Aardman Animations is pretty well renowned for their
extensive catalog of stop-motion animation films and TV shorts, among which are
the fantastic Chicken Run and
legendary Wallace and Gromit. Recently added to their catalog is a show
aimed at a younger audience, but not any more wanting for charm. Shaun the Sheep is centered around a
fairly basic cartoon premise of barnyard animals and their clueless
farmer. Despite being aimed at kids, the
show is universally funny family entertainment, mainly due to its reliance on
cartoon slapstick and visual gags and a complete disregard for spoken
humor. In fact, the entire show’s
dialogue is communicated in grunts and animal noises. So when making a feature length movie
adaptation of a show that only runs for seven minutes an episode, will the
faithful wordlessness translate into consistent comedy? The answer is most assuredly yes.
The film opens on a monotonous week on the farm, with Shaun
and the rest of the sheep going through the daily motions of their lives. One day, Shaun gets the idea to take a break
and devises a plan to put the farmer to sleep so that he and the other sheep
can watch some TV in the farmer’s house.
After a domino trail of ridiculous antics, the farmer is not only
disposed of, but he has ended up in the nearby city, alone and with
amnesia. So it is up to the sheep and
the faithful watchdog Bitzer to bring the farmer back home.
Given that the show is aimed at younger audiences, I was
expecting a bit of a toned down version of what Aardman usually has to offer in
their cinematic exploits. This is only
true in one respect, and that is in the obligatory absence of intelligible
voicework. There are still jokes in the
form of written and other visual gags, and the fact that there is no dialogue
to distract from that only makes those jokes stronger and funnier. The slapstick isn’t reduced in the slightest,
as Aardman uses their singular gifts in animation to create setpieces reminiscent
of the best that Looney Tunes and early Disney had to offer.
And really, that’s the best thing that can be said about Shaun the Sheep. It is a cartoon at its core, and it isn’t
ashamed to be one. Aardman recognizes
that kids don’t need loud noises or constant chatter to stay entertained; with
great timing and some wacky antics, one can tell a great story that people of
all ages can enjoy. Though necessarily
grander in scale than the limited focus of the farm, the story is still
instantly relatable and the characters instantly loveable without the necessity
of telling us to love them. More than
anything, Aardman knows how to evoke childlike joy in a way that has since been
lost to the bygone age of cartoon shorts.
Here’s hoping they keep doing just that.
But in the meantime, Shaun the
Sheep Movie is just as worthy an addition to their catalog as any of its
predecessors.
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