Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl sees a return to a beloved claymation animation franchise and, surprisingly, a subtle anecdote about police work. After decades, Aardman Animations and the BBC have returned for their latest collaboration, bringing back Wallace & Gromit with a new cast, along with other familiar faces and some fresh characters. Among those fresh characters is PC Mukherjee, a young policewoman under Chief Mackintosh’s command who gets involved with the new case.
The Wallace & Gromit movies of the past have been primarily fun-loving and comedic, rarely touching on any important real-world material. The new film seems to broach two pertinent topics, examining the decision making on its police characters and offering some perspective on Artificial Intelligence. These undertones are rather subtle and not the main purpose of the movie, not deterring from the primary purpose which is to offer entertainment in a unique style of animation. Still, the themes it does offer are worth discussing.
Vengeance Most Fowl Is Secretly About Police Ineptitude
The New Wallace & Gromit Movie Offers A Parody On Police Work
A critical aspect of Vengeance Most Fowl is the relationship between PC Mukherjee and Chief Mackintosh. Mackintosh is a veteran cop who audiences met in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and since then, he’s taken control of his department and developed a reputation for being the hero involved in apprehending Feathers McGraw the first time around. Of course, the audience knows that it was Wallace and Gromit who dealt with Feathers, and Mackintosh partially admits this, but it doesn’t stop him from taking credit for being there.
Mackintosh’s main piece of advice to Mukherjee is that she always needs to follow her gut, prioritizing it over things she learned in school like “evidence.” It’s obviously a joke that’s meant to be played for laughs, but it also takes some jabs at real-world police work. Mackintosh is an absurdly bad cop, but the joke is in the movie because there are those who might operate in a similar way. In Vengeance Most Fowl, it ends up working out. In the real world, it’s incredibly dangerous.
A Vengeance Most Fowl Highlights Overeager Policing As A Flaw
The Desire To Solve A Case Gets Wallace In Trouble
Mukherjee is generally shown to be the member of the duo with better natural instincts for the job, but even she has her flaws. She joins the force with an eagerness to find a case. In her situation, the audience knows it’s because she’s passionate about her work and wants to do good things, but the point is to show that intentions don’t always matter. Mukherjee’s over-eagerness leads her to find a case, taking all of Wallace’s belongings after she believes him to be connected to the Norbot crime.
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Even though Wallace is connected, he’s not at fault. Mukherjee acknowledges at one point that none of the evidence from his belongings points to him being involved in any capacity, yet they continue to pursue him. Mackintosh is the one who has the clear desire to make an arrest without evidence, as making arrests and solving a case would benefit his standing and career, especially one so publicized with half of the town in an uproar. Solving the case quickly and carelessly would result in a wrongful arrest, but they would both benefit from it.
Wallace & Gromit Still Thinks Some Police Can Be Do Good, But Need To Grow
Wallace & Gromit’s Stance Isn’t Too Radical
Vengeance Most Fowl is a kids’ movie at the end of the day, and it’s not trying to pose a particularly divisive statement. The movie doesn’t outright condemn all police or say that all officers are corrupt, it takes two characters and demonstrates how their flaws are reflective of a broader issue. The movie acknowledges that there are problems with the way policework is handled, but that these issues can be overcome by learning the right lessons and by removing egotism and personal gain from the equation.
Even Mackintosh winds up admitting he was wrong, happy to give someone else their deserved credit.
Mukherjee winds up being a good officer, betraying Mackintosh to help Wallace and Gromit catch Feathers McGraw. After all, Feathers is a deceptive fellow, so she can’t be blamed entirely for not realizing he was involved immediately. Even Mackintosh winds up admitting he was wrong, happy to give someone else their deserved credit. At the end of the day, the new Wallace & Gromit movie has a rather hopeful, optimistic outlook on the human capacity to learn and self-reflect. That’s how problems get solved; not by pretending they don’t exist.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl features the beloved duo as they confront a “smart” invention gone rogue. When an autonomous gnome hints at larger schemes by a vengeful adversary, Gromit must navigate perilous challenges to protect Wallace and prevent a threat that could end their inventive escapades forever.
- Release Date
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January 3, 2025
- Runtime
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79 minutes
- Cast
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Reece Shearsmith
, Ben Whitehead
, Peter Kay
, Diane Morgan
, Adjoa Andoh
, Lenny Henry
, Muzz Khan