I'm a child of the 90s, which means Wallace & Gromit are foundational figures for me – they're one of the all-time duos, and the fact that Netflix has Aardman making another movie with them in starring roles is thrilling. Of course, there's always the risk that it could be underwhelming.
That risk feels like it's just diminished massively thanks to a full trailer for the upcoming Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, which will arrive on Netflix on 3 January 2025. It looks like a brilliant and surprisingly direct sequel to one of the greatest animated movies ever made.
Vengeance Most Fowl will pick up the story of iconic villain Feathers McGraw, the evil and famously beady-eyed penguin who so nearly got away with the heist of the century in The Wrong Trousers. He's been stewing in prison working on a plan to get his own back on the Yorkshire twosome who foiled his plans.
When Wallace invents a new handy helper in the shape of a robotic garden gnome, McGraw looks like he'll seize his chance after breaking out of prison. That might sound like a lot of setup, but I'm confident it'll be brilliant fun to actually watch in the opening scenes of the movie itself.
It looks like McGraw will use some wireless wizardry to take control of that gnome and set him to "Evil" mode, and then eventually get his hold on an army of other helpers – all with the aim of ruining Wallace and stoic old Gromit. Along the way we can surely expect visual gags, slapstick humour and some truly lovely handmade animation.
I haven't been this excited about a Netflix movie in a very long time, and I'll be watching it as soon as I can – which makes it a bit of a shame that it isn't arriving until the new year. I could have seen this being a big hit for families through the holiday period, but Netflix has enough other content to still look strong as potentially the best streaming service right now. Here's hoping Vengeance Most Fowl turns out a little better than Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, too.
