Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)

I cannot fully convey to everyone just how excited I was when I heard that we were getting another feature-length Wallace & Gromit adventure. Not just another outing for the pair, but a feature. I have loved this animated duo ever since watching them have a little trip to the moon, and their last feature remains a favourite of mine. The fact that The Wrong Trousers has some gags that never fail to make me chuckle also increased my enthusiasm for this, considering that it continues a story started in that near-perfect short.

Life has settled into a fairly content and settled pattern for our two main characters. Yes, the bills are starting to pile up, but Wallace thinks he can ease their situation with another cracking invention. He invents a smart gnome, Norbot (voiced by Reece Shearsmith), and soon gets some attention from those wanting to make use of the gadget. Not everyone wants to use Norbot for good though. Feathers McGraw, imprisoned for his attempted diamond theft, figures out a way to access some computers and hack into the smart gnome operating system. 

Although it's now Ben Whitehead voicing Wallace, Peter Sallis (aka Wallace Prime) passed away back in 2017, everything here feels reassuringly familiar and consistent. Nick Park is once again a stickler for detail, something that comes through in his co-directing with Merlin Crossingham and the story shaped into a full screenplay by writer Mark Burton. All three men are familiar with the characters, and the Aardman Animations house style (especially when it comes to the many visual gags, the puns, and the wonderfully British filter on common Hollywood movie tropes), and the commitment to making every scene and sequence the best it can possibly be shines through every single minute of the 79-minute runtime.

Aside from Whitehead, who is a great fit for Wallace, and the fun robo-voice provided by Shearsmith, there's room for the vocal stylings of Peter Kay and Lauren Patel (playing two representatives of the long arm of the law), Diane Morgan (playing a TV news reporter), Muzz Khan, Lenny Henry, and one or two others. Of course, the non-speaking parts are just as amusing, if not more so, and it's a real treat to once again have a big chuckle surprised out of me by the facial expressions of an exasperated Gromit and the nefarious Feathers McGraw.

Composer Lorne Balfe provides the score this time around, although the transition is so seamless that you'd be forgiven for thinking it was still in the experienced hands of Julian Nott (responsible for the music in every past main Wallace & Gromit adventure), and both the music and various sound effects perfectly complement the visuals, which are stuffed full of details, jokes, and delightful references to other movies.

It may not be their VERY best, but this is easily another animated outing that shows why Aardman Animations has long been a deserving part of any conversation about films that constitute the crème de la crème of family entertainment.

8/10

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See How They Run (2022)

While you may not know the names of director Tom George or writer Mark Chappell, See How They Run is a film otherwise overflowing with familiarity, from the cast to the central play, "The Mousetrap", that is the focus of a murder investigation. There's nothing new here, but it's all done with a delightfully warm and affectionate approach to the standards of the whodunnit.

Everything starts with the murder of a sleazy and obnoxious director (Adrien Brody), and it soon becomes apparent that there are a large number of suspects, all of them involved with that hit play called The Mousetrap. Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) is put on the case, forced to work alongside the young Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan), and the two could not be more different in their approach to the whole thing. The Inspector is trying to discern various facts as he continually pieces together a mental puzzle being crafted in his mind, while Constable Stalker is starstruck by everyone she meets, but also attempts to write absolutely everything down in a small notebook she assumes will eventually contain enough evidence to point to the killer. Working together, they might just solve the murder, but that would require them to be able to tolerate one another for the duration of the investigation.

I really enjoyed See How They Run. I can see why many might view it as something too insubstantial, or even a bit too smug (considering a number of cast members are portraying real people who were involved with The Mousetrap), but it hit a sweet spot for me that some other recent works in this sub-genre managed to miss. Although the script is clever and witty, it  ever feels as if it is pointing to itself and demanding brownie points for doing such a good job, and the direction lets every main scene play out without underlining every gag or grinding to a halt in order to nudge and wink at viewers. This might all sound ridiculous, but I could mention different movies that have been guilty of making these mistakes, and it really gets in the way when you’re just hoping to be amused and entertained.

Everything is helped by the fact that the cast all pitch their performances perfectly. Rockwell and Ronan are a fantastic pairing, one being cynical and just wanting to make time for drinking alcohol and the other wide-eyed and quite naive at times, but also smart and brave when not being overwhelmed by the celebrity-studded situation. Brody has fun with his screentime (limited screentime, obviously), and there are too many other enjoyable turns to highlight just one or two. Reece Shearsmith, Ruth Wilson, David Oyelowo, Shirley Henderson (an inspired choice to play Agatha Christie), Charlie Cooper, Tim Key, and Harris Dickinson (getting to play Richard Attenborough) are all brilliant, and many of them too preoccupied with their own lives and careers to spend too much time properly caring about a murderer possibly still being among them.

There’s a delightful score from Daniel Pemberton, nice period detail throughout (I am not sure if it is all entirely accurate, but it definitely feels crafted with care), and a mix of gags that should please both fans of The Mousetrap and those just wanting to enjoy a film without having to “do any homework” (as I have yet to see The Mousetrap, I found myself in the latter camp). The more I think about it, the less I find to fault.

I hope others enjoy this as much as I did. And, yes, a small part of me hopes they can figure out a way to use these two leads in another theatre-based murder mystery. Maybe Arsenic And Old Lace could provide the same amount of fun.

8/10

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In The Earth (2021)

Written and directed by Ben Wheatley, In The Earth is the typical film you can expect from writer-director Ben Wheatley, which means it is as unpredictable and unexpected as many of his other films.

There has been a virus, and scientists are desperately seeking a cure. One such scientist if Martin Lowery (Joel Fry), who is taken into a forest area by a ranger/scout (Alma, played by Ellora Torchia). They hope to find a scientist who previously went missing in that area, but they also hope to find anything that could help them create a cure. What they find is a stranger named Zach (Reece Shearsmith).

Almost every Ben Wheatley film feels like a natural fit in his filmography while also feeling like a unique work. It's a testament to the man and his ability to always make the most of whatever resources are available to him, be it the right bunch of actors willing to work with him in some experimental work, the right single location for some inventive gunplay, or the idea of a virus-based horror that can make a much bigger impact on people due to recent events. That doesn't mean that everything he does is a success, but it's always at least interesting. 

In The Earth may be the exception, in a number of ways. First, it arguably feels more connected to another Wheatley film (A Field In England) than any of his other films. I think the two would make for a very heady double-bill. Second, it doesn't feel all that interesting. The runtime is 107 minutes, but it feels like a much longer movie, mainly because it doesn't add enough to the central premise to engage viewers.

The cast all do good work. As well as Fry, Torchia, and Shearsmith, there's a small role for Hayley Squires, and nobody can be faulted. Everyone brings something vitally different to the film, creating an interesting and fluid dynamic that adds more to every scene than the script manages. Everyone is very believable, even as their behaviour becomes stranger, and that helps to offset the wilder ideas that come to the fore as things head towards the finale.

This is only my first viewing of In The Earth though. I cannot state with any certainty that my opinion won't change when/if I revisit it. It's a fairly slim film, in terms of the content, yet there are things tucked away under the surface that may well reward a repeat viewing. Maybe it would also help to be even further removed from the events that this brings to mind. No matter how much things have improved over the past 12-18 months, we're still processing a global event that was hugely disconcerting and disorientating, to say the least. 

Let the seasons pass, let the years start to roll by again, let this be forgotten and buried for now. Let it metaphorically go back into the earth. And then, one day, I can dig it up again and see how I feel. It could just be a clod of dirt, or it could be a rediscovered treasure by then.

4/10

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