Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom
Aardman Animations first introduced the character Shaun the Sheep in the 1995 Wallace and Gromit short film A Close Shave. The smart, mischievous sheep got his own tv series in 2007. That was spun off into 2015’s Shaun the Sheep Movie and its 2019 sequel A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (both Oscar nominees for Best Animated Feature). Now the stop-motion, dialogue free, physical comedy and sight gag heavy franchise gets its third big screen adventure, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. This is a Halloween themed story where Shaun and his flock must save the day after our too-clever-for-his-own-good hero inadvertently turns their farmer into a hairy beast.
The stories are simple, told through grunts, animal noises and facial reactions. Shaun is constantly causing trouble while trying to make things better, usually resulting in chaos for the farmer and his animals. It is no different this time. There are a few minor pop-culture references (lots of homages to 1931’s Frankenstein), but this is mostly a breezy, silly, family-friendly comedy that will probably be more successful at home than it will be in multiplexes filled with much louder movies.
With Halloween approaching, Shaun and the rest of his flock plan to carve their impressive pumpkins. When Farmer accidentally crushes all of the pumpkins while trying to ask out the local vet, Shaun creates a potion to make their seeds grow into massive pumpkins overnight. Unfortunately, the bottle he uses to store said potion used to contain the farmer’s hair tonic and you can likely guess how that turns out for poor Farmer. Now the sheep and Farmer’s dog Bitzer must figure out how to get things back to normal.
If you didn’t already know what you were in for with The Beast of Mossy Bottom, you will get the idea in the opening scene when a bunch of sheep stagger out of a barn doing the dance from the Thriller video. I have always found stop-motion animation to be charming. Something about the care it takes to design each frame gives these projects a personal touch. Oblivious inventor Wallace and his loyal dog Gromit may very well be my two favorite animated characters of all time. Shaun and his gang are not on that level, yet it is still enjoyable to see the creativity the animators display in getting across personality, story and jokes without any verbal explanations.
Though the humor is more important than the story, the plot is easy to follow. Can Shaun make everything right? Will Farmer escape the wrath of the townspeople? Will Farmer and Vet realize they both have feelings for each other in time to attend the Halloween Hoedown together? Directors Steve Cox and Matthew Walker are Shaun veterans (making their feature debuts) who know how to maximize the style, gags and characters.
At only 74 minutes (without the end credits), they get in and out before it gets old, tying everything up in a neat little package. Everyone is okay. Nobody learns a lesson. Clearly, Shaun’s well-meaning shenanigans will lead to more turmoil that Farmer will stumble into in the future. This is a sweet monster movie parody that should get all ages chuckling. It is always a pleasure to see anything new from Aardman; this is no exception.
3½ out of 5
Voice Cast:
Justin Fletcher as Shaun
John Sparkes as Bitzer and The Farmer
Nina Sosanya as Vet
Directed by Steve Cox and Matthew Walker
Screenplay by Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow
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