by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
I’ve always had a soft spot for animation. More years than not, at least a couple of animated features find their way onto my top 10 list. So, I’m setting out to shine a light on some films that may have passed you by. The idea with Animation Celebration is to take a look at some underseen gems — so no Toy Story or Frozen here.
Let’s get started.
It’s award season, which means it’s time to once again take a look at past Academy Award-nominated features that have flown under the radar.
For the first of a pair of films we’re looking at this year, with Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget releasing recently, it seemed like a good time to talk Aardman Studios’ A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon. It’s one of the studio’s three films to earn a nomination, alongside The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I’ve talked about the studio before when they co-produced Arthur Christmas with Sony, but this is more of a solo outing. It stands as the lone feature directorial efforts for co-directors Will Becher and Richard Phelan, taking over from the directors of the original Shaun the Sheep Movie, Mark Burton and Richard Starzak.
I figured this would be a fun experience on a couple of fronts. As a broad generality, claymation generally just isn’t usually my thing. I also haven’t seen the original movie. As someone who jumped into this with no prior history, I didn’t have much of a problem following things — and that really shouldn’t be much of a surprise. When it comes to Aardman films, it’s more about vibes, wacky hijinks, and pop culture references, and this was no exception. I was quickly clued into the vibe of the setting and the dynamics of the sheep on the farm and their beleaguered sheep dog supervisor. Loosely, we follow the exploits of our titular sheep as he tries to shepherd an alien that crash lands near his farm back home before a severe-looking woman heading up some nefarious organization can get her hands on it.
In the simplest of terms, this is an Aardman film through and through. All the hallmarks are here: the limited dialogue, wacky situations, visual humor, and the very British feel. It’s bursting with charm alongside absurdist humor that makes it very much a movie that will appeal to both kids and adults. Kids will be able to sit back and enjoy the zany antics of Shaun and his fellow sheep, as well as their new intergalactic visitor that answers the question, “What if Blue from Blue’s Clues was an alien?” Heck, even the adults should have fun giving into the insanity. In addition to that, there’s a ton of clever visual humor that will likely go over kids’ heads, like Roswell’s jam, references to 2001: A Space Odyssey and The X-Files, and a fun play on the “Nooooooo!” villain falling trope.
More so than most of even the best of the Academy Award-nominated animated features, the way the film is made puts more focus on the visuals, because the story is pretty basic and dialogue is (with the exception of a very rare word) literally non-existent. Most of the audio coming out of characters’ mouths are nothing but sounds. That means the visuals really drive the storytelling, and with Aardman, they’re always unique. It’s amazing the amount of personality they can generate utilizing mostly facial expressions and grunts, but you really get a sense of our anthropomorphized characters without needing them to speak.
Look, this is a pretty easy recommend for me. If you’ve seen and enjoyed some of Aardman’s other works (regardless of whether the original Shaun the Sheep Movie), you’ll no doubt enjoy this. Even as someone who’s not the biggest fan of the style, the charm is hard to ignore here.
While it’s never going to be my favorite type of animated offering, it’s a must-watch for fans of the studio’s style and humor and could feasibly be a starting point for an Aardman newbie.
I’m excited to continue to geek out on some great animated work you may not have had a chance to catch. For the final underseen Academy Award-nominated feature of this awards cycle, I figured it was high time to tackle the most underseen nominee of all. Check back next month to see what that is.
You can read more from Jake Bourgeois, and follow him on Twitter and Letterboxd