Shaun the Sheep Movie

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Under the Radar

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Released back in 2015, 'Shaun the Sheep' proved to us that sometimes less is more, and provided the world with a wonderful, down-to-earth, feel-good movie for the whole family. There's nothing that especially stands out about this title, but that's sort of what's so good about it. This is one of those "comfort food" movies you might watch if you're stuck at home, bored, and really need a pick-me-up. Incidentally, one can find it on Prime for the low, low rental price of a mere 99 cents. The price is most definitely right for what it is!

Stemming from the British animated series (also found on Prime), the film's central focus is Shaun (Justin Fletcher); a young sheep who lives alongside his flock at Mossy Bottom Farm. The routine on the farm is very much the same daily grind, and Shaun decides out of boredom that he needs a day off. A plan is made to have the farmer (John Sparkes) sleep through the day, but the flock ends up stashing the farmer in a trailer that rolls into the big city, while the farmer's loyal dog, Bitzer (also John Sparkes), chases after it. The farmer is eventually bonked on his head, causing memory loss, and through a series of events finds himself as a celebrity barber, derived from a vague memory of shearing.

Meanwhile, the sheep find life too difficult at the farm without the farmer, so they all put on human disguises and head into town to look for him. Along the way, the flock eventually reunites with Bitzer who wants to find the farmer even more than they do, so he's happy to help despite the fact that he's upset at them for letting things happen. However, they also come across a maniacal animal catcher named A. Trumper (Omid Djalili), who Shaun, Bitzer and the other sheep have to constantly dodge while trying to reunite with the farmer. That's basically the gist of things - it's what I might call a fun Sunday afternoon adventure.

I'm only really speaking for myself here, but I'd be hard-pressed not to say "yes" to an Aardman animation title for a simple pick-me-up. One might be more familiar with their 'Wallace and Gromit' titles, or 'Chicken Run', but much of the time their style is unmistakable. Those exaggerated mouths tend to sort of be the trademark of the company. In any case, these guys know how to put a smile on my face with their cheery, family-friendly material that has just a dose or two of adult humor. In one scene here, involving the City Animal Shelter, there's a cat with a cone around its neck doing a Hannibal Lector impression, but it can't possibly be scene as creepy because it's so funny.

As far as its Oscar nomination goes, it lost to Pixar's 'Inside-Out', but most people saw what the lineup was and even though I love 'Inside-Out', even I have to admit it was far too obvious that year. Of course, that's not to say any of the other films were bad at all. But consider 'Inside-Out' which everyone and their mother's still know about vs this title, Ghibli's 'When Marnie Was There', 'Anomalisa' and 'Boy and the World'. Does anyone reading this remember any of them, other than perhaps the Ghibli title? Anyway, I daresay this could have been a solid runner-up, but I'm still upset that somehow 'The Peanuts Movie' got diddly-squat that year! But I digress.

Whether this received any major awards or not, this is still well-worth the watch, especially if you need some cheering up. It's got an upbeat soundtrack to it, the atmosphere is mainly pretty bright and cheery, it provides quite a few laugh out loud moments, and it amazingly does everything without any speech at all. There are voices, yes, but the communication here is all done with gibberish, grunting and body language. Part of the brilliance of this film is that you understand exactly what's going on at any given time and there's absolutely no dialogue. Once again, it just goes to show that sometimes less is more. I highly recommend this ray of sunshine to provide anyone with light on these dark days.

​5/5

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