A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

While Aardman’s feature film output is generally uneven for the most part, one of their better films is Shaun the Sheep Movie, a film based on the Shaun the Sheep stop-motion series spinning off from Wallace & Gromit. I had first heard about a sequel, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (Farmageddon), through a trailer in front of a screening of Early Man, however I was unable to watch it because it distributed through Netflix in the US and I do not have an account. That changed, however, after the US received a home video release following an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film, though it wouldn’t be until recently that I obtained a copy. While its quality compared with the first film can be debated, it nonetheless retains the same spirit as the original animated series.

A mysterious UFO lands in the town of Mossingham in the woods near a convenience store, its sole passenger lured to the smell of fries dropped by a frightened local. Meanwhile, on Mossy Bottom Farm, Bitzer (John Sparkes) acts overly strict towards the sheep, preventing them from doing most things by placing signs around the farm. While Shaun (Justin Fletcher) has a brilliant plan to sneak a pizza order into a barn where the sheep reside, they are intercepted by Bitzer, only for the boxes to be empty thanks to the alien hitching a ride on the delivery bike. The next morning, Shaun follows a trail of pizza to find the alien, Lu-La (Amalia Vitale), in the barn, who explains that they are from the planet To-Pa and have to get back home.

Much like the original film and the TV series, Farmageddon manages to effectively tell its story entirely visually, with minimal written text to help move the plot forward. Keeping in line with the source material, any dialogue is presented as grunts that vaguely resemble words or noises, giving the visuals more time to shine. As for the story itself, there is a surprising amount of depth for such a simple premise, even including the motivations of main antagonist Agent Red (Kate Harbor). Although the handful of subplots make the plot seem less focused compared with the first installment, they do still contribute to the overall narrative and come together well by the end.

Shaun (Justin Fletcher, left) makes first contact with Lu-La (Amalia Vitale, right).

Fitting for a theatrically-released movie, Farmageddon has a much higher budget than an average 7-minute Shaun the Sheep episode normally would and takes full advantage of it, with some very impressive set design and stop motion animation that improves over the original. Some amount of CG is also present, however it is used very little and even then mainly as a tool, particularly for flashback sequence overlays or to help sell Lu-La’s alien abilities. The lack of any actual dialogue means that a lot more emphasis needs to be placed on body language to carry the intent, which thankfully Aardman excels at here. Given the more visual nature of the story, there are a lot of visual gags, including a good dose of puns and slapstick without relying too heavily on them. Additionally, there are some visual references mainly to other sci-fi works, while some are particularly related to British culture such as the ever-popular Doctor Who.

While there isn’t much to say about the voice acting due to it consisting of vague grunts, I can say that the returning voice actors from the TV series do an amazing job as ever, with the voice cast in general managing to put a lot of emotion into their “dialogue” when needed. While the soundtrack contains some licensed tracks, they are used sparingly, with the background music otherwise lining up with the TV series and leaning into the sci-fi angle of the plot.

If you’re a fan of Shaun the Sheep, then A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is a no-brainer. While I would also recommend watching Shaun the Sheep Movie if you haven’t already, you fortunately do not have to have seen that movie in order to understand this one. If nothing else, much like its predecessor, this film can be viewed as a good exercise in visual storytelling.