From Nick Park, the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run comes A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon. Shaun the Sheep is a long running British stop-motion animated television program that to date has lasted six seasons, one television special, and two feature length films with Farmageddon being the second film in the franchise. There has also been Shaun the Sheep video games and a live stage show.
In the film, all is normal on Mossy Bottom Farm, that is, until a strange creature from another planet crashes their spaceship nearby and decides to make themselves at home in the barn. Shaun discovers the mischievous alien the following morning and the two start to become friends. After getting into some mischief on the farm, the alien informs Shaun that she took her parents’ spaceship and landed it on Earth. Shaun decided to help the alien get home, but what he doesn’t know is that The Farmer’s sheepdog, Bitzer has followed Shaun onto the spaceship and the three of them will embark on an adventure together.
While all of this has been happening to the town, which has become quickly obsessed with UFO’s and aliens, The Farmer comes up with an idea of opening a UFO and alien themed amusement park named Farmageddon, with the hopes of him raining enough money to be able to purchase a new harvester. The Farmer also hilariously get help from the other animals on the farm to help him build the amusement park.
Seeing stop-motion animation on the big screen was a wonderful experience and great to see, as it doesn’t seem to be done as much anymore. For people that don’t know, Shaun the Sheep does not rely on dialogue from its characters to tell the story but instead the characters make mumbling noises with the occasional word thrown in. But despite all of this, the story is still easy to follow, with stop-motion animation cleverly used to express the characters emotions, and with visual gags as well. I also really enjoyed the references to classic Science-Fiction films and TV shows such as E.T, The X-Files, and Doctor Who.
Farmageddon is a film that has a lot of heart, but it also has a lot of funny moments that will make anyone of any age laugh out loud and will make you want to see what other adventures this sheep and his friends will get up to next.
A Shaun the sheep Movie: Farmageddon is out in all good cinemas now.