Rating: ***
Review Date Date: 1/5/25
Director: Nick Park
Cast: Ben Whitehead
It's been nearly twenty years since the last Wallace & Gromit film and this one picks up where "The Wrong Trousers" (1993) left off. The notorious criminal Feathers McGraw has been found guilty and sentenced to life in the zoo, but his hatred for Wallace and Gromit still burns. Long-suffering Gromit continues to put up with Wallace's increasingly idiotic behavior and his obsession with trying to automate his entire life. This ultimately leads to the creation of a robotic garden gnome that destroys Gromit's garden in the name of tidiness and efficiency. The new robotic helper becomes a tech sensation and Feathers becomes incensed when he sees Wallace on the local news. As a result, he hatches a grand scheme to break out of the zoo, steal the famous Blue Diamond, and frame Wallace and Gromit for the crime by using Wallace's robotic gnome against him. Naturally, Gromit saves the day, and Wallace admits that some things are better when the human element is involved.
As you would expect from Aardman Studios, the animation is superb, even though the CGI elements look a bit awkward and out of place. The story uses the tried and true W&G formula of Wallace being an insufferable twit and causing some sort of crisis, while Gromit tries to fix everything. Unfortunately, given the small cast, we're forced to put up with a LOT of Wallace, and the absurd bumbling police chief only makes it worse. Norbot the gnome is appropriately annoying, but becomes quite grating as the film wears on. The real stars are the ones who don't talk: Feathers and Gromit. Seeing them try to outwit each other is sheer delight. Feathers's body language is remarkably effective, and he comes across as extremely menacing and evil with only the simplest gestures. Timing, lighting, and camera angles also accentuate his nastiness.
The film is short and moves at a respectable pace. There's always something going on and there's never a dull moment. The music is appropriately dramatic, but instantly forgettable. The voice acting is good throughout, and Ben Whitehead does an admirable job of taking over for Peter Sallis, who died back in 2017. The writing is good, although all of the human characters were written to be annoying. That said, there's a fair amount of clever humor sprinkled throughout the dialog, and the overarching theme of dehumanization and technology gone awry is both timely and chilling. Overall, it's a great return to form for Aardman Studios, and a delightful outing for stop-motion animation fans.