‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ Review – A Delightfully Forgettable Sequel [AFI Fest 2024]

It’s been 16 years since animation fans last saw the beloved duo Wallace & Gromit in 2008’s A Matter of Loaf and Death, and even farther out from their latest feature-length outing with The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005. It’s safe to say it’s been a little while.

In the years since, Aardman Animations has continued its lively output with sequels to the acclaimed Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep, although neither managed to fully live up to their successors with slighter concepts and even slighter executions. The fact that a new Wallace & Gromit movie even exists, set to be released on Netflix in early 2025, though, is its own stamp of approval for the highly selective property. While Vengeance Most Fowl represents a charming return for fans of the series, it does continue the trajectory of slightly underwhelming Aardman follow-ups.

Vengeance Most Fowl marks the return of not only Wallace (Ben Whitehead) and Gromit but also the iconic, silent villain Feathers McGraw, who was last seen accepting defeat and getting locked away for good. This sequel kicks off as Wallace, in pure Wallace fashion, has a new invention that disrupts their routine. This time, a new computer-generated garden gnome named Norbot (Reece Shearsmith) sets out to make Wallace’s life as easy as possible. But when Feathers manages to hack into the system, setting the garden gnome’s setting from good to evil, Wallace & Gromit must band together to stop an evil plan from hatching: a plan that may just involve multiple gnomes and a precious blue diamond.

Vengeance Most Fowl teases fun at society’s overreliance on technology for even the simplest of tasks, prompting the beginning of the film’s biggest laughs. Wallace is visibly impressed by his ambition, leading him to forget what he and Gromit can accomplish together: so much so that he even rebrands his truck away.

While the film retains much of the visual delight from previous Wallace & Gromit stories, all while adding in humorous and relevant commentary on AI and technology use in society that younger audiences can easily digest, the new technological gnome that enters the picture just isn’t that interesting or funny to watch. This especially becomes clear the less time we get to spend with Wallace & Gromit’s usual dynamic.

Given how recent animated films like The Mitchells vs. the Machines have already covered some of the technological ground that Vengeance Most Fowl attempts to cover, it’s the English brand of humor and action of co-directors Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park that make this sequel stand out where the story fails to track. The immense detail put into bringing all of the miniature sets and character designs to life carries through in the execution, with Crossingham and Park’s fast-paced setpieces gliding us along. Lorne Balfe’s whimsical score also manages to live up to Julian Nott’s previous work.

But any review for Vengeance Most Fowl is not complete without elaborating on the absolute scene-stealer and fan favorite Feathers McGraw, who plays a major part in unleashing the gnomes and the worst of technology onto the world. The animators continue to understand how even the smallest inflections and changes in expression make their characters come alive: especially with both Gromit and Feathers McGraw not speaking.

This film ultimately feels more well-suited as an episodic series and doesn’t quite have the same inventiveness as previous Aardman films. That being said, there are still plenty of laughs to be had throughout the brief 79-minute runtime that will surely make Vengeance Most Fowl an easy sell on Netflix for families this upcoming holiday season. Like even the weakest Aardman films, any adventure with these colorful characters is an adventure worth taking.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl had its World Premiere as part of the Red Carpet Premieres section at AFI Fest 2024. The film is set to be released in select theaters on December 18, 2024, before premiering on Netflix on January 3, 2025. 

Directors: Merlin Crossingham, Nick Park

Writers: Nick Park, Mark Burton

Rated: PG

Runtime: 70m