January 11, 2025 – If you are familiar with Aardman Animations films such as the “Chicken Run,” “Shaun the Sheep” and “Wallace & Gromit” movies, you will not be surprised by how this film plays out.

Aardman dates back to 1970s TV productions in England (it is based in Bristol) and Wallace & Gromit date back to a 1989 short film, but the Aardman feature length theatrical releases more familiar to Americans are much more recent. The most recent feature length film in this series was “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” (2005).

In this movie, Gromit (a humanized dog) is getting a bit tired of Wallace's many fantastical Rube Goldberg-type inventions. These elaborate devices include a machine with an arm and a hand made to pet Gromit far too hard on his head. One way for Gromit to get away from these contraptions is by gardening, and he has created a very fine English garden.

One day Wallace unveils his latest contraption, a gardening garden gnome he calls Norbot. His intention is supposed to help Gromit. It is an incredible device which seems able to do just about anything, an all-purpose robot. While Wallace and his neighbors are all impressed by Norbot, Gromit feels it has ruined his carefully tended garden. The gnome causes such a sensation that TV reporters show up at the house to do a story about it and Wallace, while Gromit is pushed into the background.

The TV coverage attracts the attention of a criminal mastermind, Feathers McGraw, a penguin who has languished for years behind bars after being apprehended by Wallace and Gromit. McGraw sees a way to use Norbot to get his vengeance, as well as to reacquire the famed blue diamond he had stolen shortly before being foiled by Wallace and Gromit.

McGraw's scheme is ridiculously complex, involving reprogramming Norbot to create an army of minions to serve him. I won't get into the whole thing here, but it involves a submarine, a water escape by canal boat, and framing Wallace for a series of thefts.

Police Chief Inspector Albert Mackintosh is completely fooled by McGraw's elaborate schemes, but and his new recruit, PC Mukherjee thinks maybe Wallace is innocent, and something else is afoot. Wallace is also clueless about what is happening. As usual in such stories, Gromit is who figures things out first, and saves the day, along with some very timely help.

This movie is lighthearted fun. While the plot is a little too cluttered, and could stand some tightening, this is yet another enjoyable Aardman production. This film rates a B.

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