They’ve still got it. In what was probably the best Aardman Animation indulgence since the last time the studio presented something Wallace & Gromit related, the film company showed once again the awesome power the medium has to make us sympathize with a mute, clay dog.
And we have to, for Gromit’s daft, fuddy owner Wallace (voice of Ben Whitehead) is so out to lunch in this adventure that his actions border on cruel.
Let me back up. Aardman studios first got my attention in the 1990s with Claymation shorts chronicling the lives of daft English inventor Wallace and his mute supersmart pet dog Gromit. These were Oscar-worthy fun, but made little impact until the studio came out with a feature-length film in Chicken Run in 2000. In 2005, Aardman resurrected Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, also a hit. However, between 2006 (Flushed Away) and 2023 (Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget), Aardman products have been very hit-and-miss. I think they finally found the winning formula again in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.
[It should be pointed out here that penguins are not waterfowl, they are flightless marine birds; hence, the title is wrong.]
After the standard introduction of the audience into Wallace’s gadget-filled and automated life, the inventor gets to reveal his newest time-saver: the robotic garden gnome (“Norbot”). Audiences will cringe beyond comprehension watching Wallace unleash his newest creation on Gromit’s flower patch. The gnome turns entire multi-hued floral beds into green topiary geometry within a matter of seconds.
This strikes me as the usual Nick Park idiocy where Gromit has to shrug and eyeroll cleaning up Wallace’s mess. However, decades-old nemesis penguin Feathers McGraw, currently in “jail” – a zoo (!) —catches the actions of Norbot and hacks into Wallace’s controls. Pretty soon, Feathers control
s all the Norbots to do his bidding – not only creating havoc about the city, but making Wallace look bad in the process. This looks like a job for … Claymation!
Well, it was a problem only created by Claymation, so I guess that’s fair.
It’s been a while since Aardman had my complete attention. I’ve seen a lot of pirates, sheep, chickens, and primitive footballers in the interim. The whole studio feels like they’re traveling on a dirt road with signs posted everywhere “don’t stray from the path” and yet they stray from the path constantly. Sometimes the results are acceptable; sometimes the results are crappy, but I don’t think the studio has ever matched their Wallace & Gromit magic without Wallace & Gromit. This is, of course, a mixed blessing, as I enjoyed the return of Wallace, Gromit, and Feathers McGraw, yet couldn’t help thinking, “seen it.”
For anyone previously immersed into the world of Wallace & Gromit – if you liked what you saw before, you’ll probably enjoy this one as well.
There once lived a mute dog called Gromit
With each new disaster, he’d calm it
His master’s new hurry
To unleash robo-gnome fury
Would make your ordinary pet up and vomit
Rated PG, 82 Minutes
Director: Merlin Crossingham, Nick Park
Writer: Mark Burton, Nick Park
Genre: Oh, yeah, Claymation!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Claymation fans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who think Wallace is kind of a jerk
