‘Shaun the Sheep’ is a big bag of fluffy fun

But don’t cry for Aardman Animations: Like all of the company’s pictures, Shaun the Sheep Movie did far better overseas than it did stateside, where American viewers might have been confused by the absence of minions. The animals might be mute for the most part, but they emote with their expressions. Written and directed by Mark Burton and Richard Starzak, there is no dialogue in the film. Wallace and Gromit fans may recognize Shaun the Sheep from the 1995 short film A Close Shave or his self-titled television series.

“That’s what we do”, said Starzak, speaking of Aardman Animation’s unassuming Shaun the Sheep setup in a warehouse on the outskirts of Bristol, where the filmmakers are limited and liberated by their comparatively small resources. We are now experiencing the most over-the-top summer of cinema in recorded history, with new villains threatening to destroy or take over the world every week at the box office, but in the middle of that noise there is a story about a sheep, his arch nemesis, and a clueless farmer that shares a lesson on home and the true meaning of family that everyone needs to hear. Some of the sight gags, hilarious as they are, are a little too predictable, others are merely reworking of classic gags.

It’s a simple, straightforward, charmer of a story set on a farm. It’s genuinely suspenseful and tense and has a finish that is amusing and tense. Beneath its pitch-perfect simplicity, lies great wisdom and beauty. He along with the rest of his flock gets into action. But this transition also provided the characters with a richer emotional life, anchored not in their labor and routine, but rather their familial feelings for each other. He also dotes like an elder brother on the cute little lamb who tags along with the gang to the Big City. So they break out, thanks to interspecies cooperation: bribing a nonplussed duck, letting the pigs be piggish and, of course, incapacitating the Farmer by making him count sheep.

One curious aspect about Shaun the Sheep has to do with anthropomorphism. While it doesn’t quite upset the suspension of disbelief, it does strain it after a while; ironically, it would not have been so hard to accept if the animals could talk. While the children will giggle and enjoy the antics, the adult audiences will be awestruck by the finer nuances of the characters and the homage paid to some older films.

Organiser of the “Shaun in the City” trail are staging the “Great Sheep Round Up” exhibition next month, and tickets for the event will be on sale from 1pm on Tuesday, August 18.