It’s amazing how much you can truly do with so very little…

Now on Netflix; A Shaun Of The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon shines the spotlight once again on Aardman Animations and how truly brilliant they can be with a serious of stories where the characters barely say a word.

When an alien with amazing powers crash-lands near Mossy Bottom Farm, Shaun the Sheep goes on a mission to shepherd the intergalactic visitor home before a sinister organization can capture her.

It’s just so damn easy to forget about something that we often either don’t appreciate or just straight up take for granted.  A Shaun Of The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is such a master class in simple comedic timing and execution that we forget about these things until they end up coming back around and smacking us square in the face.

From the team at Aardman; directors Will Becher and Richard Phelan take their first feature efforts and knock it straight out of the park with a fast moving and fun affair.  The film allows for genuine scope while still maintain a level of detail in the stop motion animation that is beyond stunning, it’s actually a little sick.  These films really don’t have any business being as good as they actually are.

With its seamless comedic timing and beautiful simplicity of structure from writers Jon Brown, Mark Burton and Nick Park these films really take the magic of the silent film era and the slapstick comedy of the time and package in a way that is not only slick and smart but incredibly family friendly as it will generate laughs for every generation sitting in front of the screen to take it all in.

Where other animation studios are making projects that are more and more intricate and technically involved the team at Aardman are seemingly going in the opposite direction and keeping to the age old edict of “Just keep it simple stupid”.  The plot is basic but cleverly borrowed and inspired by a myriad of science fiction movies from the 1980’s.  The kids may not get the references but it’s all done in such a beautiful subtle manner that it keeps the adults watching a film like this incredibly engaged in not only the story but the characters as well and while the voice actors working on all these parts don’t exactly get the credit that they so richly deserve, it’s a credit to everyone involved on these feature that even just a groan or ‘harrumph’ on each of these players is just so darn charismatic.

We’ll admit that a lot of people may just turn on A Shaun Of The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon as something to distract the kids on a Saturday afternoon, but don’t hesitate to join them because there’s genuine comedy and some real cinematic genius behind the adventures of these stop-motion sheep over on Mossy Bottom Farm.