Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)

This is a movie for all ages--which cannot be said of many animated features this year. Bring the kids, they will have fun with this one. Feathers McGraw, the enemy of the Oscar-winning “The Wrong Trousers” has returned in all his silent glory, glowering from a prison (or, in this case, a zoo) cell and planning his revenge. Back at home, Wallace seems more co-dependent on Gromit than ever, but everything changes when he invents a “smart gnome” named Norbot, who can help Gromit in his garden and perform other tasks around the house. When Feathers hacks Norbot, it leads to a hysterical army of angry robot gnomes and a battle between the old-fashioned Wallace & Gromit and the future. Built on a foundation of comedy that comes from the silent era, this is just beautifully structured, a perfect rhythm of plotting and humor that works for all ages. It’s just so comforting to see something this creatively spry and uncluttered in its approach-—there’s something funny about using the human toil required to make stop-motion to tell what’s basically an anti-AI story—but more than anything there are simple charms in this lovely little film, one that gets in, entertains you, and gets out.