Shaun the Sheep Movie

 In 1990, Nick Park introduced the world to the claymation duo of Wallace & Gromit, in their Oscar nominated debut, “A Grand Day Out.” It caught on quick, garnering much love from critics and audiences alike, and because of their success, the two returned in two new shorts, “The Wrong Trausers” and “A Close Shave.” In the latter short, we had more characters introduced, one of which was Shaun the Sheep. Starting off as a supporting character in the short, Shaun's popularity with the masses grew with each passing year, and in 2007 was given his own TV show. It featured Shaun as the leader of a flock of sheep on a farm and their many shenanigans. Simple, but it works.

With how successful the show was doing on BBC, surely it must have been enough to garner a movie, right? Luckily, it did. Earlier this year in February, “Shaun the Sheep Movie” was released in the UK, and recently made it's way to audiences world wide.

In the film, Shaun becomes tired of the usual day to day schedule, so he comes up with a plan to have the farmer sleep in his trailer and let the flock have a rule free day. However, when the farmer's trailer rolls into the city and he loses his memory, it's up to Shaun and the gang to find him, all the while being chased by animal control.

One of the key elements that both the show and movie has is that there isn't any dialogue. My friend, Noah, says that the types of films that he loves to make are visual films, where you can put it on mute and still understand what's going on perfectly. That's what “Shaun the Sheep” is: a visual film. Speaking of which, the animation is spectacular to look at. It's always a treat to see a stop-motion animated film on the big screen, especially from Aardman studios. The design is recognizable, the sight gags are hilarious, and the interactions between characters are very genuine.

I think the only complaint I have with the film is that there wasn't as much done with the villain, A. Trumper of animal control. Not that he was a bad villain, but I just felt like there should have been a bit more with him. Aside from that, there isn't anything else in the film that I didn't like.

Overall, “Shaun the Sheep Movie” is a very likable film to sit back and relax to. It's not the kind of film that's trying to be deeper than it is, it's just a film that does it's job right. It's entertaining, it's funny, and it's great to look at. Not much to say on this one, except go and give it a watch.

Rating: 9/10