Review: Wallace and Gromit return in perfect form for Vengeance Most Fowl

Wallace and Gromit are one of the most beloved duos in animation history (hell, in film history, even), and for good reason. Their charming British-ness, their zany adventures, the appealing lumpiness of their claymation. There's literally nothing not to love about the oft-oblivious inventor and his trusty, vigilant dog. 

Except, maybe, that we don't get as much of them as we want. Cinematically, the pair has only starred in a four shorts and (until now) a single feature over the course of more than 30 years. There have been some other outings -- a couple TV shows, some video games -- but honestly, even if they were starring in yearly releases, it wouldn't be enough. We'll always want more of them, and we'll always treasure what time we get to spend with them.

What a treat for me, then, to have attended the world premiere of the pair's second feature, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, at AFI FEST in Hollywood. I pounced on the tickets as soon as they went on sale, and it was one of the best trips I've had to the theater this year. The main auditorium at the TCL Chinese Theatre was packed to the gills, complete with people in cosplay, lots of kids, actual puppets from the movie in the lobby, and some of the creatives on hand for a Q&A. It was a treat.

Thankfully, Vengeance Most Fowl is worthy of the series. This chapter finds Wallace on the brink of a real breakthrough, just in time to pay the growing mountain of overdue bills. He's invented a "smart gnome" he calls Norbot, a jaunty robotic gnome who can do just about anything. Ostensibly built to help Gromit do his gardening (not that Gromit wants or needs any help -- his garden is gorgeous), Norbot catches the eye of Wallace's neighbors, then newscasters, then the whole town, then the police? What seems like a boon suddenly turns into a bust as Norbot takes an evil turn, perhaps linked to Wallace and Gromit's oldest foe.

Yes, Feathers McGraw makes his long-awaited return in this chapter, and he is as much of a star now as ever. I'm ever in awe of how brilliant Aardman Animations are at silent comedy. They're able to get so much mileage out of an eye blink, a slow turn, the slightest movement of an arm. It's especially impressive with a character like Feathers McGraw, who isn't the most visually detailed character. He is such a comic goldmine, and manages to carve an imposing figure despite his small stature, and despite still being behind bars. So many of my favorite moments in Vengeance Most Fowl come courtesy of Feathers, and I hope we see him again.

Nick Park, the creator of Wallace and Gromit and one of the directors of this film (alongside Merlin Crossingham), described it as a love letter both to the fans and to the characters themselves. That really comes through. There are lots of fun little Easter eggs and callbacks to previous films, and just being back with them really feels so comforting and joyful. The film even gets a little emotional toward the end. I definitely didn't go into it expecting to cry, but I shed a few tears, and I imagine I wasn't alone.

The film is very much about our reliance on technology and the way things are becoming increasingly automated. Obviously, that's very much Wallace's gig. His whole morning routine is a series of contraptions that get him out of bed, dress him, make him breakfast, and so on. He's so keen on his machines that he loses sight of the joy of doing things the old-fashioned way. Heck, he even loses the knowledge of how to do things the old-fashioned way. At one point, he struggles to figure out how to use a teapot rather than a Keurig-type machine, and he ends up just pushing on the lid as if it's a button (hilarious, obviously, but also kind of sad!).

When Norbot is unleashed on Gromit's garden, all of the beauty and color and wildness of it is cut and sculpted away, leaving instead a very geometric line of trees and shrubs, a bland and modern aesthetic that might be pleasing to the eye but doesn't do anything for the soul. It feels very much like a statement of purpose for Aardman themselves: it's worth doing things by hand, slowly, with care, even if the result might not look exactly perfect. There's beauty to be found in the doing, happiness in the lumps, excitement in the slowness. It's very fitting for a company that still does so much the old way rather than turning to CGI short-cuts whenever convenient. The crew sought to do as many visual effects in camera as possible, and the result speaks for itself: this is a great-looking movie, charming and alive and polished (but not too polished). It's really such a joy to watch.

It's worth mentioning that this is Ben Whitehead's first time voicing Wallace in a full film role. He takes over for the late Peter Sallis, who passed away in 2017. Whitehead has voiced Wallace in previous projects like video games before, but this is the first time he's playing the character in a film, and he does a bang-up job. I honestly don't know if I would've even clocked it. During the Q&A, the directors shared that Whitehead had started serving as a sort of understudy to Sallis back in the Curse of the Were-rabbit days, and his talent really shines here, and helps the character to continue on, which I'm so grateful for.

And hopefully, this won't be the last we hear from him. The movie certainly leaves the door open for further adventures, but then, it didn't even really need to. There will always be room for more adventures with Wallace and Gromit, because Wallace will always keep making his wacky gizmos, and Gromit will always keep having to help save the day when said gizmos malfunction. And I'll always be ready to watch and laugh and enjoy a little break from life to spend time with these two characters I love so much.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl hits Netflix on January 3.