WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL
PG, 1:19 some action and rude humor
JEANNE’S REVIEW
A delightful examination of friendship and what happens if our reliance on technology threatens those friendships is the basis for the new WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL. Written by Mark Burton and directed by Aardman’s four-time Oscar-winning director Nick Park and Emmy Award-nominated Merlin Crossingham, Wallace (now voiced by Ben Whitehead after the death of Peter Sallis) and Gromit (always mute) have undergone some minor changes but nothing that detracts from the original brilliant Claymation this series offers.
In VENGEANCE MOST FOWL, Wallace has invented a “smart gnome” named Norbot (voiced by Reece Shearsmith) to help Gromit in the garden. Already concerned that Wallace is becoming too dependent on his crazier and crazier inventions, Gromit is initially wary of this over-achieving gnome. And when Norbot is “hacked” by a nemesis from the past, who is obsessed with a rather large blue diamond, an army of Evil Norbots begins creating havoc everywhere, Gromit must jump into action to save Wallace and himself.
It's been 19 years since fans of this darling duo were treated to a feature-length film. WALLACE & GROMIT: CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film in 2006. Since then, there have been several shorter movies, and now audiences are blessed with a new feature-length version, affording the cast and crew new opportunities to entertain their legions of admirers.
An incredible amount of work goes into these productions. Though technology has improved some of the efforts, it’s still a painstaking process. There is a 17 second shot of Police Constable Mukherjee (voiced superbly by Lauren Patel) on a telephone, which took five weeks to animate --- just amazing. And WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL is chock full of equally spectacular work, made even more entertaining with the wild original score by Lorne Balfe and Julian Nott.
The laughs --- and puns --- are aplenty in WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL. It’s a wonderful, shared experience for children and adults.
In select U.S. theaters on Dec. 18, then
streaming on Netflix starting Jan. 3, 2025
Opinion: See It Now!
DAVID’S REVIEW
Four-time Oscar winner Nick Park is back at it with another Wallace & Gromit adventure. This time he has re-introduced a past villain, Feathers McGraw, a dastardly penguin. That’s actually an oxymoron, especially after watching and admiring MY PENGUIN FRIEND…. but I digress.
For WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL, Park co-directs with Merlin Crossingham, and Oscar nominee Mark Burton has written the script. The clay figures we’ve come to love, particularly one of the smartest dogs in the world --- the non-verbal Gromit ---along with his inventor-owner Wallace (voiced by Ben Whitehead replacing the late Peter Sallis who provided Wallace’s voice for the five previous films), provide amazingly detailed behavior and facial expressions.
Wallace’s latest invention, a gnome named Norbot (voiced by Reece Shearsmith), was supposed to be an assistant for the overworked Gromit. However, Feathers McGraw (also mute) has other plans. And it should be noted that the army of nefarious Evil Norbots are definitely creepy additions to the cast.
In WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL the filmmakers play on the theme of a veteran male cop, Inspector Mackintosh’s (voiced by Peter Kay), desire to make an arrest as quickly as possible to solve a case, lack of evidence be damned. But the insistence of a lower-ranking female officer, P.C. Mukherjee (voiced by Lauren Patel), that the main suspect is innocent, and the police need to look elsewhere, is also a key element.
Considering all the effort --- and patience ---that goes into a stop-motion film like this, WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL certainly merits multiple viewings. And the non-clay visual effects are equally amazing --- colorful and fascinating.
In select U.S. theaters on Dec. 18, then
streaming on Netflix starting Jan. 3, 2025
Opinion: See It Now!
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