A Shaun The Sheep Movie Farmageddon movie review

MOVIE TITLE: A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

Coming to theaters in the USA on December 13, 2019

RATING: G

LENGTH: 1 hour, 26 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B-

IN A NUTSHELL:

Picture a Shaun The Sheep – The Movie version of E.T.,The Extra-Terrestrial with no dialogue, and you’ve got this animated stop-motion comedy that is the first feature length sequel Aardman has ever made. In case you don’t remember, Shaun The Sheep – The Movie actually received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature about 4 years ago, earning over $100 million in box office ticket sales alone.

This adorable clamation film directed by Richard Phelan and Will Becher, was going to be released last spring in the USA but was delayed until December 2019.

While I absolutely adored the Wallace & Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures shorts, the Aardman feature films always leave me a bit disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, this movie is super cute, but it just didn’t hold my attention.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Very young children will be entertained, but older kids and parents will quickly tire and become bored.
It’s very sweet.
There are a few times when it’s helpful to be able to read things on the screen. Young children will miss those visual gags and story points.
Some creatures are in perilous situations, but the tension is never very high.
Just in time for Christmas merchandising. How can you resist?

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THEMES:

Friendship
Bullying
Self-confidence vs. shame
Adventure
Family

THINGS I LIKED:

The stop motion animation is impressive, as always. There are always plenty of cute things to look at in each frame.
There is a lot of humor through visual gags and adorable sound effects.
Unusual for stop motion, a tiny bit of CGI is used to make Lu-La’s floppy ears look sparkly when she’s doing something magical.
The song that plays on the farmer’s radio is called Forever Autumn (From Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of “The War of the Worlds”).
There are some visual and audio gags only adults will appreciate. For example, some buttons are pushed that make the musical theme from the movie Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (Original Version) I doubt very many kids have ever seen that movie.
Unusual for stop motion, a tiny bit of CGI is used to make Lu-La’s floppy ears look sparkly when she’s doing something magical.
Keep watching past the end credits for one final musical gag.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

I’m surprised more creativity wasn’t used to design the alien Lu-La. She just basically looked like a blue dog.
Many of the references offer a respectful nod to the magic of Spielberg; however, some moments and even characters seem like rip-offs from movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Wall-E
The musical montages seem a bit out of place with the rest of the film.

OTHER MOVIES LIKE THIS YOU MIGHT ENJOY:

Shaun The Sheep – The Movie