By Alex Gilston - January 2, 2025
Fourteen years ago the loveable duo Wallace and Gromit got into some bakery style escapades in murder mystery A Matter of Loaf and Death. It wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card that we’d have to wait this long to see them both lighting up our screens once again, but here we are. Christmas 2024 is Wallace and Gromit’s in their new film Vengeance Most Fowl. With Aardman’s trademark silly nature, the return of one of the most iconic movie villains of all time (yes, seriously), and a return to a world realised in claymation, it’s almost as if they’ve never been gone.
In Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Wallace (voiced here by Ben Whitehead) has hit a wall with his inventions. His life is fully automated, all Gromit has to do is press a button and he’s out of bed and eating toast in no time, thanks to his brilliant contraptions. But Wallace wants to take things to the next level, so he invents Norbot: a smart gnome that is completely voice automated. All is going well until a familiar face from the past seeks his revenge.
After Chicken Run 2 last year, an attempt at Aardman living its glory days in the present, there was some apprehension at a new Wallace and Gromit that aimed to mine on its legacy for a new story. Unlike Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit Vengeance Most Fowl succeeds at retreading the old and folding it into the new. Super villain Feathers McGraw seemingly slips into a story where he seeks to get his own back on Wallace and Gromit who got him locked up for trying to steal the blue diamond in The Wrong Trousers. His conceit to not only do this but also finish what he started by successfully stealing the diamond and escaping is fully realised alongside the tackling of technological advancement.
Aardman’s signature attention to detail is on top form in Vengeance Most Fowl. Almost every frame, and line, has some sort of clever gag, and one might worry it’d get too much but its endearing nature leaves you wanting an endless supply of them. Ant and Dec serve one of the film's funniest gags, whilst a particular call back to A Grand Day Out is so clever that it deserves its own five star rating.
Vengeance Most Fowl isn’t just a gag-a-minute whirlwind, it also acts as a glowing love letter to Wallace & Gromit’s unbreakable 35 year relationship. It’s no secret that Wallace tends to be under-appreciative of his four legged friend, but as he comes to this realisation towards the narrative’s conclusion it’s as clear as ever. There’ll never be Wallace without Gromit, and there’ll never be Gromit without Wallace.
Vengeance Most Fowl also marks the first outing for the pair since the death of the original voice actor for Wallace, Peter Sallis. It’s huge shoes to fill but Ben Whitehead taps into that unmistakable broad Wigan accent effortlessly, and he sounds no different (a compliment of the highest order). Peter Kay reprises his role as PC Albert Mackintosh, and Reece Shesresmith, Diane Morgan and Laura Patel lovingly lend their voices to supporting roles.
In 2005 I was taken to the cinema to watch Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It was exactly the kind of movie magic that an 8 year-old boy could have wished for in a trip to the pictures, and a seed was planted that day that’s now flourished into my love for film here in the present. I think it is hard to understate the impact Aardman, Nick Park, and Wallace & Gromit have had on multiple generations of people. And to see that magic thriving all these years later in Vengeance Most Fowl, and knowing that a new generation of kids are being introduced to it, is heart-warming beyond belief. So here’s to them, a man and his dog from North West England, Wallace & Gromit. Long may they reign!
Wallace and Gromit Vengeance Most Fowl is available now on BBC iPlayer
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