‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ review: Aardman hits a gnome run
For years, before the stop-motion animation wizards of England’s Aardman Animations introduced themselves to a mass audience with the feature film “Chicken Run” in 2000, they had been delighting fans with award-winning short films starring the mild-mannered duo of British inventor and cheese lover Wallace and his faithful dog, Gromit.
The pair of unassuming heroes made it to the big screen themselves in 2005’s “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” a well-received spoof of monster movies.
‘Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget’ review: Fun but not quite poultry in motion
About a year after the enjoyable feature film “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” debuted in these parts on Netflix, we’re getting another Aardman flick landing on the streaming platform: “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.”
The delightful romp is less a sequel to “Were-Rabbit” and more a follow-up to our favorite of their charming adventures, 1993’s “Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers.”
The new film sees the return of the nefarious and cunning villain from “Trousers,” Feathers McGraw, a thieving penguin who, with a red rubber glove plopped onto his head, convinces the inhabitants of this world that he is a harmless chicken.
To borrow the wordplay of the new title, that’s fowl play!
Set many years after Wallace and Gromit foiled Feathers’ attempt at stealing the large, valuable Blue Diamond, “Vengeance Most Fowl” sees the baddie locked away at a zoo.
Meanwhile, Wallace (voiced by Ben Whitehead) continues to spice up the life he shares with Gromit with inventions, one of which vacuum-sucks the canine out of bed after his alarm sounds. Now it is Gromit’s turn to help his enthusiastic master out of the sack, initiating a sequence that sees gadgets and gizmos de-clothe, bathe and dress Wallace before dumping him at the kitchen table, where toast, complete with a fruit spread, is fed to him.
Perhaps you can see why the silent Gromit worries Wallace is becoming too reliant on his inventions. Plus, the bills related to creating them are piling up.
Nonetheless, Wallace soon introduces to Gromit his latest invention: a “smart gnome” named Norbot (Reece Shearsmith). The cheery guy can do Gromit’s gardening — which, by the way, the dog enjoys doing himself — as well as myriad other chores around the house.
Gromit obviously finds Norbot a little creepy, but when the public learns of him, Wallace is flooded with calls from folks looking to pay him for the gnome’s services.
Everything is looking up for Wallace — until Feathers, cleverly working around a sleeping guard at the prison-like zoo, uses a computer to hack into Norbot. Soon, the bot builds several copies of himself, which begin stealing from Wallace’s clients.
Oh dear!
However, the big prize for Feathers remains the Blue Diamond, which is set to be showcased in a public event, the security of which is being handled as the last duty of a veteran cop, Chief Inspector Mackintosh (Peter Kay). An inexperienced officer working under him, PC. Mukherjee (Lauren Patel), points out numerous vulnerabilities in his plan, but he is unfazed and bestows her with the wisdom that when it comes to police work, facts and evidence are less important than “a copper’s gut.”
His tells him Wallace is to blame for the thefts, but Mukherjee isn’t so sure, soon finding herself wondering if the incarcerated Feathers isn’t somehow behind them.
With apologies to Ginger, Rocky and the rest of the “Chicken Run” gang, there is no pleasure quite like hanging out with Wallace and Gromit, the latter saying so much with his expressions thanks to the meticulous efforts of the Aardman animators, who do incredible work throughout this film.
While Aardman vet Nick Park wasn’t at the helm for “Dawn of the Nugget” as he was for “Chicken Run” and “Were-Rabbit,” he is a co-director on “Fowl,” working this time with Merlin Crossingham and infusing the affair with old-fashioned fun. (Seemingly mixing in fewer digital effects than did “Nugget,” “Fowl” does rely on them to help pull off its elaborate climactic sequence involving Feathers attempting to escape, diamond in sack, by boat.)
Returning to the subject of wordplay, the screenplay by Mark Burton, who’s contributed to various Aardman projects, is chock full of it. Wallace refers to Norbot’s “cutting-hedge” technology and makes numerous “gnome” puns, such as the need for a “gnome-ing device.” Honestly, it’s all as comforting as the warm cocoa he shares with Gromit.
So often while watching works of stop-motion, you find yourself thinking about the painstaking and time-consuming work that must have gone into them. But while this film’s production notes proudly note fun facts such as an animator produced, on average, 4.2 seconds work each week, with the 30 animators on the product thus completing 127 seconds in that time, it’s easy to set that aside while watching “Vengeance Most Fowl.” At its core, this is a bit of pleasant escapism that allows you to forget about the how and simply enjoy the experience.
OK, even at under 90 minutes, this tale is just a tad slow in spots — even with so many smart gnomes running amok.
Most importantly, though, as with all “Wallace & Gromit” romps, this one has plenty for the kids to enjoy while being doggone inventive enough to satisfy adults.
As Wallace would say, it’s “cracking!”
‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’
Where: Netflix.
When: Jan. 3.
Rated: PG for some action and rude humor.
Runtime: 1 hour, 19 minutes.
Stars (of four): 3.