Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Review: Criminal Fun
Streaming Movie Review - Animation/Family - Netflix
I don’t remember how I stumbled upon Wallace & Gromit the first time, but I was an instant fan. Wallace’s obsession with cheese. Gromit’s wry, silent repudiations of Wallace. The perfectly hilarious inventions. The friendship between the two. Then, put all of that in the hands of one of the most talented stop-motion animation studios out there, and what’s not to love? All of that combined had me very excited for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, coming to Netflix this week. And my expectations were more than exceeded by this exceptionally well-crafted film.
Wallace (Ben Whitehead) is always on the lookout to make life easier for him and Gromit, but his inventions are increasingly straining their budget. When Wallace invents a new home help robot, Norbot (Reece Shearsmith), he quickly realizes that he could be lent out to his neighbors to help cover their expenses. All seems to be going perfectly to plan until Feathers McGraw, imprisoned for stealing the rare blue diamond, hijacks Norbot and frames Wallace for his crimes. Now Wallace and Gromit must find a way to clear their names before Chief Inspector Mackintosh (Peter Kay) and Police Captain Mukherjee (Lauren Patel) imprison them for McGraw’s crimes.
I haven’t laughed this much watching a movie in a while. This film is filled with incredible sight gags, puns, and background visuals. It is a rare moment that something is not happening on screen that doesn’t catch your eye and causes you to snicker.
The voice acting in this is fantastic. Whitehead has been voicing Wallace since Peter Sallis’ retirement, and he is absolutely delightful in the role, giving Wallace the perfect amount of confidence and naivete. Diane Morgan gives a brief showing as the reporter Onya Doorstep and is, of course, spectacular. Both Kay and Patel are superb as the bumbling police officers, bringing so much life to those characters. Shearsmith is terrific as all iterations of Norbot, with the perfect level of cartoonish malevolence.
But the real stars of Vengeance Most Fowl are Gromit and McGraw, two characters who never speak. Under the brilliant direction of Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham and in the talented hands of the sculptors and animators at Aardman Studios, a silent dog and penguin steal every scene they are in.
Stop-motion animation is always impressive, and Aardman is the gold standard for a reason. This is a stunning-looking film. The painstaking attention to detail never fails to entertain, and they created something with water in this film that blew my mind.
Vengeance Most Fowl is definitely a movie that rewards long-time Wallace & Gromit fans with plenty of references to previous films and shorts through the years, but the story is fresh enough to bring in those who have never watched any of their grand outings. The humor is accessible across all generations, as is the bond between Wallace & Gromit. Because no penguin with a red rubber glove on his head can come between a man and his best friend.
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on December 28, 2024.