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Review of “Wallace and Gromit: The Secret Revenge”.

Review of “Wallace and Gromit: The Secret Revenge”.

It’s all about fingerprints. Stop-motion animation inherently draws attention to its creation—the time-consuming nature of the process, the sheer amount of work that goes into design, the strength of the community needed to bring any project to fruition. The fingerprints left by director Nick Park and his colleagues at Aardman Animation on clay figurines of their flagship duo Wallace and Gromit is a testament to the tactility inherent in their design. Because they were hand-formed, every adventure they embark on, or rather every Wallace-related scrape Gromit helps them escape from, has a personal touch that radiates from the screen.

In the movie “Wallace and Gromit: Revenge, the Biggest Bird” duet second feature filmPark and co-director Merlin Crossingham pit humanity—what gave birth to the eponymous inventor and beagle—against the rampage of technology. The gadgets created by the eccentric Wallace were always flawed, Rube Goldberg-like solutions to simple or non-existent problems. They usually never worked as intended and often caused trouble, but there was a charm to Wallace’s determination and, yes, a hand-crafted quality to his machine. However, in Revenge of the Chicks, Wallace followed Big Tech’s lead and embraced the “wonders” of smart technology. He has given up almost every aspect of life down to the devices, going so far as to pat Gromit—Wallace’s highly capable, ever-skeptical best friend—on the head.

A silent introvert dog, Gromit prefers to garden by day and read Virginia Woolf by night; in other words, he enjoys an unusual life without the need for technological intervention. He sees how far down the automated rabbit hole his master has fallen, but even he is surprised when Wallace introduces Norbot, an artificially cheerful “smart” dwarf programmed to help Gromit maintain their lands. Norbot’s help not only deprives Gromit of his relaxing daily routine, but also transforms their lovely garden into a cold place unsullied by the imperfection of hands or paws. While Wallace (voiced by Ben Whitehead, who replaced Peter Sallis after his death in 2017) prattles on about the need to master technology, the long-suffering Gromit gazes longingly at an old kettle gathering dust on the mantle, knowing deep down that it works as good or better than any newfangled water boiling gadget.

Revenge of the Biggest Bird isn’t some dry lecture on technological excess, as Mark Burton’s script neatly addresses the visual elephant in the room throughout the noir-tinged thriller. It’s been almost 20 years since Wallace and Gromit’s last outing, Hammer’s 2005 horror spoof The Curse of the Werewolf Rabbit , and naturally animation techniques have improved a lot since then. While Vengeance Most Fowl retains many of the quirky elements and tried-and-true techniques that made Wallace and Gromit such universal favourites, it’s also undeniably a sleeker and glossier project than any of its predecessors. The figures are no longer entirely made of clay (they are made up of a mixture of clay and silicon), and computer-generated visual effects are everywhere filmespecially during the climactic boat chase, which features pristine animated water. “Vengeance Most Fowl” updates the look of the established world of Wallace and Gromit, combining classic craft and advanced instrumentation to fit the modern era. While the results are seamless (Aardman Animation never calls in work) and the cheeky comic tone remains the same, it inevitably draws attention to the loss of something intimate and hand-crafted that used to be part of the infrastructure.

In form and content, Revenge of the Chicks confronts this reality with the return of Feathers McGraw, the scheming penguin criminal mastermind whose diamond-healing plan was thwarted by Wallace and Gromit in the 1993 short The Wrong Trousers. Feathers has since been imprisoned in the local zoo, which Park and Crossingham designed as a prison, plotting revenge on the hometown heroes who banished him. From behind bars, Feathers remotely hacks Norbot Wallace and turns him evil. Unexpectedly, Norbot creates an army of other intelligent dwarves who steal tools from the townspeople, terrorize the neighborhood, and conspire to get Feathers out of the zoo so he can get the diamond back. As with the techno pants, Feathers uses Wallace’s invention against himself, but now he’s also made him a prime target in the eyes of his neighbors and the press as an inept inventor capable of anything… even stealing a diamond he previously found. Gromit must investigate to help his friend.

Anyone familiar with the Wallace and Gromit series can predict what will happen on a broad narrative level: Gromit’s nagging suspicions about the Norbots are confirmed, Wallace learns the truth only when it becomes glaringly obvious, and the two must avoid mortal danger and save the situation Revenge of the Chicks doesn’t suffer from predictability—if anything, there’s a cozy comfort in watching these two hit familiar targets—but it slows down when the action deviates too far from the film’s cherished ideas. Feathers and Norbot(s) are essentially one-note gags, and while that note sometimes hits well at the right moment, it can also become monotonous. Meanwhile, ex-constable and now Chief Inspector Mackintosh (Peter Kaye) from Werewolf Rabbit returns with a new recruit, the brave and talented Inspector Mukherjee (Lauren Patel); these two can be funny, but their side hustles seem too detached from the main action, and their banter just doesn’t compare to Wallace and Gromit’s chemistry.

It’s no surprise that this connection is the backbone of the film, as it cycles through multiple villains and elaborate Mission: Impossible -esque chase scenes. Wallace and Gromit are as reliable as Wensleydale cheese, and a particularly hardened person wouldn’t be a little embarrassed to see the two of them express their love for each other – both with words and with Buster Keaton-like facial expressions – as they go becomes hard. Park and Crossingham rarely lose sight of their connection, even when the action expands into blockbuster territory. Revenge of the Chicks ultimately contradicts the pervasiveness of technology: it’s not about the tool, but about the person (or animal) who uses it, as evidenced by the Norbot army that proved useful during the crisis. But there’s an understanding that even as tools evolve beyond our wildest imaginations, it’s important to keep things magically ordinary so that people don’t lose sight of the people behind the machines.

Grade: B

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl premiered at AFI Fest 2024. It will be available worldwide on 3 January 2025 on Netflix, except in the UK where it will be available on BBC iPlayer and BBC One Christmas 2024. It also will be available in select theaters starting December 18, 2024.