Twenty years after “The Mystery of the Were-Rabbit”, Nick Park is directing a new feature film for the British studio Aardman and Netflix for his wonderful inventor/doggie duo. This time, they will be confronted with the dangers of new technologies…
Could we be witnessing the birth of a new golden age for the Aardman animation studio? This name, which established itself in the 2000s, is currently marking a qualitative return on the Netflix side. After Chicken Run 2 released at the end of 2023, here is a second feature film Wallace et Gromitstill helmed by Nick Park, star director of the Bristol studio and creator of this pair british lighthouse.
Who says new adventure says new threat, in his new era comes new challenges: Wallace, always fond of a little more laziness, is developing intelligent and autonomous garden gnomes that he can rent to the whole city, in order to work and pay the bills for him. And meanwhile, like a Alexander the Blessedhe will drink his tea and pet his dog…
An intelligent threat
It is beautiful to see materialized, by a purely artisanal and manual animation technique (modeling clay), the fears felt by artists with regard to “intelligent” technologies; and even more moving to witness this small demonstration of the limits of their project. Wallace’s dwarves are corruptible tools, put into “malicious mode” by Feather McGraw, penguin and antagonist of this universe.
The rest of the adventures then consist of redoubled inventiveness to counteract the shortcomings of progress and other thefts of this army of gnomes, Gromit then diverting objects from their daily function: an automaton which must prepare breakfast indeed works because he pushes his bowl at just the right moment, boots become projectiles during a chase…
Keep calm and carry on
The emotional relationships between Wallace and Gromit are still the same in this new opus, but as if updated by the questions posed head-on by those of innovation and artificial intelligence. Gromit remains this mute dog who always manages to make his master understand the deceptions that take place behind the scenes, in search of calm and affection.
We also see him reading on two occasions, A place of your own the Virginia Woolf then Paradise Lost by John Milton, two works explicitly analyzing the quest for a suitable place in the world. Through the study of these contemporary contradictions and a happy end reconciler between lazy living beings and controlled robots, artisans and computers, Wallace and Gromit defend the idea that cohabitation is possible, that he would even be the incarnate proof of it. But for how long?
Wallace and Gromit: The Palm of Vengeance by Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham – available on Netflix
Wallace and Gromit: The Palm of Vengeance, on Netflix January 3, 2025
