Review of Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) by Regina P — 22 Jan 2016

In the beginning of this film I feared that it was setting up to be almost a remake of Chicken Run with sheep in place of chickens and boredom instead of fear as the motivation. This did not appeal to me at all because I'm not the biggest fan of Chicken Run in the first place, but Shaun the Sheep only has this idea as the setup for what becomes a much more heartfelt and entertaining film.

For a movie where mumbling replaces all dialogue (you literally can't discern any words in the entire film) I loved how they established the story and created the comedy. It was far funnier than I ever expected and had me laughing through a number of different scenes.

The entire concept is like Looney Tunes logic because there are several scenes where sheep are able to climb into human clothing and convince people that they are human, but it works in the silly world they created for this film.

In all honesty, this was a movie for which I didn't have high expectations. I've never been as enamored with Aardman's stuff as others. I recognize the craft that goes into their films, but have rarely enjoyed the plotlines all that much.

However Shaun the Sheep Movie has more heart than I've seen from most of their other stuff, and it also delivers on the comedy. It's not as if I was moved to tears, but I definitely cared about the characters and was invested in their journey to reunite.

Inside Out gets a lot of credit for being the genius animated film from 2015, and it did have much loftier and bold concepts going on, but I think for families (particularly ones with younger kids) Shaun the Sheep will be a more entertaining experience.