Ever since making his screen debut way back in 1995’s A Close Shave, Shaun the Sheep has eclipsed his old sparring partners Wallace and Gromit to become the unofficial wooly mascot of Aardman Animations. Speaking only in variations of “baa”, his agricultural slapstick hi-jinks have proved as translatable and universal as the silent comedy stars of the early 20th century, turning a plasticine model into an unlikely international hit. (They say he’s big in Japan.)
Now he’s back with his second venture into big-screen sheep-nanigans for another silly, chaotic and extremely British adventure. Where the first Shaun movie ventured only as far as the big city, here Farmageddon sets its sights more ambitiously on the outer reaches of the galaxy, with the introduction of cute bunny-like alien Lu-La. Like all characters in this franchise, she speaks in nonsensical gobbledegook — pure noise and gurgles — but Lu-La is particularly endearing, like a magical floating toddler. She’s an instant hit.
Packed to the barn rafters with visual gags, sci-fi nods, and witty wordplay.
Meanwhile, Shaun’s journey from the fields to the stars is as reliably enjoyable and wacky as the first film. At a time when the national identity feels a little in crisis, Aardman’s understanding of village sensibilities and the dry British sense of humour shines through like a ray of light, and it has enormous fun creating a culture clash between Men In Black-esque spooks and NIMBY-esque locals sorting through the right bins.
Like any Shaun outing, it skews very young — the comedy is mostly slapstick silly and energetic explosions of primary colour. But any Aardman entry promises to be the best of all-ages-appropriate entertainment, with insane levels of stop-motion craft on show. And it’s packed to the barn rafters with visual gags (keep a close eye on the road signs), sci-fi nods (Kubrick would approve) and witty wordplay (the literal bull in a literal china shop is a particular highlight).
