Aardman, an animation studio based in Bristol, England, continued its tradition of creating charming and stylistically distinct stop-motion films with its most recent feature-length film, “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” released on Netflix in early January.
The film expands upon the adventures of the titular duo, an eccentric British inventor and his immensely expressive canine companion, several years after the conclusion of “Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” a film released nearly 20 years prior.
Introduced as a key protagonist is Wallace’s newest invention, a robot garden gnome assistant named Norbot. Viewers were also treated to the return of Feathers McGraw, the silent and foreboding penguin with a glove on his head, a fan-favorite character first introduced in “The Wrong Trousers,” a Wallace and Gromit short film released in 1993.
Wallace and Gromit received their on-screen debuts in 1989 in “A Grand Day Out,” a quaint tale about a cheese-loving man who builds a rocket in his basement and travels with his dog to the moon in search of cheese.
Audiences came to love the balance of coziness and absurdity in the studio’s stories, with English actor Peter Sallis providing the voice of Wallace in “A Grand Day Out” until stepping away from the role in the early 2010s and before his passing in 2017.
Ben Whitehead had been working with Aardman since 2005 and stepped into the role of Wallace for “Vengeance Most Fowl,” providing a faithful rendition of Sallis’ vocal legacy for the film, bringing back much of the same charm and vibrance of Sallis’ prior performances.
“Vengeance Most Fowl” feels, at times, filled with a different soul than what people have come to know from the series, with brief mentions of AI and programming tying the movie into the modern world, a step away from the distant and imaginative inventions in prior Wallace and Gromit entries.
However, what Aardman carries, and what they’ve consistently delivered across their projects, are heartwarming stories aided by memorable characters, distinguishable animation, and a captivating flair of witty British humor. “Vengeance Most Fowl” may edge slightly too close to modern technology for some viewers, but the film does not for a second lose the heart of what makes Wallace and Gromit lovable and never loses sight of Aardman Animations’ identity.
Rating: 8/10
