By Sarah Mills
LONDON (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence takes a new twist in Nick Park’s latest “Wallace & Gromit” film, which features a “smart gnome” who goes rogue and offers what the Oscar-winning film-maker said is a lighthearted look at the human use of technology.
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”, to be released this week in some cinemas, is the second feature film about Wallace, an ever-optimistic inventor, and his loyal dog, Gromit.
“We put our trust in tech the whole time. It seems we’re kind of addicted … do we trust those who we think are behind all the tech?” said Park, adding that the film offers a “non-serious” look at the love affair with technology.
Park said Gromit represents the human element.
“He loves gardening. So it does ask questions about why we need something to take away the joy of things we do,” he added.
Although things start off peacefully for the duo in their home in a northern English town, they soon go wrong.
“The straw that breaks the camel’s back for Gromit is when Wallace invents … Norbert, his smart gnome,” said Merlin Crossingham, who co-directed the film with Park, whose loveable duo debuted in 1989 in his hit student short “A Grand Day Out”.
“I have to pinch myself constantly just over the years. How it’s just grown to this point,” Park said of the franchise, which as well as gaining recognition in the United States, has become synonymous with Christmas Day in Britain.
Park mixes modern themes with a simpler-looking time, inspired, he said, by movies made at the Ealing studios in post-war Britain, when life “seemed a bit cosy”.
Along with titles such as “Moana 2” and “The Wild Robot”, the latest Wallace & Gromit film is up for best animation at January’s Golden Globes, the first of the big award shows.
“I think for any artist to be recognised in these ways … It’s an accolade in itself,” Park said.
As well as a limited cinema run from Dec. 18, “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” will be shown on the BBC on Christmas Day in Britain and available on Netflix from Jan. 3.
(Reporting by Sarah Mills; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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