I have said it before, I am a huge fan of Wallace & Gromit. They were an instrumental part in shaping my love for animation. As a kid, you really enjoy the slapstick and goofy gags, but as an adult, you really do appreciate the cinematography and the writing, as well as the slapstick and goofy gags. So I, like many fans of the Claymation duo, was pretty excited to see that they were not only getting a new feature film, but there would also be a returning villain from the shorts. True, I did have some reservations, avoiding the trailers meant that I was not going to have an opinion on Ben Whitehead until I actually watched the movie, and, y'know there is always that bit of hesitation when a movie for an old I.P. is announced, like that voice in the back of your mind that keeps saying "They better not have messed this up, they better not have messed this up!" and it's always there at the back of your mind. So, with all that said, what did I think of the new Wallace & Gromit movie, "Vengeance Most Fowl"?
I think it's better than Curse of the Were-Rabbit to be honest. Curse of the Were-Rabbit was not bad, but it did have a few shortcomings that really kept me from fully loving it. While I don't fully love Vengeance either, I think with a few more watches I might grow to.
First thing I want to talk about is the movie on its own merits, because I do want to discuss why I think it's good on it's own before I compare it to the previous movie. Vengeance Most Fowl is almost like a love letter to Wallace & Gromit fans in places, lots of small references like Feathers McGraw clicking on the Moon for a Captcha asking about cheese, because the moon is canonically cheese in the Wallace & Gromit universe, or even the farmer from Shaun the Sheep cameoing, they're all really cute nods that aren't intrusive to newcomers. They are exactly as a nod to fans should be, something cute that fans will chuckle at without constantly winking to the audience. On top of that, I do think Ben Whitehead did a good job replacing the late Peter Sallis, I mean he did so in the Tell-Tale games, which I haven't played that much of, but I think he did a really good job in the movie. Plus, the cinematography of this movie, Feathers McGraw was the perfect antagonist to bring back because the camera and lighting work perfectly to make this adorable little penguin one of the most intimidating villains on screen, which is a joke in and of itself. Plus, I really like the diversity of the movie, they don't bring major attention to the fact that Wallace has an Indian neighbour, or that the new police character is also likely Indian or Arab, it just is a thing that is accepted, and that's great.
So, why do I think it's better than Curse of the Were-Rabbit? Well first off, my biggest problem with Were-Rabbit was that, when the third act rolled around, it wasn't as fun as the first two acts, and I believe that is largely because in act three, Wallace & Gromit became just Gromit. Gromit is a fantastic character, don't get me wrong, but a lot of the entertainment and comedy from Gromit comes from his interactions with other characters, and Gromit didn't really interact that much with others in most of Act Three of Were-Rabbit. Here, Gromit is very rarely far from a character to interact with, Wallace, Feathers, even the new Gnome Robot gets some good scenes with him. The scene where Gromit is spying on Feathers as he escapes the zoo, only for Feathers to look his way and wave him off, that was really good.
On the topic of Feathers, yeah, there is a reason he is one of most beloved characters in the Wallace & Gromit franchise, the immediate joke of such an adorable little penguin being treated as such an intimidating presence is, on its own incredibly hilarious. This movie really ups that joke with great camera work and character animation. Matt Groening, in A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman, called the introduction of Feather McGraw in The Wrong Trousers "Hitchcockian" even noting a specific scene that he has always wanted to ape from The Simpsons. Just imagine, all that admiration from a thirty-minute short film. I can see an argument being made that it's a lot more heavy handed now, where as there was a simple elegance to the introduction in The Wrong Trousers, but I think that it fits. Again, the joke is just so fantastic, there are genuine moments that I was laughing because of how well they played their cards in making this penguin an intimidating menace.
Speaking of the visuals, I kind of prefer the look of this movie to Were-Rabbit too. It looked fantastic, don't get me wrong, but there is just something about Vengeance's animation that vibes with me better. It genuinely felt like perfect middle ground between the original short films and feature length polish, I don't know how to explain it. I think the only nitpick I have with the animation is this very obviously CG explosion at the end of the climax, which looked rather out of place and uncanny. I get why they did it though, it was undoubtedly much easier, possibly cheaper, to do it in CG than to do it all in Claymation, but it just didn't mesh. Still, that is like, the one nitpick of this movie's visual look, the movie looks fantastic, polished and just as charming as the original short films.
I don't want this blog to come off as "Now that this movie is out, Curse of the Were-Rabbit is no longer worth watching" because that simply isn't true. Were-Rabbit is still a really good movie, it just had a few shortcomings that I think Vengeance Most Fowl managed to evade. Both movies are still really good, but if I had to pick which one was better, I would have to pick Vengeance Most Fowl. I feel like Were-Rabbit tried to be a lot bigger than it needed to, while this one was just as big as it needed to be. Still, I must recommend watching the original short films first, just to get a good feel of what Wallace & Gromit is. I still think A Grand Day Out and The Wrong Trousers are the peak of Wallace & Gromit, but I'll admit, this one comes pretty close.
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