Movie Info
Movie Name: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Studio: Aardman Animations
Genre(s): Animated/Comedy/Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Family
Release Date(s): September 26, 2019 (Austria)/October 18, 2019 (UK)/February 14, 2020 (US)
MPAA Rating: G
Seek out new live and new civilizations. Boldly go where no sheep (or dog or bull) has gone before!
Strange things are afoot in Mossingham. A UFO has been sighted over the side and Shaun and the sheep of Mossy Bottom Farm have discovered a visitor from another planet hiding on the farm. Lu-La the Alien has to get back home and Shaun could be his only home. With the government agency Ministry of Alien Detection aka M.A.D. hot on the alien’s tale, Shaun has to get Lu-La to safety. Meanwhile, Farmer John sees the UFO madness as an opportunity for a moneymaker…and Farmageddon is born!
Directed by Richard Phelan and Will Becher, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is a stop-motion family comedy. A sequel to Shaun the Sheep Movie from 2015, the movie was released in 2019 in the U.K. and had a U.S. Netflix early release in 2020. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.
Wallace and Gromit was a fun and clever animated series. The Shaun the Sheep series feels slightly more kid oriented, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable if you are adult or a child.
Welcome to….FARMAGEDDON!!!!
The story has a lot of allusions to other sci-fi stories which could allow many of the jokes to go over the heads of some viewers. There are lots of references to E.T., The X-Files, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind among others…a popped-up burned piece of toast becomes the Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is clever and fun, but the humor works in layers that allows even those unaware of the references to have fun with it.
The oddest thing about Shaun the Sheep (and Wallace and Gromit for that matter) is the odd “dialogue” of the films. While there is no straight talk (there is some music with lyrics under parts of the movie), the film is largely told through grunts, mumbles, and expressions…and it works. Not only do you make a relatively universe story without having to provide dubbing, you really get into the art of storytelling through visuals. While a lot of the story aspects are distinctively English (and therefore other English speaking nations), the movie’s humor is interpretational.
Where else can you get a Tom Baker Fourth Doctor encountering a sheep dressed like a Dalek while coming out of a TARDIS-esque port-a-potty?
The story and odd storytelling combines with the great “Claymation” animation. The stop-motion is clean and cool and just has a weight to it that 3D animated movies just don’t have. I realize that the alien had to look like the poor beleaguered dog Bingo, but I wish it had a different design.
Farmageddon is a fun break from reality. It is light and fluffy, but it is smart…something that movies aimed at children often sacrifice. The Shaun the Sheep films and Wallace and Gromit remind you that a script doesn’t have to loaded with quick quips and so-so wordplay to be fun and smart. I sometimes think that Pixar and Disney could learn a lot from films like this (and films like WALL-E shows where they might have).
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