June 3

There were several animated movies that I missed out on in 2024, so there are several on the list for the June Swoon 4. The first one is the Oscar nominated Netflix film that returned to the stop action animation of the franchise Wallace & Gromit.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl sees the erstwhile inventor Wallace trying to help his trusty dog Gromit with his garden. Going over the top, Wallace created a robot to help… the “smart gnome” or Norbot. Meanwhile, master criminal Feathers McGraw, who had been captured by the police thanks to Wallace & Gromit, plotted a way to take control of the army of Norbots.

I had watched another Wallace & Gromit film (Curse of the Were-Rabbit) and I did not like it much. That was part of the reason that I did not watch this on Netflix last year. However, this was so much better than I expected. It was funny, clever and just a really enjoyable film.

The voice talents of Ben Whitehead, Peter Kay, Lauren Patel and Reece Shearsmith are on full display in the film.

The animation feels old school. The effort it takes to create a film using the stop action animation is considerable, and this crew does an amazing job with it. It never feels shorted or lacking, and delivers some excellent moments throughout, including a big action chase scene at the end.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl has one of the rarer accomplishments… 100% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I can see why. This was a lot of fun. It did not try to exceed what it does well and it did not overstay its welcome at a slim 79 minutes. This is available on Netflix.