Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

What a call from the BBC, an evening showing of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl debuting to the local masses. Of course it excels at everything it attempted to. From a technical and just genuine enjoyment perspective its great.

Firstly, Aardman have managed to retain their exceptional status as he greatest stop motion producers we have seen in film. Challenges have been faced across the company by being lack of clay and so much more but again they provide. A spectacular 78 minutes of pure joy and love soaked into the most beloved British film franchise of all time, as they still achieve a 100% record for Wallace & Gromit. But how?

Now a foolish claim would be that these films are made for children, but it's simple to shut down masterful entertainment retaining the witty humour from previous entries keeping the established narrative contracts of both Wallace, the man trying to keep up with the times but runs to fast. And Gromit, less of a myopic take on situations. The dichotomy built between them is magnificent and in the closing sequence as it bridges through the sheer power of friendship and love brought a tear to my eye. Character development isn't everything but the sheer attachment you can have for this duo speaks for itself. Of course you can't speak about characters without mentioning Feathers. The foil. The comic relief. The sly penguin. Back to his best swiftly establishing himself amongst the great villains of cinema, his body language forged in the clay work sustains this construct, even minor head tilts or arm movements encapsulates so much fun and depth into a character who hasn't even opened his beak once, a true icon.

The filmmakers aren't subtle with there hidden allegories specifically the anti-AI message referenced in the films. The "norbots" evident microcosm of this, as clearly a flicker of there code creates potential travesty's if put into the wrong hands, emblematic of real world danger as pressure mounts amongst, ai. Hidden allegorical messages blanketed amongst a vastly entertaining feature, refreshing in the animation genre of film, and yet another top tier entry into what is rapidly becoming one of my favorite franchises in film.

After a long gap between adventures, it's so nice to have Wallace & Gromit back and Vengeance Most Fowl is a worthwhile return that contains all the charm and wit expected of Aardman when they're on peak form. With its timely look at A. I. replacing the human element whilst being left unchecked and the epic finale involving a canal boat chase, it would be a surprisingly strong double bill with Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning.

Ben Whitehead is a fantastic choice to continue Peter Sallis' legacy as Wallace. His vocal performance is nearly identical with only the slightest noticeable difference. Gromit is the MVP as usual, carrying Wallace through everything and Wallace's realisation of how much he needs him provides all the heart. The always funny Peter Kay gets a lot more screen time than before and Reece Shearsmith is equal parts adorable and hilarious as all the robotic gnomes.

Directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham wisely choose not to compete with the jaw droppingly good high speed chase at the end of The Wrong Trousers by going in the completely opposite direction thanks to a very low speed boat chase here. The stop-motion animation has a glossy sheen without losing the distinct Aardman look and the gags come thick and fast. Lorne Balfe's presence in the score only enhances the Mission Impossible comparisons.

Wallace & Gromit are back... and so is Feathers McGraw. That's probably enough for any viewer. Many might wonder is this going to be as good as The Wrong Trousers. The answer is no, but it's not far off and really only falls short because it's a sequel. It's near impossible to capture the magic of anything as much loved as The Wrong Trousers, even though that was a sequel of sorts. The pairs house has had some upgrades. Wallace's new wake up routine is genius. Not that long suffering Gromit is impressed. He's happy with the simple life. The Pat-o-Matic for instance isn't to his taste. He'd much rather have a nice pat on the head from Wallace. Wallace's latest invention though is for Gromit, to help him in the garden. A smart gnome called Norbot, who instead of helping, ruins Gromit's garden, invading his only sanctuary. The neighbours though are impressed and this kicks off Wallaces scheme to solve their money troubles, Gnome Improvements. What about the penguin you may ask? Well he's doing time at the zoo, but upon hearing of his foe's latest invention. He finds a way to hack Norbot, change his settings to 'Evil' and have him create an army of evil gnome clones. They first terrorise the neighbourhood, besmirch Wallace's good name, help Feathers break out of the zoo and steal the blue diamond that alludes him in The Wring Trousers. The details are delightful. The animation is beautiful. The story first class and the action both gripping and wonderfully cinematic. So no it's not as jaw dropping and perfect as The Wrong Trousers, but it doesn't need to be. It's just as much fun and it's a joy to have a new adventure to enjoy over and over again.

I recommend the movie. The villains were well done, but the human characters aside from Wallace weren't given much to do or say and the climax seemed a little too fast and forced. I do like the story, surprises (aside from a few forced scenes in the last 10 or so minutes) and the comedy. If the climax was better written and the pacing was better with the brief human supporting characters (who should've had more to do), I would've like it more. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit had a better pace and climax and better written side characters, but both had enjoyable stories, main characters and laughs.

Wallace seems to have nailed it, having created, the Nifty odd jobbing robot, Norbot, the problems begin when Feathers McGraw breaks out of prison, and the happy go lucky robot turns rogue.

Glorious, magical viewing from start to finish, with this and Gavin and Stacey, it seems like The BBC will own Christmas day viewing.

Bags of fun, massively entertaining, full of gags and jokes, truly a show for the whole family to watch and love. With any luck we'll be treated to more in the future.

You have to give huge credit to Ben Whitehead, I honestly had to check that AI wasn't used to recreate the voice of Peter Sallis, it was seamless, what an incredible vocal performance.

Credit to Peter Kay and Reece Shearsmith, both, along with the whole cast, did a spectacular job.

I loved it so much, I've ordered myself a Feathers McGraw t-shirt.

10/10.