Displaying items by tag: Ben Whitehead

WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL

Voices of: Ben Whitehead, Peter Kay, Lauren Patel, Reece Shearsmith, Diane Morgan, Adjoa Andoh,Lenny Henry.

Directed by Merlin Crossingham, Nick Park.

Older audiences may remember with joy, 1989, and the first appearance of Wallace and Gromit on our screens, Great Day Out. The villain back in those days was the Penguin, Feathers McGraw. This Wallace and Gromit outing is the sixth – and they won an Oscar in 2005 for Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit.

Audiences have got to know and admire Aardman Studios and their particular style of animation as well as the characteristic voices. Wallace is the traditional British bachelor, self-sufficient, eager with his inventions, but happy to have his dog, not his pet, his friend Gromit sharing the house. But, by this stage, Gromit is feeling somewhat left out, Wallace caught up in his inventions.

However, they do have a moment of glory, capturing Feathers McGraw who has stolen a diamond from the Museum and is now imprisoned, in a zoo. Vengeance is uppermost in Feathers mind.

But, the creativity of this story is that Wallace invents a robot, love of AI, a robot called Norbot, at the service of everyone, all of initiatives, the most rapid achievement of jobs beyond expectations. Gromit is not so impressed, especially the noise that Norbot takes in recharging, Gromit taking the charger outside – and its being linked with Feathers in his prison.

Dastardly results.

Feathers is able to create a whole legion of Norbots, all malevolent, doing the jobs, robbing the customers, creating uproar, and the police, racial backgrounds of Macintosh and Mukherjee, stubborn Scot and eager Indian deciding that Wallace is the criminal. There is also some parody with the media, a reporter called Onya Doorstep, and a television commentator, Anton Deck (based on televisions Ant and Dec).

Poor Wallace in jail. Gromit doing his best to remedy the situation, Norbot rescuing him from a tree, falling and Norbot recovering his benevolently programmed self.

All set for a confrontation, Feathers McGraw trying to make his getaway with the rogue robots, but, of course, Wallace innocent and he and Gromit able to live another day (with Wallace resolving to cut down on his inventions).

And thanks to Nick Park for many decades of entertainment from Aardman, especially with Wallace and Gromit.