Not just for children. It’s adult friendly too.
| Direction: | Will Becher, Richard Phelan |
| Screenplay: | Mark Burton, Jon Brown |
| Cast: | Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Amalia Vitale |
| Length: | 87 minutes |
| Rating: | U |
As the eighth film release to be produced by Aardman Animations, ‘A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon’ follows in the hallowed stop-motion clay animation fingerprints of other feature films ‘Chicken Run’, ‘Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ and the first ‘Shaun the Sheep Movie’, which made over £100million worldwide and received Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations.
Unsurprisingly, ‘Farmageddon’ is yet another jewel in the Aardman crown. Painstakingly realised and beautifully crafted, expect more nominations during the upcoming awards season. Due to a catalogue of critical success, one could almost become complacent that every Aardman project will deliver as before. But they have. A remarkable achievement.
Reminiscent of the story from the 2011 film ‘Paul’, ‘Farmageddon’ follows Shaun the Sheep (Fletcher) and the rest of the flock on Mossy Bottom Farm as they try to help an extra-terrestrial called Lu-La (Vitale) get back home after crash landing nearby while having some fun along the way. Meanwhile, a sinister government agency is at work trying to find the poor alien as soon as the UFO lands in rural England at the opening.
Featuring both slow-motion and time lapse sequences, the amount of moving parts in this film is seriously impressive. Each character, human, animal, extra-terrestrial and technological, has their own personality and agenda so we can recognise ourselves in them. From the hapless farmer and his money making schemes to the serious farmer’s sheep dog Bitzer (Sparkes) and his overbearing rules and regulations, even the secret government agent, the supposed villain of the piece, and her relentless pursuit of the extra-terrestrial is granted an emotional backstory that we can relate to.
With a swirling score that would befit any Hollywood live-action science fiction action-adventure, ‘Farmageddon’ is packed with hilarious visual gags delivered with brilliant comic timing. Blink and you’ll miss them. With exciting set pieces, from farm to town and supermarket to secret government facility, this animation benefits greatly from expert sound design for what is essentially a silent film. Who knew sheep could be so funny?
While children will no doubt be enthralled by the colourful visuals and sound effects the most, adults will enjoy the various in-jokes and homages to other works from the science fiction hall of fame such as ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ and ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ to name but some.
Since its creation almost 50 years ago, Aardman Animations has won four Oscars and shows no signs of slowing down with a sequel to ‘Chicken Run’ set to be released next year 20 years after the original. After the success of this sequel, anything is possible.
‘Farmageddon: A Shaun The Sheep Movie’ is in cinemas now.
In Scotland I attended Dunfermline High School from 2010 to 2016 and Edinburgh Napier University from 2016 to 2020, emerging with two Advanced Higher and five Higher qualifications from the former and graduating with an undergraduate bachelor of arts honours degree in journalism from the latter. After two years away from further education due to the coronavirus pandemic, I'm going to be studying the MFA Photography course at York St John University in England from 2022 to 2024. I've achieved The Duke of Edinburgh’s (Bronze) Award and received grade five level certification for electronic keyboard from Trinity College London. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, writing, watching television series, listening to music and going to the cinema as well as catching up with friends, travelling by railway and hostelling overnight and overindulging in food and drinks in a pub or restaurant then having to go to the gym to burn it all off again.
By studying journalism and photography, my aim of practicing photojournalism professionally will hopefully be once step closer. Both are partial artforms requiring the rest of the work to be undertaken by the audience, the specialism of photojournalism, however, providing each of its two parts with greater context. Exploring photographic techniques (aerial, timelapse, editing) through a variety of journalistic styles (features, poetry, songwriting) will allow me to develop my portfolio, hone my camera skillset and narrow my focus further in anticipation of working life. Without a global pandemic to deal with this time. Fingers crossed.
