I join CTV Atlantic anchor Todd Battis to talk about the stop-motion animated “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” the sports drama “The Fire Inside” and the rerelease of “Seven.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the CTV NewsChannel to talk about the animated “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” the spy thriller “Harbin” and the rerelease of “Seven.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a high five! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the animated “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” the spy thriller “Harbin” and the rerelease of “Seven.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: Lovable underdogs Wallace and Gromit return with “Vengeance Most Fowl,” a new feature length stop-motion animated film about a vengeful penguin and technology run wild, now streaming on Netflix.
CAST: Ben Whitehead, Peter Kay, Lauren Patel, Reece Shearsmith, Diane Morgan, Adjoa Andoh, Wuzz Khan, Lenny Henry. Directed by Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham.
REVIEW: The almost twenty-year gap between the Oscar winning “Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of The Were-Rabbit” and the new Netflix offering “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” has not diminished the charm and humour of the titular duo.
The stop-motion animated film sees cheese loving inventor Wallace (voice of Ben Whitehead) and his loyal beagle and best friend Gromit welcome a new invention, a time saving “smart” household Gnome named Norbot (Reece Shearsmith).
When that device is hacked by penguin criminal mastermind Feathers McGraw, Wallace’s invention develops a mind of its own and runs amok. “I just don’t get it,” Wallace says in his unmistakeable Yorkshire accent. “Why would me own gnome turn evil?”
Antics ensue.
There’s an innocence and childlike quality to Wallace and Gromit that makes them a classic comedy duo in the Yogi Bear and Boo Boo vein. Come for their amiable, quintessentially British optimism, stay for 79 minutes of sight gags, a dead-eyed but hilarious villain and the manic machinations of Norbot the gnome.
It takes a few minutes off the top to get things rolling, but once the story is established co-directors Park and Crossingham unleash a cavalcade of silly sight gags and gentle slapstick all rendered in beautiful stop-motion animation. The odd fingerprint visible on the clay figures lends an artisanal vibe that feels alive, organic and painstakingly handmade.
Themes of our dependence on technology are woven into “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” but the movie isn’t really about that. It’s really about the joy generated by these two iconic characters.
The stop-motion geniuses at Aardman Animation are the kings of the underdog. They’ve given us stories of chickens rebelling against farm owners, a sheep who takes charge and leads the flock to safety and hapless adventurer Wallace. In their latest, “Early Man,” there’s a Bronze Age twist to the small fry tale.
A prologue informs us that humans survived the meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs. (Remember, this is all humour, not history.) What good could come out of that life-changing catastrophe? The invention of football. Using stones for goalposts, the prehistoric humans starting kicking the meteorite around to create the game that would become the world’s most popular sport.
Cut to a few ages later, near Manchester, around lunchtime. A Stone Age clan, including a spunky caveman named Dug (voice of Eddie Redmayne) and his sidekick Hognob (Nick Park), find themselves rocked by a new era. Bronze Age villain Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston with an exaggerated French accent) has plans to invade Dug and Co.’s comfortable life, seizing their land to turn it into a mine. “The age of stone is over!” he says. “Long live the age of bronze!” It’s up to Dug and his people to protect the interest of the tribe against the more sophisticated enemy, but how? By challenging Nooth’s best football team, Real Bronzio, to a match, that’s how.
“Early Man” is a romp about football, survival and teamwork. It also features some of the best (read worst) Premier League puns. “They’re playing well, early man… United,” usually delivered by characters speak English and crack wise like British music hall comedians. It’s silly stuff, part Flintstones, part kiddie “Quest for Fire,” and while it does contain quite a few laughs it doesn’t have the same anarchic spirit of earlier Aardman films. It’s entertaining, good-natured and I think kids will like it—especially the T-Rex sized duck who is both a menace and a help to the Brutes—but it feels like middleweight Aardman.
