Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl premiered at the American Film Institute on 27 October 2024. It was broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 25 December in the UK, becoming the second-most-watched UK broadcast since 2022; it released on Netflix internationally on 3 January 2025.[2][3][4] The film holds a 100% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, and was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, BAFTA, and Annie Award in each of the ceremonies' respective Animated Feature categories.
Plot
Wallace invents a robotic garden gnome, Norbot, and creates a business hiring it out to work in local gardens. His dog, Gromit, feels left out and is concerned by Wallace's reliance on technology. Annoyed at Norbot's loud recharging at night, Gromit takes Norbot to the basement and plugs him into a computer to charge.
Feathers McGraw, a master thiefpenguin apprehended by Wallace and Gromit after stealing the Blue Diamond from the city museum, is imprisoned in a zoo.[a] When he hears about Norbot on television, he hacks into Wallace's computer and reprogrammes Norbot to serve him and create an army of gnomes. While working at homes around the city, the gnomes steal several objects. Chief Inspector Albert Mackintosh and his new recruit, PC Mukherjee, conclude that Wallace is responsible and confiscate most of his inventions, but do not find the gnomes.
Gromit reclaims Wallace's gnome-tracking device from the police station and tracks the gnomes to the zoo, where he discovers that they have used the stolen objects to build a submarine for Feathers to escape in the sewer network. Feathers spots Gromit and has Norbot cut him from the tree he is hiding in. Gromit and Norbot fall to the ground, and the impact resets Norbot to his original settings.
Gromit goes to the museum, where the diamond is being put back on display, but it has been swapped with a turnip. Feathers McGraw hid the real diamond in Wallace's old teapot when he was caught. Gromit returns home, but he and Wallace are captured by the gnomes. Feathers recovers the diamond from the teapot and locks Wallace and Gromit in a cupboard.
Wallace and Gromit use a leaf blower to escape with Norbot. They pursue Feathers down a canal on narrowboats while Mackintosh, unaware of Feathers' escape, and Mukherjee, still believing in Wallace's innocence, pursue on a bicycle; one of the narrowboats happens to be Mackintosh's. Wallace invents a machine that launches boots, also belonging to Mackintosh, at the gnomes, resetting them. Gromit jumps aboard Feathers' narrowboat, but when Feathers sees that the police have blocked the canal, he steers off an aqueduct. With the boat teetering over the edge, Wallace persuades Gromit to surrender the bag containing the diamond to Feathers. Feathers jumps off the narrowboat, which falls, but Gromit is rescued by Norbot and the other gnomes.
Feathers escapes into Yorkshire on a train, but discovers that Gromit has also replaced the diamond with a turnip. Mackintosh praises Mukherjee for trusting her instincts and retires from the force, passing the torch to her. Wallace returns to inventing, admitting that machines cannot replace the human touch, and Gromit accepts Norbot into their home.
Ben Whitehead as Wallace, an eccentric inventor from Northern England. Vengeance Most Fowl was Whitehead's first full film performance as Wallace following Peter Sallis' retirement in 2010 and subsequent death in 2017. Whitehead has voiced Wallace in video games and commercials since 2008.
Reece Shearsmith as Norbot, a smart gnome invented by Wallace designed to do jobs around the house, but whose personality setting is altered by Feathers McGraw[6]
Shearsmith also voices the other gnomes, who act as henchmen for Feathers McGraw.
During production of the A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008), Nick Park remarked on difficulties with working with DreamWorks Animation during the production of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), such as the constant production notes and demands to alter the material to appeal more to American children.[10][11] This discouraged him from producing another feature film for years, with Peter Lord noting that Park preferred the "half hour format"[12], as well as the end of the partnership after the poor box office performance of Flushed Away (2006).
A new Wallace & Gromit film was announced in January 2022, with Park and Merlin Crossingham as directors, from a screenplay by Mark Burton, while Claire Jennings was announced to produce.[13][14] Park conceived the film as another 30-minute short, which expanded into a feature film.[15] The factory that made Lewis Newplast, the modelling clay used by Aardman, shut down in March 2023; Aardman purchased enough remaining clay to cover the new film.[16]The Daily Telegraph reported that the studio may not be able to produce further films, but Aardman released a statement clarifying that it would find a new supplier.[17][18]
The title was announced on 6 June 2024, alongside the reveal that Feathers McGraw, the villain of The Wrong Trousers (1993), would return. At that time, Richard Beek was announced to have replaced Claire Jennings as the producer, although Jennings would remain credited as a consulting producer.[19]
Music
The score was composed by Lorne Balfe and series composer Julian Nott, with the themes composed by Nott. Balfe previously provided additional music for Nott's score in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).[20] Gromit listens to Eric Coates' By the Sleepy Lagoon before being interrupted by Norbot. "Born Free" by Matt Monro is also briefly in the film, played by Feathers McGraw during the escape scene. McGraw at one point plays J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor on the organ mounted in his submarine, a reference to the piece's use in the 1954 movie 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, as played by Captain Nemo.
Release
Vengeance Most Fowl premiered worldwide on the closing day of the AFI Fest on 27 October at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, with a limited theatrical release on 18 December 2024.[21] It aired in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 25 December 2024, and was released worldwide on Netflix on 3 January 2025.[2][22][23][13][14] To promote the film, the BBC also commissioned three Wallace & Gromit-themed idents for BBC One, which were aired through the Christmas season.[24][25]Vengeance Most Fowl was viewed by 9.38 million BBC One viewers on Christmas Day. It was the second-most-watched broadcast in the UK since 2022, after the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special, also broadcast that day.[26] After a week of catch up viewing, that figure increased to 16.29 million.[27] Park said Vengeance Most Fowl would not be the final Wallace & Gromit film, and that "there's always ideas worth kicking about".[28]
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 127 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Comforting as cheese and crackers, with some gentle ribbing of modern technology sprinkled on top, Vengeance Most Fowl revives this lovable pair with all their charm intact."[29]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 83 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[30]
Writing in The Guardian, Stuart Heritage called it "a triumphant return". He felt the film "does end up suffering a little, in part because of an extended runtime that renders it less densely packed with jokes and invention than we've become used to. It's also a bit too talky, robbing the pair of the easy international appeal they had when their dialogue was kept spare."[31] In the Irish Independent, Vicky Jessop praised the subplot and tone.[32]
^"Wallace & Gromit return with Vengeance Most Fowl". British Comedy Guide. 6 June 2024. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024. Peter Kay will return to voice PC Mackintosh, the character who previously appeared in The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit. Mackintosh has now been promoted to Chief Inspector.