Shaun the Sheep is sheer fun for the whole flock

The best kids’ films entertain children, tickle parents with sophisticated humor, and teach an important moral lesson. Although it doesn’t stand out in any one of these three categories, Shaun the Sheep Movie nevertheless qualifies as good, almost-clean fun for the entire family.

One morning, Shaun and his ovine flockmates wake up weary of their daily routine on Mossy Bottom Farm, a tract of English pastureland tended by the clueless and near-sighted Farmer and his much-beleaguered right-hand dog, Bitzer. As the Farmer lies inside a camping trailer parked on the edge of the farm, the sheep jump one-by-one in front of the trailer’s window, putting the Farmer to sleep. The trailer gets loose and rolls down the highway, crashing on a busy street in The Big City. The sheep-nanigans land the Farmer in the hospital with a head injury and memory loss.

Loyal Bitzer takes off for the city to track down the Farmer. Realizing their quality of life without caretakers is beginning to suffer, the sheep join the search. But a determined “animal containment officer” hinders their efforts, pursuing the sheep through back alleys, a fancy French restaurant (Le Chou Brûlé—The Burnt Cabbage), and a prison-like pound. Meanwhile, the Farmer finds unexpected celebrity as a hair stylist.

Aardman Animations, the studio behind Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run, sticks to the formula that has gained the long-running British television series (140 seven-minute Shaun the Sheep episodes) millions of dyed-in-the-wool fans worldwide: Characters mumble gibberish, no clearly spoken words. The three Naughty Pigs put in an appearance, doing their predictable best to make life miserable for the sheep. And while on the … um … lam, the sheep in disguise move unnoticed among the human populace—stacked three high on each others’ shoulders, draped in a large overcoat, with the sheep on top donning the head of a wet mop for hair.

Knowing their primary audience, the producers of Shaun the Sheep (rated PG for rude humor) do not fail to serve up the flatulence gags and partially exposed “bums” kids evidently demand of cinema. Grown-ups may find the film drags at times, but they will appreciate the luxuriously textured models, the soundtrack’s thematically appropriate song selections, and the film’s sly nods to other movies, like The Silence of the Lambs. In all, Shaun the Sheep scales up well from seven minutes to 85 minutes of fairly non-stop, stop-motion action.

In the end—no surprise—the Farmer, Bitzer, and the flock are reunited on the farm, where Shaun and the sheep acquire a renewed gratitude for the stability of everyday life.