For a certain demographic of society – particular in Great Britain – Feathers McGraw is up there with Norman Bates and Max Cady on the Greatest Cinematic Villains of All Time list. His notoriety is all the more impressive for the fact he never utters a single word in The Wrong Trousers, a seminal work from Aardman Animation featuring their beloved oblivious inventor Wallace and his long-suffering loyal dog Gromit. The nefarious silent penguin was locked up in a zoo for an attempted diamond heist some 21 years ago, so he’s had a lot of time to plot his revenge.

Wallace and Gromit, for their part, have spent the past 20 years working on their various business ventures, as documented in A Close Shave, Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and A Matter of Loaf and Death. But Wallace’s staunch belief in technological supremacy despite the long list of mishaps in his past continues to frustrate poor Gromit. Case in point: Wallace’s latest business venture involves his robotic garden gnome Norbot, who can carry out various odd jobs around the neighbourhood. While the business is an instant success, Wallace carelessly “renovates” Gromit’s prized garden in the process, and the poor pooch is left in the dust as Wallace enthuses about the wonders of his modern tech.

…Which is all very well until Feathers McGraw catches wind of Wallace’s work, and sees an opportunity. A classic revenge tale unfolds, as McGraw assumes control of Wallace’s gnome army and sets about tarnishing his reputation – and retrieving the diamond he stashed before his apprehension.

After the disappointing Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, it’s a relief that the second feature-length Wallace and Gromit adventure (sixth overall) is quite delightful, particularly given that there’s a general feeling of diminishing returns when it comes to a villain comeback story. But the simplicity of Feathers McGraw feels refreshing in the age of endless lore: he’s simply an evil silent penguin. His beady black eyes contain nothing but malice.

Meanwhile, Wallace and Gromit’s classic odd couple dynamic hasn’t really evolved since their 1989 debut; Wallace is a chatty Holme Valley native with grand ideas, and Gromit is the fed-up but loyal side-kick who’s much smarter than his human realises. The joy of Wallace and Gromit comes from this consistency being paired with Aardman’s world-class animation. As in the delightful Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Vengeance Most Fowl demonstrates the beauty of hand-crafted filmmaking, while Mark Burton’s script embodies the homespun charm that the duo have become known for. While Wallace’s obsession with tech and the subsequent failure of this could be read as a warning against overreliance on machines (and indeed AI, which could never produce art this original and charming) it’s been a tenet of the series for decades, and feels true to character rather than an attempt to attain modern relevance.

Packed with sight gags, puns and quintessential Aardman humour (“That’s just an innocent nun out for a pleasure cruise!” a copper remarks on seeing Feathers dressed in a habit captaining a narrow boat) the film remains true to the spirit of the source material, sticking with a simple premise and saving flourishes for the animation, which is as colourful and intricate as we’ve come to expect, particularly when paying homage to the iconic kitchen chase scene of The Wrong Trousers. Teamed with formidable voice talent in the form of Ben Whitehead (who has played Wallace since Peter Sallis passed away in 2017), Peter Kay (reprising his role as bumbling copper Albert Macintosh, in a perhaps unintentional indictment of the British policing system) Lauren Patel (as Macintosh’s hard-working protegeé PC Mukherjee) and Reece Shearsmith (voicing chipper robo gnome Norbot) it’s a cosy, classic Aardman treat, perfect for Wallace and Gromit fans of any age – and Feathers McGraw remains as menacing as ever.