Shaun the Sheep Movie
Director: Mark Burton, Richard Starzak
Writer: Mark Burton, Richard Starzak
Cast: Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Omid Djalili, Richard Webber, Kate Harbour
Seen on: 28.4.2015

Plot:
Shaun (Justin Fletcher) and the sheep are living in a well-established routine with the Farmer (John Sparkes) and Bitzer (John Sparkes). Which was fine for a while, but now it has become really boring for everyone and they have slowly worked themselves into a low. Shaun decides that what they really need is a day off, a little holiday. But his attempt to get the Farmer out of the way for the day work a little too well and end up with the amnesiac Farmer in the Big City. Shaun follows him to save him, but the City is dangerous territory.

Shaun the Sheep Movie is a cute film and rather entertaining, even for adults who don’t have any nostalgic connection to the material (Through my various nieces and nephews I was aware of Shaun the Sheep, but I had never actually seen anything featuring him until this film).

Shaun the Sheep Movie is not some kind of revolutionary cinematic experience, nor is it particularly complex – it knows that its main audience is children and it caters to them above all. Which is perfectly fine. But Burton and Starzak also know that usually small kids don’t go to the movies alone – and so they include quite a few nods and jokes that are obviously for the adults – and they are very nice (like the dog in prison the animal pound that has “bark” and “bite” tattooed on its knuckles).

In short, I have rarely seen a more family friendly film and one with such a benign atmosphere. Yes, there are dangers for Shaun and his friends but even children probably won’t find them very scary. And yes, there are a lot of jokes but I didn’t feel like they were ever at anybody’s expense. At their worst they made fun of the characters in a very loving way that made it clear that the characters’ personalities, while humorous, are also what makes them so loveable.

The character design is also really nice – even the sheep all look different. And I loved the stray dog they make friends with along the way, which is wonderfully and grotesquely cute. The claymation is also pretty awesome – but then that is too be expected from Aardman Animations.

I really enjoyed the film, even though I’m not its intended audience (and I didn’t even have alibi children with me and was all alone at the cinema, so I couldn’t even live vicariously through other moviegoing children). Do you have to see it? No. But you probably won’t regret if you do.

Summarizing: Kids can watch this film on their own, but then adults will miss something.