Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

“All's well that ends well, that's what I say!”This article or section contains spoilers for Vengenace Most Fowl, proceed with caution!

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Directed by	Nick Park Merlin Crossingham
Produced by	Richard Beek
Written by	Mark Burton
Distributed by	BBC (UK) Netflix (International)
Release date	December 25, 2024 (UK) January 3rd, 2025 (international)
Running time	79 minutes
Preceded by	Jubilee Bunt-a-thon (2012) A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008; mainline)

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is a British stop-motion animated feature film produced by Aardman Animations in partnership with Netflix and directed by Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. It serves as the fourth non-theatrical Wallace & Gromit film of the franchise. It premiered at the American Film Institute on October 27, 2024 and released theatrically (in select theatres) on December 19, 2024 in Australia, broadcast live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on December 25, 2024 in the United Kingdom, and became available on Netflix internationally on January 3, 2025.

This is the 2nd feature film in the Wallace & Gromit franchise following Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005. It is also serves as Aardman's 10th feature film and Netflix’s second Aardman feature film. It has also become the 6th consecutive Wallace & Gromit film to be nominated for an Academy Award, that being Best Animated Feature, following Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which won in 2006.

Synopsis

"Gromit's concern that Wallace is becoming too dependent on his inventions proves justified when Wallace invents a 'smart gnome' that seems to develop an evil mind of its own. When it emerges that a vengeful figure from the past might be masterminding things, it falls to Gromit to battle sinister forces and save his master, if he fails, Wallace may never be able to invent again!"

Plot

Many years ago, Wallace and Gromit celebrate retrieving the Blue Diamond and capturing criminal penguin Feathers McGraw. Feathers is imprisoned for life in the West Wallaby Zoo for his various crimes, and immediately begins plotting his vengeance against the two.

In the present day, Gromit is bothered by Wallace's increasing reliance on automated technology, which has supplanted nearly every part of their daily routine, including the ability to make a cup of tea or even to just give Gromit a friendly pat on the head. To top it all off, the pair are even further behind on their bills, so Wallace shows Gromit his latest invention, a robotic garden gnome called Norbot, which he proposes as the centerpiece of a new gardening business called Gnome Improvements. He demonstrates by setting Norbot loose in Gromit's garden, where it undoes all of Gromit's careful work to create a more modern look, to Gromit's annoyance. Gromit is left increasingly dismayed as Norbot seems to take over his role as Wallace's pal.

Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Albert Mackintosh and his new recruit, PC Mukherjee, prepare for the upcoming opening of the Blue Diamond exhibition, the first time the Blue Diamond will be displayed since Feathers McGraw's heist. Though Mukherjee sees ways that Feathers could get past security, Mackintosh insists that Feathers cannot ruin the exhibition as he is still in prison. However, Feathers learns of Wallace's robotic gnome business from the local news and gets an idea. Using contraband items he has collected over the years, he builds an extension device with a hand and uses it to hack into Wallace's computer. He accesses Norbot's programming, turning him evil, before influencing him to create an entire fleet of identical copies.

Upon seeing the newly built Norbots, Wallace sees this development as Norbot taking initiative and happily sets the gnomes loose on the town as part of the Gnome Improvements business. Gromit follows them out of suspicion, but is caught by the Norbots, who trap him in one of their customers' sheds before returning home. Meanwhile, Mackintosh and Mukherjee are inundated with calls from the various customers reporting their items having been stolen, and almost immediately suspect Wallace. Gromit escapes the shed and discovers the Norbots constructing something in the cellar, but they spot him and hide everything before he can inform Wallace. When the police arrive with a warrant to collect the Norbots as evidence, Wallace and Gromit are even more surprised to see the Norbots have completely vanished. Mukherjee confiscates the rest of Wallace's inventions as evidence to examine.

Without his inventions, Wallace has difficulty making it through his daily routine the next morning. Bothered by the police's accusation, he asks Gromit for reassurance that the Norbots are good, but Gromit is unable to give it, knowing more of the Norbots' evil actions than his owner. Wallace is left even more dismayed when his former customers form an angry mob with the press outside his house, accusing him of being an evil inventor. Gromit decides to take the initiative and, after finding the gnomes sabotaged their van, digs up their old motorbike and sidecar. At the station, Mukherjee tries to tell Mackintosh that the evidence does not point to Wallace as the thief, but Mackintosh stubbornly sticks to his initial assumption, while Gromit uses their distraction to sneak in and steal Wallace's "gnoming device" back. Gromit tracks the gnomes across town all the way to the zoo, where he arrives in time to see them emerge in the penguin enclosure in a specially built submarine, freeing Feathers from imprisonment. Feathers spots Gromit and sends the original Norbot to cut off the branch he is standing on, causing Gromit to fall into a lion enclosure. However, the fall also resets Norbot's settings, turning him from evil back to good. Gromit takes him back with him after escaping the enclosure.

Gromit uses the gnoming device to track Feathers, initially believing him to be headed for the museum to get the Blue Diamond during the exhibition opening. However, he, Mukherjee, and Mackintosh discover upon the police opening the vault that the Blue Diamond is not, in fact, in the museum, having been swapped for a turnip at some point prior to being stowed. Gromit realizes that Feathers has actually gone to their house, and rushes home only to find Wallace already tied up, and is quickly subdued by the Norbots. Meanwhile, as Mackintosh storms out of the ceremony bemoaning his humiliation in front of the whole town, Mukherjee questions if they should interrogate Feathers as he was the last to have the diamond. Mackintosh realizes the diamond was actually last in Wallace's possession, and the two officers set off for Wallace's house. At the house, Feathers reveals himself to the two and reveals he had swapped the Blue Diamond for the turnip during his initial capture, hiding it in Wallace and Gromit's long-unused original teapot. Wallace astutely discerns that this had been Feathers' plan from the beginning: to discredit Wallace and frame him for the diamond's theft, which Wallace declares to be "vengeance most foul!" Feathers and the Norbots imprison Wallace and Gromit in their closet before setting off for their escape.

Wallace bemoans their situation, blaming himself for inventing things with good intentions and not realizing they could be used for crime and wrongdoing. The reset Norbot comes into the closet to return their leaf blower and retrieve a vacuum cleaner. Though they are unable to get him to free them, Gromit is able to use the leaf blower to propel them out of the closet―grabbing Norbot along the way―and out onto the street, knocking over Mackintosh just as he and Mukherjee arrive. Wallace, Gromit, and Norbot give chase, followed closely by Mukherjee and Mackintosh on bicycle. The three follow Feathers to the canal, commandeering Mackintosh's retirement narrowboat and chasing him along the water, though the chase proves comically slow due to the narrowboats' limited speed. As the other Norbots try to fight them off, Gromit convinces Wallace to invent something on the spot that could help them defeat Feathers. Wallace creates a catapult that turns Mackintosh's boots into boomerangs, allowing them to remotely reset the Norbots. Mukherjee spots Feathers and, choosing to trust her gut instinct that Wallace is innocent, abandons the stubborn Mackintosh while summoning the rest of the force to help stop Feathers from escaping.

Feathers makes a stop at a repair shop, upgrading his boat to faster speeds, but Gromit manages to lasso a rope between the two narrowboats to keep them connected, using a winch to bridge the gap. Meanwhile, Wallace gets thrown off their own boat and ends up getting dragged along in a makeshift jet-ski, causing destruction along the countryside in the process (including accidentally stealing The Farmer's vegetables). Gromit manages to jump onto Feathers' boat and the pair engage in a fight as the narrowboat crosses the aqueduct towards the Yorkshire border. However, the police shut the gate, so Feathers has the boat jump the aqueduct's barrier in a last-ditch effort to escape, leaving Gromit clinging for dear life from the bow of the boat. Gromit reveals he has seemingly managed to grab the bag with the Blue Diamond, so Feathers mimes an offer to help Gromit survive if he gives him the diamond. Wallace pleads with Gromit to do so, saying he can live without inventing but cannot live without "me best pal!" Gromit, moved to tears, willingly surrenders the bag. However, Feathers quickly betrays him by jumping off the boat and escaping on a passing freight train. As the boat falls, Gromit makes one last attempt to escape by grabbing Wallace's hand, but just misses and nearly falls to his death in the fiery explosion below, only to be rescued at the last second by the gnomes.

Wallace and Gromit celebrate Gromit's survival, but Mukherjee and the recently-arrived Mackintosh are at first left disappointed as Feathers has escaped with the diamond. Just as Feathers tries to gloat his victory, he is shocked to discover the bag actually contains a turnip. Gromit slyly reveals to everyone else's delight he had done what Feathers did years before and swapped the Blue Diamond for one of the turnips Wallace took from the Farmer. Feathers collapses on the floor of the flatbed truck in defeat as the train disappears into a tunnel for parts unknown. Wallace and Gromit return the diamond to the authorities, Wallace's name having been cleared, and Mackintosh praises Mukherjee for trusting her instincts. With Mackintosh's retirement, Mukherjee assumes his role as Chief Inspector and resumes the hunt for Feathers. At home, Wallace prepares a pot of tea himself for a non-automated breakfast in the garden with Gromit, who has accepted the Norbots into their home and observes as they restore the garden to Gromit's liking. Wallace remarks to Gromit that there are some things machines can't do and gives Gromit his long-awaited pat on the head, before the two best friends sit down and share a cup of tea.

Cast

• Ben Whitehead as Wallace
• Peter Kay as CI Albert Mackintosh
• Lauren Patel as PC Mukherjee
• Reece Shearsmith as Norbot
• Diane Morgan as Onya Doorstep
• Adjoa Andoh as Judge
• Muzz Khan as Anton Deck
• Lenny Henry as Mr. Convenience
• John Sparkes as The Farmer
• Victoria Elliott, John Sparkes, Jon Glover, Maya Sondhi, Bethan Mary-James, Tom Doggart, Richard Beek, Merlin Crossingham, David Holt, Lizzie Waterworth, Adrian Rhodes and Roman Kemp as Additional Voices
• Gromit
• Feathers McGraw
• Mrs. Suzanne Mulch
• Mr. Caliche
• Mr. Leaching
• Mr. Windfall
• Mrs. Windfall
• Mr. Reg Mulch (picture cameo)

Production

Development

The film began as a pitch for a short (some considered making it a two-parter) about Wallace inventing a group of robotic gnomes to help around the house. Nick Park found the concept lacked some of the darkness that the franchise had become known for, and that the story needed a villain with a personal vendetta against Wallace and Gromit. This gave him the idea to bring back Feathers McGraw, a character he had previously mulled reviving but could never come up with a good enough reason.

On the 20th of January 2022, Aardman Animations announced a new 70-minute film based on Nick Park's Wallace & Gromit franchise would be streaming on Netflix, except for in the United Kingdom where it would first air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on December 25, 2024. It would star Ben Whitehead and be directed by Park and co-directed by Merlin Crossingham.

In 2024, its new title Vengeance Most Fowl was announced. On 7th June 2024, it was announced that Feathers McGraw from The Wrong Trousers was going to return in the film as he would seek revenge on Wallace and Gromit for the way that the duo stopped him from robbing the museum. It was also announced that Peter Kay was going to return as PC Mackintosh, who is now promoted to chief inspector.

Gallery

Posters

Trailers

Feathers McGraw returns in Wallace & Gromit- Vengeance Most Fowl 🐧 -WallaceandGromit

Wallace & Gromit- Vengeance Most Fowl - Official Trailer - Netflix

Cracking Toast, Gromit! 🍞 Film Clip 🐧 Wallace & Gromit- Vengeance Most Fowl

Behind the scenes

The Accrington Queen's model on display in Japan in 2025

Trivia

• This is the first film to not feature Peter Sallis, Wallace's original voice actor, as he passed away on June 2nd, 2017. He is instead voiced by Ben Whitehead, who previously voiced him in three video games, commercials and other projects like Wallace & Gromit's Musical Marvels.
• This is the first streaming film in the franchise.
• This is the first film to not have music solely composed by Julian Nott. However, multiple composers, including Lorne Balfe, did additional composition for Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
• This is the first film since The Wrong Trousers to not feature a love interest for Wallace.
• This is the first film to use the 1997 BBC logo instead of the 2021 BBC logo in the end credits. This might have been a mistake because the 2021 logo can be seen in the beginning of the film.
• The Farmer from Shaun the Sheep makes a brief cameo in this film, in which he expresses frustration at Wallace for crashing into his vegetable trolley. He was also present as one of townsfolk whose garden stuff gets stolen by the Smart Gnomes (where only his mouth is visible as the rest is covered by a protest sign) and at the museum when Mackintosh is giving his speech.
• According to Muzz Khan on Twitter, Aardman Animations asked Ant & Dec for permission for Anton Deck's name, to the point that they are given special thanks in the film's credits.
• The scene at the border includes a nod to the Yorkshire-Lancashire rivalry, also known as the Roses rivalry due to dating as far back to the War of the Roses (1455-1487) fought between the House of York and House of Lancaster.
• The Yorkshire border has a sign reading "No Parkin'". This is a stealth pun referring to the "Parkin" cake, a gingerbread cake associated with Yorkshire and Lancashire, made with oatmeal and black treacle.
• The Snoozy Choc, which previously appeared on a poster in The Wrong Trousers, makes its proper debut in this film.
  • It was originally meant to appear in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, in a deleted scene where Gromit, similar to the Norbots, serves Wallace an especially saturated cup; in this case, to stop him from singing all night.
• The St George's Church can be seen near the river during the climax.
• The scene where Feathers is sitting in a chair holding a white seal in his lap is a reference Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond films who often is seen with a white cat in his lap.