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Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl must be the most adorable examination of anxieties surrounding the modern-day human experience to date. While the discussion of how to responsibly use A.I and other relatively new technology is far from original or new, it has never been cuter than when weaponized by a malicious clay penguin with a penchant for disguise. After all, this is what the Wallace and Gromit franchise has excelled at for so many years: cute, quaint, and cozy films accessible to children but intelligent and artistically driven all the same. For these reasons, it is hard to imagine anyone walking away from Vengeance Most Fowl feeling like they had been robbed of an hour and a half of their time. Yet, for these same reasons, the movie sometimes feels a bit stale.
Certain physical gags throughout the film feel familiar not just from the acclaimed stop motion series but from the vast landscape of children's entertainment today. This is especially notable in the many instances of low-brow physical humor that plague the otherwise witty and unique humor Wallace and Gromit is known for. This isn't to say that all of the physical humor in the film is low-brow, common, or ineffective. Quite the opposite! Aardman has all but perfected the use of visual comedy in the stop-motion business. From Wallace's gizmos to Gromit's astoundingly emotive body language, Vengeance Most Fowl is at its most compelling when the animators and artists step back from the grounded and explore the more absurdist tendencies and situations the titular duo finds themselves in. Ridiculous moments like Gromit cutting a Gromit-shaped hole in a shed, Wallace creating a boot-merang machine, and the duo's silly morning routine keeps this otherwise wrote comedy charming and full of life.
Adding to the charm and comedic value of the physical gags is Wallace and the other human character's silly speech. Listening to these characters verbally react to A.I. gnome heists, boat thefts, and police questioning in the entirely unique Wallace and Gromit prose viewers have come to love is a wholly delightful experience. It is no wonder this franchise has endured so long. There really is no other film that rather contradictorily (and comedically) blends deadpan dialogue and hyperbolic melodrama quite the way Ben Whitehead's Wallace does in this movie. Of course, it is not just Whitehead who helps the dialogue come to life. Peter Kay's Chief Inspector Mackintosh and Lauren Patel's P.C. Mukherjee provide an equally compelling and silly b-plot. While this duo is, similar to the other themes of the film, not exactly conceptually unique or interesting on paper, the characters come alive by way of rather boisterous voice acting and reliably quirky banter.
Coinciding with the intense charm injected into every aspect of the animation, humor, and characters is an intelligence and subtlety not frequently seen in children's entertainment today. Vengeance Most Fowl is constantly engaged with questions about proper technology usage and our relationship with technology in a world filled with A.I. and automation. Wallace, ever the inventor, seeks to automate his entire morning routine, whereas Gromit simply yearns to make his morning tea the old-fashioned way with a kettle and stove. Here lies the story's conflict: To make tea, or have tea made for you. Of course, in the ensuing hour and a half, A.I. gnomes will break a malicious penguin out of prison (zoo), and a diamond heist will be thwarted, but by the end of the film, we return to the question: to tea or not to tea. The answer, as it would happen, is a bit ambiguous. In fact, the duo finds a way to coexist with their new A.I. gnome while also making tea the old-fashioned way. The optimistic ambiguity that Vengeance Most Foul leaves audiences with offers a refreshing look at an otherwise frequently bleak conversation about modern-day tech. To this point, such an ambivalent ending leaves a bit to be desired regarding the emotional depth the movie can achieve. Even so, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is effortlessly more cozy and charming than most animated films out there and is certainly worth the watch.
VERDICT:
Where Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl lacks in emotional or thematic depth, it certainly makes up for in its charm and quaintness. Full of the same goofy physical gags, absurd puns, and verbal humor viewers have come to expect from the cozy franchise, Vengeance Most Fowl is sure to keep viewers young and old, chuckling and engaged.
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