“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” Review: Netflix's Aardman Pic

It would be no exaggeration to say that Wallace, the lost entrepreneurial protagonist created by Oscar-winning animator Nick Park, has an invention for everything. The modest suburban home on Wallaby Street that Wallace shares with his expressive beagle, Gromit, is full of Rube Goldberg-esque gadgets.

A machine, which functions as a sort of alarm, ejects Wallace from the bed and throws him into a tunnel that leads directly into a hot bath. Another gadget dresses up the inventor, giving him variations of his signature sweater vest and brown pants combo. A third device spreads spoonfuls of jam on toast, while yet another pets the dog.

However, these tools are not enough for Wallace, whose chronic need to optimize his life rivals the obsessiveness of Silicon Valley's most ardent technocrats. At the beginning of Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowlthe mechanical architect, eager to sell the benefits of technology to Gromit, creates a robotic garden gnome programmed to lend a helping hand to the secretive pooch. The chaotic results are elegantly rendered by co-directors Park and Merlin Crossingham.

Premiered at AFI Fest ahead of its Netflix debut in January, Revenge plus Fowl relies on the detailed clay-working technique and slapstick humor that earned Wallace and Gromit their enduring reputation. The beloved duo made history with their big screen debut in 2005, Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbitit became the first stop-motion animated film to win Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards. Although today the style enjoys more widespread popularity (note the recent Oscar accolades for eye-catching Marcel the shell with shoes and Guillermo del Toro's menacing performance Pinocchio), wasn't always so commercially sexy. THE Wallace and Gromit The franchise, created by Park in the late 1980s, holds a special place both as a vestige of the craft's past and as evidence of its present and enduring future.

It's a shame Revenge plus Fowl will only have a limited theatrical release. The pair's second feature features a larger landscape that would have benefited from the size of a movie screen. Wallace and Gromit, with their wide smiles and active eyebrows, are rendered in greater detail by Aardman Animation (Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget) and the fluidity of their movements, as well as the diversity of textures, reflect the technological advances inherent in stop-motion animation. Take Wallace's clothes, now made of real yarn instead of clay. Or Gromit's ears, which, despite still being made with Lewis Newplast (the now famous plasticine), appear shinier.

There are other changes too, some more anticipated than others. Wallace is now voiced by Ben Whitehead, who inherited the role following the death of Peter Sallis in 2017. Whitehead holds his own against a less meek and mumbling Wallace, although he continues to put himself and Gromit in outlandish situations. When he sits down to breakfast, commenting on the “crackling” toast, the difference is obvious but slight. A more pronounced update is in the jokes, some of which are less bawdy and more in tune with the humor of a younger audience.

Mark Burton's screenplay marks the return of one of Wallace and Gromit's old enemies, Feathers McGraw. As fans of the duo will remember (and how Revenge plus Fowl establishes with an effective introduction), the wily penguin first appeared in the 1993 short film The wrong pantsin which he uses Wallace's recent invention to steal a precious blue diamond. After the bird's plan fails, thanks to Gromit, he ends up imprisoned in a local zoo. Like any good villain, he has been plotting his revenge on the zealous inventor and his faithful dog ever since.

While McGraw stews behind bars, Wallace waxes poetic about his latest invention, Norbot, an “intelligent” gnome created to help Gromit with the garden. But the beagle, who enjoys the work of trimming his own hedges, finds the automaton's quest for efficiency deeply off-putting – a commentary, perhaps, on how we should all be more wary of unbridled technological progress.

Norbot (voiced by Reece Shearsmith) proves a hit in the neighborhood, however, and Wallace, plagued by a pile of overdue bills, is inspired to embark on a new business venture. This makes him a local hero, even landing him an interview with news anchor Onya Doorstep (Diane Morgan).

Until McGraw interferes. The silent villain cleverly tampers with Norbot to turn him against Wallace and Gromit. The robot then duplicates itself and commits a community-wide burglary, prompting Chief Inspector Mackintosh (Peter Kay) and his new lieutenant PC Mukherjee (Lauren Patel) to get involved.

A haywire adventure follows, accentuated by Lorne Balfe and Julian Nott's suspenseful score, as the police investigate Wallace while Gromit tries to prove his innocence.

In just 79 minutes, Revenge plus Fowl it's a lively, well-paced escapade, in which Gromit proves he's still one of our best screen actors and Wallace's distracted behavior continues to fascinate. A gallery of supporting characters – from neighbors scandalized by the theft to journalists and police – not only add to the usual fun, but also offer some of the film's sharpest jokes and social commentary.

Those roasted include the suburban fixation on sameness, the capriciousness of the media, and the all-round negligence and laziness of law enforcement. If, as with the first Wallace and Gromit movie, the story is a bit predictable, which doesn't make the journey any less enjoyable.