Is there any better kind of soul food than settling down and watching clueless inventor Wallace and his long suffering companion, Gromit, blunder through another absurdly charming adventure that is unquestionably and unequivocally British. Well, for those with a weakness for little plasticine models with impeccable comic timing, could there be any greater gift this Christmas then for us to be granted a second (and long overdue) feature length outing for them after 2005’s Curse Of The Were-Rabbit. Of course, considering just how bloody long it takes for them to put one of this things together with all the micro movements and whatnot, we shouldn’t be too hard on the insanely patient folks over at Aardman Animation – but while I adored the studio’s adorable ode to Hammer horror, there’s a school of thought that believes that Wallace & Gromit fare far better in shorter adventure such as the legendarily flawless The Wrong Trousers. However, as Vengeance Most Fowl brings back possibly one of the greatest villains in stop motion history, it has a better than average chance of proving that wrong.
We all know that after Wensleydale cheese, the thing Wallace loves the most is inventing, but recently it has been coming at something of a cost. The first is literal as his rampant hunger to create weird and wonderful ways to do simple household tasks has left him quite deep in debt as no one is beating down his door for a dog petting machine, but the other issue is a tad more existential. Wallace’s love of gadgets has now gotten so serious, even Gromit would have to admit that his love of tech has left him a little divorced from the simpler things in life.
As if to prove my point, he creates the Norbot, a robot garden gnome that is designed to tackled everything from gardening to cleaning up around the home and after it redesigns Gromit garden in under an hour (much to tbe pooch’s typically mute horror), impressed passers by start enquiring is they can rent the creepy little robot’s services. It seems that Wallace & Gromit’s money issues could be at an end, but across town, in the local zoo, an old enemy plots their downfall.
That’s right, ruthless, master criminal Feathers McGraw is back and after the duo foiled his attempt to steal the Blue Diamond, he’s been plotting his comeback from behind the bars of his prison cell/zoo enclosure. Concocting a typically audacious plot, he manages to reprogramme Norbot over to “evil” (with compliments to The Simpsons’ Treehouse Of Horror III) and before you can say “cracking plot Gromit”, the now-malevolent gnome-bot starts making duplicates to create a small army to do Feathers’ bidding.
But what unspeakable plan has the insidious Penguin cooked up this time and what does he need with a robot army that’s been stealing things from the gardens of the local townfolk? Before you know it, Wallace is getting eyeballed with suspicion by the local constabulary, but can the ever-loyal Gromit manage to bail him out once again?
I don’t know if there’s any scientific way to prove this, but I genuinely believe it’s impossible to hate Wallace & Gromit. The second the theme tune kicks in and you’re dropped into their world that is both simultaneously impossibly twee and stunningly witty, resistance to the Python-esque absurdity is all but futile and it’s all but proved by their latest offering which also stands as the pair’s first ever direct sequel. I mean, if you were ever to directly follow up one of the W&G shorts, then The Wrong Trousers is definitely the way to go as it saw Aardman at practically at the height of its immense powers thanks to that Oscar winning final act and the magnificent presence of Feathers McGraw. However, while Vengeance Most Fowl can’t quite match the dizzying heights of Aardman’s finest hour (or should that be 30 minutes), it still contains all the quick wit and endless invention that’s made the duo famous the world over.
For starters, the underlying theme of the movie is a warning against an over reliance of pointless technology, which is marvellously on message considering the more “low tech” approach of stop motion animation and you can’t help feel a genuine pang of pain when the rictus grinning Norbot (voiced by a highly caffeinated sounding Reece Shearsmith) tears through the garden Gromit has created with love to created a stylish, but soulless topiary. It goes on to show the inherent dangers of such a reliance when Feathers hacks into the robo-gnome and corrupts his programming and while having your tech hijacked by a penguin with a grudge may confuse the message a little, it’s still gratifying that it has one that isn’t as painfully vapid as most animated movies
If I have to be brutally honest, the movie gets a little bogged down in the details around the middle as it tries to get all of its gnomes in a row as Gromit tries to work out McGraw’s plan while Wallace remains as unaware as ever. In fact, Wallace’s continuing ignorance actually proves to be a bit of a hinderence here as his treatment of his faithful canine comrade truly makes you want to punch him fully in his plasticine face. During the half hour adventures, it’s minimised and rendered charming by the short run time and in Curse Of The Were-Rabbit it was negated by the regular bouts of bunny related body horror. But here, his negligence of Gromit gets to a point where even the capering of Peter Kay’s returning Chief Inspector Albert Mackintosh and his subordinate, PC Mukherjee, can’t manage to reverse.
Thank God for Gromit and Feathers McGraw then, as these two characters manage to deliver flawless comedic performances despite each never uttering a word and both being made out of plasticine. And yet, you find yourself roaring with laughter without fail anytime Gromit cocks an exasperated eyebrow or McGraw cracks his neck in preparation for some wrong doing – which still, after all these years, a stunning act of comedic alchemy when you consider that the former has no visible mouth and the latter has no facial expressions at all. All the various puns and visual gags are still top notch too, with such character names as Onya Doorstep and Anton Dec scoring high, Feathers disguising himself as a nun, or the sight of Gromit reading a book by “Virgina Woof” whizzing by so fast, repeat viewings are not only advised, they’re essential.
Even the scale of the action and the movie references hit the target, from a Cape Fear reference (they never get old, do they) to numerous nods of the escalating cacophony of a Mission: Impossible movie, the climax is just as thrilling as anything seen in the likes of a Fast & Furious movie – although I’d wager that even Ethan Hunt and Dominic Torreto would struggle to make a narrow boat chase as beguiling and nerve-wracking as Nick Park can.
Wallace’s ignorance and neglect of his best friend may drag down the middle and has gotten to the point where someone really should call animal services on him, but literally everything else in this delightful movie effortlessly comes up aces as the endless gags and it’s two mute animal characters provide a masterclass in subtle hilarity. Oh, and that Bond villain reveal may truly be the chef’s kiss moment of the entire year…
Cracking comeback, Gromit!
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