"I can live without inventing, but I can't live without me best pal!"

January 10, 2025 2:02 AM

Beloved duo Wallace & Gromit returned to our screens at Christmas, 34 years after their first appearance, in their second feature-length film, Vengeance Most Fowl (Fanfare thread). Group blog (-slash-arts-magazine) It's Nice That recently interviewed creator and director Nick Park, co-director Merlin Crossingham and supervising animator Will Becher about the plasticine pair's legacy and creating their new adventure.
posted by rory (26 comments total)

The movie sees the return of arguably the series' best baddie, Feathers McGraw, and a plethora of satisfying visual puns (I loved the signs at the Yorkshire/Lancashire border). Fans of UK comedy will also recognise a bunch of the voices, including Reece Shearsmith (the Norbots) and Diane Morgan (Philomena Cunk). Ben Whitehead does sterling work standing in for the late Peter Wallis as the voice of Wallace. A joy all round, with 100%/94% on Rotten Tomatoes from 110 reviews and 7.8 on IMDB from 18K ratings.
posted by rory at 2:10 AM on January 10 [8 favorites]

This was a joy to watch on Christmas day. I was a little weirded out by the hybrid animation in a few places (it looked almost like different elements on screen were at different frame rates at times, in a way that messed with my brain) but it was a return to form overall. I knew that it wasn't Peter Wallis as Wallace anymore, but I didn't once think about it while watching.

The film is absolutely packed with little puns, references, and semi-jokes in the background, so I'm not surprised to see the sort of attention to detail where "every blink that the penguin does is relevant" and that is one of the biggest joys of watching a lot Aardman stuff. Nothing on the screen is anything other than very deliberate.

Delightful article/interview that I wouldn't have stumbled across in my own, thanks for posting!
posted by Dysk at 2:54 AM on January 10 [7 favorites]

Also loved watching this on Christmas Day with my family!

How Feathers McGraw Became Cinema’s Most Terrifying Villain [Vulture / Archive]
posted by ellieBOA at 4:26 AM on January 10 [4 favorites]

We've been sipping slowly at the Shaun the Sheep shorts so as not to use them up too quickly; getting an hour+ Aardman movie, and one as well done as this, was a lovely year-end treat.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:52 AM on January 10 [3 favorites]

Every time I put my dog’s collar back on I say, “You look like someone owns you now.”
posted by Lemkin at 5:40 AM on January 10 [7 favorites]

There's a musical callback to another rabbit-oriented media property that absolutely killed me.

Honestly, I couldn't breathe from laughing most of the time.

Talk about a movie I needed.
posted by mykescipark at 5:48 AM on January 10 [3 favorites]

No one in middle school believed me the day after I saw The Wrong Trousers when it first aired on PBS in the early 1990s.

Who's making shit up now?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:58 AM on January 10 [8 favorites]

I had no idea any of this had transpired and this is exactly the kind of funny I need today. Off to read the blog now and God willing find the movie via... channels.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 6:09 AM on January 10 [1 favorite]

YESSSSS!!! I was just the other day perusing YouTube for the "It's YOU!" clip because I loved The Wrong Trousers so much. This is great news, indeed!
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:44 AM on January 10 [1 favorite]

Peter Sallis, not Wallis.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 7:57 AM on January 10 [5 favorites]

D'oh, of course. The wrong braincells have gone haywire, lad! Heeellllllppp!
posted by rory at 8:14 AM on January 10 [1 favorite]

I can't wait to see this!

I've just discovered the Shaun the Sheep series and am really enjoying it, but a full-length Wallace & Gromit is just a joy and a gift.

I still waggle my fingers in delight when I'm particularly excited about something.

From Wikipedia:

In the 1990s, sales of Wensleydale cheese from the Wensleydale Creamery had fallen so low that production in Wensleydale itself was at risk of being suspended. The cheese experienced a boost in its popularity after being featured in the Wallace & Gromit series. The main character of the series, Wallace, a cheese connoisseur, most notably mentions Wensleydale as a particularly favourite cheese in the 1995 short A Close Shave. Animator and creator Nick Park chose it solely because it had a good name that would be interesting to animate the lip sync to rather than due to its origins in northern England where the shorts were set. He was also unaware of the financial difficulties that the company was experiencing. The company contacted Aardman Animations about a licence for a special brand of Wensleydale cheese called, "Wallace & Gromit Wensleydale", which sold well. When the 2005 full-length Wallace & Gromit film, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, was released, sales of Wensleydale cheeses increased by 23%.

That interview and profile is great. Wonderful images, and all kinds of good insights.

Thank you for posting this, rory! I am waggling my fingers, Wallace-like, in glorious anticipation.
posted by kristi at 8:19 AM on January 10 [6 favorites]

For people into Shaun the Sheep, I'll say IMO the first Shaun the Sheep movie was really wonderful, W&G-level wonderful. The second one (Farmageddon), was, okay.
posted by stevil at 8:35 AM on January 10 [2 favorites]

In the 1990s, sales of Wensleydale cheese from the Wensleydale Creamery had fallen so low that production in Wensleydale itself was at risk of being suspended.

We visited the Wensleydale Creamery on our UK trip in October, and the place was packed, so the effect lingers on even now.

Did not realize this movie had been released and was (is) available on Netflix. We ended up seeing the Bob Dylan movie for Christmas, but would have enjoyed this much more. Now I have something to watch this weekend!
posted by briank at 8:46 AM on January 10

I'll say IMO the first Shaun the Sheep movie was really wonderful, W&G-level wonderful.

Seconded! It really is. It's on iPlayer if you're in the UK, and on Netflix I think. The second one is only on Netflix.
posted by rory at 9:16 AM on January 10

Love the extra attention Fanfare is getting - I've been checking in there more frequently and there's always something fun happening.
posted by 1adam12 at 9:47 AM on January 10 [1 favorite]

I'm waiting for the crossover stage adaptation: Wallace Shawn the Sheep
posted by jedicus at 10:47 AM on January 10 [2 favorites]

don't forget the collection of shorts Cracking Contraptions, we watched that a lot when the kid was little
posted by daisystomper at 11:16 AM on January 10 [1 favorite]

I love seeing the fingerprints on the characters. It reminds you that W & G are real clay figures, not some CGI thing.
posted by tommasz at 11:33 AM on January 10 [2 favorites]

It's amazing how natural Wallace and Gromit move. Go watch anything by Will Vinton (Claymation Christmas Celebration, Claymation Halloween) and characters are just constantly dipping and bobbing or unnaturally moving their arms around as if the animators are trying to pack as much motion as possible into the frame. It's really distracting in comparison.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:14 PM on January 10

> second feature-length film …

No love for 2005's The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, then?
(a small plushy Were-Rabbit peers down from my high bookshelf even now)
posted by scruss at 4:32 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]

Scruss: that was their first feature-length film. The others were shorts.
posted by verbminx at 6:33 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]

A Grand Day Out (1989, first UK broadcast Christmas 1990), 22 minutes (making of)
The Wrong Trousers (1993), 30 minutes (origin story)
A Close Shave (1995), 31 minutes (making of)
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), 75 minutes—first feature-length film (behind the scenes and deleted scenes)
A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008), 30 minutes (behind the scenes)
Vengeance Most Fowl (2024), 75 minutes—second feature-length film (behind the scenes)

Then there's Cracking Contraptions (2002, 10 x 1-3 minutes, behind the scenes), World of Invention (2010, six half-hour episodes with short animated sections), Jubilee Bunt-a-thon (2012, an ad for the National Trust, making of), and Musical Marvels (2012, a W&G-themed BBC Proms concert with short animated bits, currently on iPlayer if you get in quick).
posted by rory at 1:35 AM on January 11 [5 favorites]

Gah, 79 minutes for Vengeance Most Fowl, not 75. Even more feature-length!
posted by rory at 1:54 AM on January 11

i just lost "me best pal" on Thursday. this movie was exactly what i needed to distract from the grief. thank you.
posted by gorbichov at 3:56 AM on January 11 [6 favorites]

I still waggle my fingers in delight when I'm particularly excited about something.

Ditto, as well as saying “Cheese, Gromit! We’ll go somewhere where there’s cheese!” every third or so time we leave the house.
posted by skycrashesdown at 3:25 PM on January 11 [5 favorites]