Age Recommendation: All ages, some animated spooky sequences but nothing truly scary. My 4 year old did fine the whole time.
Charlie Chaplin. Buster Keaton. St. Joseph.
These are perhaps the most famous silent figures in history, but another figure is needed to round out the Mount Rushmore of the silent.
I would propose, dear reader, none other than Shaun the Sheep is worthy of that honor. The Wallace and Gromit spin-off has now produced its third feature length film in addition to the TV show, returning to the farm in a Halloween special. Shaun, Timmy, Bitzer, and the rest of the gang all return for what feels more like a lengthy episode of the show, and I mean that in the best way possible.
The premise of the film is fairly straightforward, after the farmer accidentally destroys Shaun’s pumpkin patch, so Shaun goes full mad scientist mode and creates a serum to grow more pumpkins quickly. However, the situation quickly escalates out of control and it leads to the creation of the Beast of Mossy Bottom. The film then follows Shaun and the rest of the farm working to undo his mistake and the town of Mossy Bottom attempting to capture the beast.
There was a lot too love about this movie, namely the lovely claymation that Aardman nails as always. The opening sequence is a great homage to classic monster movies and the iconic Michael Jackson “Thriller” music video. The farmer has a great romantic relationship with the veterinarian that the film does a good job of establishing early, and good grief are they super cute and awkward together, it just makes their whole dynamic very relatable and endearing. The humor is also on point and has a lot of classic visual gags that Aardman does very well, such as making a cat and his owner look exactly the same. There is a great sequence where the animals are holed up in a house and its shot like a horror movie, despite the danger being non-existent. Overall, there’s just a lot of charm and thought put into this movie, and a lot of the time it plays like an homage to classic monster movies.
Let’s talk about the positive messages of the movie. Shaun is a great protagonist who gets carried away by his own ambition, but ultimately apologizes for his mistake and lets his friends help him make it right. Bitzer and Shaun have a great sibling-like dynamic, they often get frustrated with each other but they always end up looking out for the other and often forgive the other. All around, a great cast with lots of good lessons to teach little kids.
My biggest critique of the movie is mostly around its marketing, I had no idea that this movie was coming out until I was asked to write a review on it. Additionally, this film did not get a terribly widespread release, I ended up driving 40 minutes to get to a theater that was showing it. I think its a real shame as the movie clearly had a lot of heart and attention to detail, but it seems like the lowkey animation style of Aardman just wasn’t something that studios were willing to take a big swing on. If GKIDS (the North American distributor) had done a decent ad campaign, I’m sure that it would have paid off big time. Another thing worth noting is there is a two second shot where a wedding is taking place between two women, I barely caught it but it is nonetheless present.
Overall, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom delivers a charming and delightful story that has a lot of humor and a lot of love. You could tell the team at Aardman put a lot of effort into the details and it really shows a level of expertise that they’ve perfected over the years. Timmy got to use a chainsaw AND drive a forklift, so I don’t see how anyone can dislike the charming story that the movie tells. Definitely worth checking out if it is showing in a theater near you, especially with Halloween right around the corner.
Of course don’t take my word for it: Olivia (my four year old daughter) has her review as well.
“I liked it when they tried to go on an adventure and I liked how the farmer had girl hair. I liked the baby sheep, when he was having his teddy bear. I was scared a teensy bit when they do scary stuff, but I would watch it again. I liked it when the curly haired girl was in the animal hospital. It was fun when they carved pumpkins. I liked Shaun the sheep, the three other sheep, and the dog.”
