Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Over the years, I’ve noticed a great many oversights in terms of what movies are not reviewed on Sonic Cinema; if I notice one, I will try to rectify it. One of the most egregious is how I never posted my review of “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” in 2005, even though the film was among my favorites of that year. While several Aardman animated films have been reviewed on the site, the idea that their most beloved creations haven’t been given their due disheartens me. With this review of the duo’s second feature film, that oversight is starting to be corrected.
Right away, in this new story, I fell right into my love of these characters all over again, especially Gromit. Wallace’s silent, but intelligent, dog is one of the most iconic dogs in history, and he deserves his props every chance he gets. While Wallace (voiced in this film by Ben Whitehead, taking over the for late Peter Sallis) is clever and creates a lot of nifty inventions, Gromit is the one who gets him out of his jams, every time. This time, Wallace has created a mechanical gnome to help Gromit in the garden, but when success goes to his head, and demand gets too big, suddenly the gnomes act…suspiciously. That is no doubt aided by the fact that the dastardly Feathers McGraw- in “prison” (aka the zoo) for his deeds in “The Wrong Trousers”- has hacked into them.
There’s something simply delightful about these characters that one cannot help but smile as the story begins. Wallace & Gromit waking up, and Wallace’s Rube Goldberg way of getting down to the breakfast table. Gromit being a homebody who knits and gardens. The exasperation on Gromit’s face whenever one of Wallace’s inventions gets going. The lynchpin of this film being the return of one of the most iconic villains in movie history is just an added bunch, and Feathers has not missed a beat. He has found a way to frame Wallace not only for the acts of thievery his gnomes do under Feathers’s control, but for his initial crime in “Trousers.” Nick Park, co-directing with Merlin Crossingham, brings an energy and comedic absurdity to this film as he has all the other W&G films (features and shorts), and even when it focuses on the cops who must look into the thefts, it’s an enjoyable lark. The artistry of the stop motion is as good as ever, and even if none of the set pieces match up to the brilliant train chase in “Trousers,” we still get moments of imagination and invention as Wallace & Gromit try to pluck McGraw’s feathers. Filling in for Julian Nott, composer Lorne Balfe (the last couple of “Mission: Impossible” films), does a wonderful job of getting us in the mood for more of our favorite stop motion team. “Vengeance Most Fowl” doesn’t reach the heights of their earlier adventures, but it’s an entertaining lark, all the same.
