Published by Mason Oldridge, 2 January 2025
CONTAINS SPOILERS!
After 14 years, everyone’s favourite cheese-loving inventor and his loyal canine companion are back for a new adventure, along with fiction’s greatest villain!
The much-anticipated and long-awaited return sees Wallace invent a robotic garden gnome called Norbot, much to the disgruntlement of Gromit. However, things go awry when Feathers McGraw, the evil penguin from the 1993 special The Wrong Trousers, remotely hacks and manipulates the new invention from his cell, as we learn from a flashback that his punishment was imprisonment at a zoo.
The storyline succeeds as the iconic duo race against time to stop Feathers and his army of robots from completing the mission they thwarted the first time: stealing the Blue Diamond. There is anticipation as we anxiously await the robot turning sinister, shock as we learn the valuable jewel was hidden by Feathers in Wallace’s teapot the whole time and action as the film culminates in a dangerous chase on an aqueduct.
The comedy is strong too, most notably the hilarious way Norbot charges himself. There is also a genius nod to Feather’s chicken disguise from The Wrong Trousers as he once again dons the red rubber glove as headgear, which Wallace again falls for.
Reece Shearsmith is brilliant voicing Norbot, while Peter Kay returns to bring his Boltonian tone to Chief Inspector Mackintosh, though it can’t be denied the strongest characters are the non-verbal ones.
Also, credit is due for how the current and relevant concerns surrounding AI are addressed. Norbot may be handy and productive but lacks the personal element of human contribution which sees the gardening done in an efficient yet unsightly manner and allows him to be controlled by an evil handler.
Perhaps the greatest strength though is the impressive way thoughts and emotions are conveyed on the silent stop-motion characters. Examples of this included Feathers beaded with sweat as he attempts to access the computer whilst not waking the guard and his forlorn reaction to his failure as he rides off into Yorkshire.
The second feature-length endeavour and sixth instalment overall, Vengeance Most Fowl is as strong as its predecessors, if not more so. Wallace & Gromit is a true British classic and deserves its critical acclaim that saw it crowned the second-most watched programme on Christmas Day and Audio Visual’s Film of 2024.
10/10