By John Corrado

The British inventor and his pantomime dog return in Aardman’s Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, the second feature-length outing for the characters following 2005’s Oscar-winning The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Co-directed by series creator Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham, this charming and funny new adventure for the stop-motion man and dog duo is also a throwback to an earlier one; it marks the return of Feathers McGraw, the penguin villain from the Oscar-winning 1993 short film The Wrong Trousers.

Wallace (voiced by Ben Whitehead, taking over for the late Peter Sallis, who passed away in 2017) has moved into embracing the world of technology. He’s become so reliant on technology that Gromit is beginning to worry; he’s even invented a Pat-O-Matic to pat Gromit on the head for him.

Wallace’s latest invention is an AI “smart gnome” named Norbot (Reece Shearsmith), designed to help Gromit with his gardening. But the invention catches the attention of Feathers McGraw, who has been imprisoned at the zoo for his crimes, and wants to get revenge on Wallace and Gromit for thwarting his plan to steal the Blue Diamond. The penguin hatches a plan that involves hacking and hijacking the gnome in order to break out.

The delightful visual humour of watching Feathers McGraw carrying out his dastardly plans is one of the most enjoyable parts of the film. The character design itself is incredibly amusing, with his bowling pin shape, beady little eyes, and single facial expression that is able to convey so much. The old school claymation gives the film a timeless quality that stylistically matches the previous feature and four shorts, with the sets being lit and photographed in a way that lets us take in all the little details.

As always with Aardman, the delight of Vengeance Most Fowl lies in these details. The film is packed with sight gags that are a lot of fun to spot, and there is a tactile, hand-crafted feel to this world; from the lush grass and model trees, to the slight indent of fingerprints on Gromit’s brow ridge. Meanwhile, the screenplay by Mark Burton offers the constant stream of clever puns and plays on words that are also a hallmark of the series (i.e., Wallace starts his own “gnome improvement” business with Norbot).

If it doesn’t quite reach the heights of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Vengeance Most Fowl is still an absolute treat for fans. At a briskly paced 79 minutes, Park and Cunningham pack the film full of action, humour, and also some heart. All in all, it serves as a very nice tribute to these characters, and the bond between Wallace and Gromit. If the story’s main message is that no amount of fancy technology can replace the bond between man and pooch, the film itself serves as a great reminder of the wonderful charms of stop-motion animation (and a good cheese pun).

Film Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.