What is the new Wallace and Gromit movie worth on Netflix? [critique]

The iconic duo created by Nick Park in the 80s resurfaces with a stop-motion film of dazzling technical mastery. But in seeking to please everyone, Wallace and Gromit: The Palm of Vengeance loses a little of its English DNA.

It has already been twenty years since Wallace and Gromit were no longer entitled to a feature film (The Mystery of the Were-Rabbit, 2005). An outrageous situation for the two stars of the English studio Aardman, who is relaunching the machine with a film only visible on Netflix, contract obliges.

Nothing has really changed for the absent-minded inventor and his guardian angel dog, still caught up in the daily grind until adventure falls into their lap. The trouble begins with a robot garden gnome (superb design, charming and scary) developed by Wallace, in order to spare Gromit from playing landscaper.

The latter didn't ask for that much, hated the automaton and sensed his master's dependence on his fanciful inventions. When the garden gnome begins to go off the rails under the influence of their old enemy, the Machiavellian penguin Feather McGraw (although he's in trouble at the zoo), the whole town pays the price…

Seduction operation

Released last year, Chicken Run: The Nuggets Menace was already a good indicator of the level of technical perfection achieved by Aardman in animation in stop motion. The Palm of Vengeance confirms the growing mastery of the studio: the attention paid to every detail borders on maniacal and the film, fluid like a cartoon, would almost make you forget that its characters are made of modeling clay.

A work of art serving a scenario rich in bizarre ideas, however quite lazy in terms of twists and turns. The surprises come especially from Feather McGraw, an incredible scene-stealer whose comic potential seems decidedly infinite. But The Palm of Vengeance must also confront another, more pernicious enemy: we feel that its nature as a Netflix family feature forces it to try to please an international audience.

Faced with this attempt to cast a wide net, the British humor and the obsession with crackers which were the charm of the saga are asked to leave the scene. Surely the biggest limitation of this show of gifted craftsmen, which nevertheless manages to maintain the flame of old-fashioned animation while anchoring itself in the present.