SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE – The Review

The most entertaining animal story since BABE, SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE is this summer’s sleeper for kids and their parents, a terrific and hilarious movie that takes a lot of risks and makes them all pay off. The modelmakers and stop-motion animators at Aardman studios have created a witty, high-spirited adventure literally out of clay with lovingly rendered detail and the same type of visual hijinks that made their Wallace & Gromit shorts such classics.

Shaun  the sheep and his farmyard pals at Mossy Bottom Farm have settled into a dull routine. One day, Shaun decides things need to liven up, so he distracts sheepdog Bitzer (clearly from the same litter as Grommit) and traps the farmer in a trailer with the intent of allowing his entire flock to take a day off from their mundane lives. But disaster on a steep hill leads to the farmer being hospitalized with amnesia. It’s soon up to Shaun, his sheep friends, Blitzer, and snaggle-toothed stray pooch Slip, to venture to the big city and find their owner. Through a wacky series of incidents, the farmer uses his intuitive sheep-shearing experience to find accidental fame as ‘Mr. X’, a trendsetting hairdresser while Shaun and his pals are thrown in animal jail by power-crazed Trumper, a fearsome Animal Control Warden.

Did you notice I didn’t identify any of these character’s celebrity voices? That’s because there are none. There is no dialog, a choice that forces its producers to push the story in inventive directions. Also refreshing is the film’s lack of nods to pop culture. Aside from one gutbusting gag involving a feline Hannibal Lecter, SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE could have been made many decades ago. In fact, it often feels like a tribute to the great silent comedies with squealingly funny, exquisitely timed, sight gags. These include bits of business that incorporate sheep disguised in charity shop clothes, a horse costume in which Trumper gets his head gets stuck in its butt, and a running gag involving characters falling asleep while counting sheep.

SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE’s style and tone will be endearingly familiar to those who have seen the level of invention on display in Aardman’s other stop-motion features THE CURSE OF THE WERERABBIT, CHICKEN RUN and PIRATES BAND OF MISFITS, but I think this is their best effort yet. Based on a series of shorts (there’s been over 150 episodes!) everything about SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE, from the vividly detailed models and figurines to the gallery of memorable supporting characters is astonishing and it’s a wonder to know that each frame of this film was handmade, not orchestrated by a computer. Many of the laughs stem from the intrinsically peculiar appeal of claymation — something about a raised eyebrow or other subtle bit of expression just seems funnier at the stop-motion speed of claymation. INSIDE OUT may have some competition for this year’s animation Oscar after all – SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE is highly recommended.

4 1/2 of 5 Stars