Star Rating:

Shaun the Sheep The Movie

Directors: Mark Burton, Richard Starzack

Release Date: Friday 6th February 2015

Running time: 85 minutes

It might feel like a minor release but the latest from Aardman, the studio responsible for Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, and The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, Shaun The Sheep Movie is another triumph.

Fed up with the same old schedule on the farm, Shaun decides to do something different. With the help of the other sheep, the sleeping farmer is locked into his caravan so the flock can enjoy the comforts of the house. However, disaster strikes: the caravan rolls off down the hill and into the Big City, where the farmer is rendered unconscious. He loses his memory and finds celebrity status as a hairdresser to the stars. Meanwhile, Shaun and co. stumble about the city in search, getting into scrapes and avoiding a determined animal catcher.

An adaptation of Aardman’s TV series, which has its own spin-off Timmy Time, Shaun The Sheep The Movie makes the brave decision to resist the temptation to rope in celebrity voices and stick with the TV show’s format of no dialogue - grunts, growls, ‘nyus’ (?) are the order of the day. Not that dialogue is needed: Shaun is a very much a visual thing but credit to directing team of Mark Burton and Richard Starzack for making light work of task, keeping the volume of sight gags coming at an impressive rate. Scenes in the restaurant, the hairdressers and the animal containment unit are a hoot.

Burton and Starzack are making their directorial debut, but it’s the former that is the more experienced, writing Madagascar, Gnomeo and Juliet, Aliens In The Attic, and TV’s Spitting Image. It’s these two that are calling the shots with Aardman main man Nick Park only an ‘executive producer’, which means he has little creative input.

Maybe this is why Shaun, while exhibiting those recognisable Aardman traits - it’s cute, cuddly, and occasionally very funny with a humour that appeals to all ages – there are some sequences here that aren’t quite in the same vibe as Wallace, Pirates et al. Maybe that’s down to the soundtrack. The montages set to pop songs (Kaiser Chief’s Nick Hodgson pens Eliza Doolittle’s 'Big City' and the power pop 'Feels Like Summer', performed by Ash’s Tim Wheeler, don’t quite feel like Aardman. Primal Scream’s Rocks Off certainly doesn’t.)

But this won’t disappoint Aardman’s fans. Now we all need is a Feathers McGraw movie.