'Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl' Is Just Shy of Eggs-cellence

“I met this six-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face and the blackest eyes – the Devil’s eyes.” Replace “child” with “penguin with a rubber glove on his head,” and this description of Halloween villain Michael Myers would easily apply to Feathers McGraw – a diminutive penguin whose beady black eyes and soft-footed waddle hint at the malevolence swirling inside his plasticine ravine head. He debuted in Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers, where he lodged with Wallace, a Northern English inventor, and Gromit, his loyal, sardonic dog, and threatened to tear apart their friendship in pursuit of a priceless diamond – and like many fan-favorite franchise villains, he’s made a dastardly return.

Vengeance Most Fowl is the first Wallace & Gromit film in over 15 years. While it may be the least accomplished of the Wallace & Gromit adventures, its copious sight gags, and delicious heightened tone are a welcome reminder that the cheese-loving inventor and his faithful hound are still baked into Aardman’s DNA.

For 35 years, Wallace & Gromit has cemented itself as British iconography – their stop-motion hijinks make them far more winning than other British titans like Paddington Bear or the Royal Family. Created by Aardman animator Nick Park in the fledgling days of the Bristol-based animation studio, Wallace, Gromit, their friendship and their contraptions have carried them to the Academy Awards five times, taking home three Oscar trophies and a reputation as Britain’s most invincible cultural icon. Don’t pretend you’re better than the blunt puns and Rube Goldberg delights of their cozy but contraption-enhanced house – their cheeky charm will bowl you over.