Richard Crouse

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.