil, manipulated by a returning Feathers McGraw, a villain of silent malevolence equal to Hannibal Lecter, Wallace ends up as suspect number one. He’ll not only have to get Norbot back under his control, but convince Chief Inspector Albert Mackintosh (Peter Kay) and eager police recruit PC Mukherjee (Lauren Patel) of his innocence. Gromit, as usual, shrugs to the audience and then begrudgingly saves the day.
Vengeance Most Fowl sees Aardman return to their tried-and-tested formula. Yet, it’s also the source of the studio’s continuing brilliance – somehow, the familiar always feels new, and the craftwork never tires. If their new feature preaches that we can embrace technology without becoming reliant on it, then Aardman certainly puts its money where its mouth is.
Certain scenes here have clearly benefited from a little computer wizardry in order to expand the world’s horizons, whether it’s a splash of water during a hilariously un-enthralling canal boat chase, or a climactic explosion that turns Gromit into Mission: Impossible’s Ethan Hunt, but the beauty of it all lies in the balance.
Vengeance Most Fowl is proof the traditional can still thrive – not only in how a film looks, but even in the barrage of puns (one magazine reads: “Gardens of the Galaxy”) and corny dad jokes. There are some timely updates, including a pitch-perfect gag about online Captcha verification tests. But I’m not sure any other studio could get away quite so cleanly with dropping a Shawshank Redemption prison gag in the year 2024. That’s how you know Aardman has earned a privileged place in British culture.
Dir: Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham. Starring: Ben Whitehead, Peter Kay, Lauren Patel, Reece Shearsmith, 79 mins.
‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ screens on Christmas Day on the BBC in the UK, and arrives on Netflix internationally on 3 January
