Review of Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) by Dave C — 02 Jul 2016

Aardman animations tends to fly somewhat under the radar in a universe dominated by the consistently successful Pixar and Disney, but a great film from the animation company should come as no surprise.

I'll go out on limb and say that Shuan the Sheep Movie is one of their best films to date, and certainly should be considered as one of the best to be released in past few years. There are some things that take immediate notice, such as the fact that the film unfolds with almost no dialogue, but the the things that really make Shaun memorable are the more intricate subtleties that lie behind making the sequences work so well without dialogue.

The directors borrow from a the old fashioned world of physical comedy, fusing this with a masterful sense of pacing and ingenuity that requires a few viewings to fully appreciate. The film brings in the familiar company held British flare, but the film never feels out of place with an American audience, cultural references and all (watch out for references to Terminator and Inception... and even Ferris Bueller).

There is also the way the film strays away from the typical hero/villian motif, exchanging the danger for a sense of fun, adventure and some touching scenes of humanity. If there is a villain it would be the animal services worker, but the way he is represented affords him some layered emotional attachment. He is interplayed in to the story as someone who struggles with fitting in and being accepted, a motif that catches the viewer off guard. And these really are the moments that make the film so absolutely wonderful, not just as fun romp but also as a story.

Memorable characters, creative ingenuity with the physical comedy, subtle emotions and an expert sense of pacing come together to make Shaun the Sheep highly worth your time.