darrenpatrickkelly

In a world that's become increasingly scary and divided throughout the year, Nick Park and the team at Aardman deliver unto us two shining beacons of hope when they're needed most, to remind us of the joyous charm and wonders in life. Those beacons take the familiar plasticine form of a dimwitted but kind-hearted inventor, and his silently judgemental but ever-loyal dog.

The Wrong Trousers and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, both Academy Award-winners, set the bar staggeringly high for stop-motion storytelling, and were always going to be tough acts to follow. Thankfully, Vengeance Most Fowl combines the best parts of both to deliver yet again, while also seemingly drawing great inspiration from Paddington and Mission: Impossible. The pair remain as aloof and comedic as ever, the animation is the best its ever been, and the jokes-per-minute ratio is impressively unrivalled.

Since the pair's last outing in A Matter of Loaf and Death the world has lost the great Peter Sallis. I thought we'd never see Wallace's return, but I'm happy to report that two minutes in I breathed a sigh of relief. Ben Whitehead does an excellent job in the titular role, capturing the same whimsy as Sallis while being just as entertaining and charming. Equally charming is the wonderful score, with Lorne Balfe taking the reins from Julian Nott and once again proving that, to me, few things in life are as instantly mood-lifting as the W&G theme.

Knowing how long it takes to fully realise a stop-motion project (Were-Rabbit took five years to create), it's also remarkable how timely the story is for today. In a year that's seen a concerning rise in the use of AI in film projects, it's delightful to see a strong stance against it come from a film crafted in almost exactly the opposite manner; not only does the film itself portray machine minds as the death of imagination and creativity, but Aardman's immaculately hand-crafted stop-motion and stylised adventures stand as a testament to the power of human artistry, and will forever remain timelessly appealing as they have for 35 years and counting.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is a film moulded with love. Thank you Nick Park, for the years of endless joy you've given the world with Wallace & Gromit. Everyone should do themselves a favour and have a grand day out with these two old friends.

A beautiful portrait of the loneliness and isolation in countryside living, and finding the small joys in the monotony of the everyday. The random assortment of world-weary locals constantly dropping by Joe and Kate's home perfectly encapsulates the people for whom life has passed them by, and who come and go from the world leaving little trace.

It's also a tale of living with the hand you're dealt and the choices you make along the way. It's easy to envy the success of others when you don't have much to your name, or live in the past when times were better, but finding serenity in what you do have is the real key to life.

Sometimes all you have in the world is the people around you; sometimes they're all you need.

Hell. Yeah.

Dev Patel shines in his triple threat role as writer, director and lead actor of Monkey Man. To think that it's his first foray into two of those roles is crazy given the level of craftsmanship on display throughout, and his commitment to the stunt work necessary for a film like this to work is remarkable. The list of injuries he sustained during production should be enough to cripple anyone, but breaking your hand on day one and carrying on? Even Tom Cruise would be impressed.

Visually the film is excellent too, inspired more by John Woo than John Wick. Being steeped in Indian culture at every turn provides a unique visual identity to every set piece and to the action landscape as a whole. Creative, visceral and sometimes stomach-churning beatdowns are plentiful and exciting. The main drawback is the sometimes nauseating use of shaky-cam for some of the action, but as it's a directorial debut, the frenzied nature of each fight more than makes up for it.

Monkey Man is a brutal revenge thrillride with an original voice behind it. It's strange to call Dev Patel a rising star when he's already well renowned, but he's certainly in for a bright future as a director and hopefully an action star. Knowing that he was repeatedly turned down for action roles before now, I am so glad he could create his own opportunity to prove those studios very, very wrong.

Also, thank God for Jordan Peele. I can't go without mentioning that he blessed us all by wrestling this film out of Netflix's clutches and saving it from being relegated to streaming only. Any chance to prove that theatrical releases can't be replaced is welcome in my books.