Shaun the Sheep: The Movie DVD review

I think it’s fair to say that the majority of us all have an affection for the hilarious productions from Aardman animation.

We were first introduced to the double act of Wallace and Gromit in A Grand Day Out (1989) although it was quite crude animation at the time. It wasn’t until the unlikely couple appeared in The Wrong Trousers (1993) that they became superstars.

Aardman went on to entertain us with TV’s Creature Comforts and bigger Wallace and Gromit movies followed with A Close Shave (1995) and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).

In between these movies Aardman had attracted the attention of Hollywood and big name stars started to appear in the cast list with actors such as Mel Gibson in Chicken Run (2000) and Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet in Flushed Away (2006).

I was aware of Shaun the Sheep and who couldn’t miss the TV ads and merchandise in the High Street. But as this was shown (or Shaun) at Children’s time on the BBC ‘CBBC’ spot and my kids are all grown up (although that never stopped them from watching kids TV before!) I didn’t really get to see it.

Now we have Shaun the Sheep: The Movie and I’m glad to say that Aardman have not lost any of their trademark comedy values that unites both children and adults.

The Movie opens with a young Farmer and his puppy Bitzur and a team of sheep frolicking in a field to music being played on a portable cassette player. Fast forward a number of years and we see an older Farmer, dog and sheep going through routine chores of being sheared fed and sheared again.

One morning Shaun sees an advert on the side of a double-decker bus travelling from the countryside to the city which promotes relaxing with a cuppa.

Shaun decides to mutiny and the others all follow (well they’re sheep that’s what they do!) and this results in a sleeping Farmer tucked up in a runaway beaten up and out of control old caravan freewheeling all the way to the Big City.

Shaun, Bitzur and the gang follow in hot pursuit to rescue the Farmer who ends up in the city hospital.

This is where most of the laughs come. It’s always a good comedy element to put fish out of water characters into a new and unknown environment and then just light the blue touchpaper and stand back and watch.

There is a really funny scene when the dog puts on a doctor’s mask and green scrubs and is mistaken for a surgeon in an operating room. There are also plenty of other gems for the adults with a prison scene straight out of Silence of the Lambs and a spoof on Taxi Driver and Shawshank Redemption and many others.

There is also a nasty dog catcher just to keep both adults and kids on their toes.

I must say I really liked this film and I thought it was clever by not using any talking but just Grunts, Groans, Oohs! Arrs! and music. So it will translate well in any country.

Special Features:

The Movie ‘Making Of’

Meet the Characters

Behind the Scenes

Video Bomb Interviews

Running time 82 minutes

Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Download

Certificate U

A Foker on Film four out of five stars