Review of Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) by Phil P — 19 Feb 2015

Good ol' 'Aardman' back with another clay-mation delight. this time giving us the world of 'Shaun The Sheep' based on the 'kids' (I put quotes because it's one of those kids things adults can get a kick out of too) TV show about...well a sheep named 'Shaun' and his mischievous escapades with his fellow sheep, the farmer and his dog, 'Biitzer'.

I love me some clay-mation, their previous 'Pirates' and further back still 'Wallace & Gromit' series of movies and shorts are some of the best animated movies (and movies in general) ever made. Masterpieces could be used to describe them and while 'Shaun the Sheep' isn't that, there's certainly plenty to love about it. The premise of the show more or less matches the movie just with a little more to it - to ramp the stakes up. After 'Shaun' gets into some shenanigans and the farmer ends up in the big city - the group go off to find him. Like the show this is largely silent with some bleets and muddled speech for humans. But it doesn't need it, the comedy all comes from the actions and with the great animation from 'Aardman' there's plenty.

It's slapstick at times but it's also full of clever series of events and ridiculous and absurd set-pieces. Managing to elicit a lot of laughs out of silent characters show how strong teh animation and how subtle movements and the writing has to be.

In it's short run time it utilises it perfectly the adventure is swift and when it takes a breather it packs it with jokes. The story like with most things is just a vehicle for jokes and towards the end it gets surprisingly dark compared with the breezy nature of the rest of the film - and to a point normal villain.

While the story isn't much more than it needs to or could be the characters here play as much a part as the humour. You'll quickly get attached to them Shaun and the flocks endearing qualities, Bitzer's stern but lovable personality and teh farmers obliviousness and facial expression are all here to put a smile on your face - and you won't stop, I didn't.

'Shaun the Sheep' brings the small time kids show to the big screen with resounding success. It's still very much in the spirit of the TV show but on a slightly grander scale. The attractive and sleek clay-mation from 'Aardman' is as present here as ever. It's not just good it's great and genuinely sits among Aardman's pantheon of animated master-classes.