“Well written, and entertaining enough to keep the children happy.”
SPOILER FREE Have Aardman ever let us down? With the genius of Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run and then Shaun The Sheep spinning-off to CBBC, we’re now presented with the latest feature produced by Aardman. The film begins beautifully, showing photos of Shaun with the farmer that takes care of him – we’re immediately transported into a world that is sentimental at heart, but with many grounds to do so. If there’s something that Aardman has always done right, it’s the ability to make it’s audience really feel for its characters and sympathise with everyone – even the bad guys! For its short 80 minute duration, there is a complete absence of dialogue – all actions by characters are portrayed through facial expressions and grunts – so effectively, it’s a silent movie. The film does a remarkable job at holding your attention throughout its duration despite the fact that no dialogue is uttered – it’s the film’s narrative that keeps you interested and never ceases to let you go.
I haven’t seen much of the CBBC show, so my thinking is that the film is more aimed at children that it is at families – due to this fact, I can’t say that I enjoyed the film or thought that it worked as well as Wallace and Gromit or Chicken Run, but nonetheless it definitely made me laugh as much. After Shaun escapes to the big city – the farmer is diagnosed with amnesia and is convinced that he is some kind of celebrity hairdresser, therefore forgetting his actual duties. Due to the stories sheer-bonkers story, I can understand why the film may not everyone’s cup of tea, but its certainly charming nonetheless. The film’s villain is a man from Animal Control who’s job it is to catch loose animals and put them in cages, and he certainly fits the film very well – enough to scare the youngest of children anyway. The film win’s me over because I was on the side of Shaun all the time – with the times that he was upset, I wanted to cry and through other issues, all you want is for him to succeed. You can really feel the effort that Aardman have go through with ‘Shaun The Sheep’ to make it as engaging as possible, and it definitely succeeds.
I’m aware that I’m not the target audience, and due to this fact I don’t think I enjoyed the film as much as I was hoping to. That’s not to say that there’s anything really wrong here, because there isn’t. It’s smart, funny and very enjoyable – if you’re a parent, you won’t want to miss this.
★★★
Hudson-Cook 