Psycho's Movie Reviews #230: Shaun The Sheep: Farmaggedon (2019)

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is a 2019 British stop-motion animated science fiction comedy film produced by Aardman Animations. The film is directed by Richard Phelan and Will Becher (in their feature directorial debuts) and written by Mark Burton and Jon Brown, based on an idea by Richard Starzak. It is a stand-alone sequel to Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) and is based on the claymation television series Shaun the Sheep, a spinoff from the Wallace and Gromit short film A Close Shave. It's the first sequel ever made by Aardman and in stop-motion in general. The film stars Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Kate Harbour, and Rich Webber reprising their voice roles from the series and the previous film, whilst new cast members include Amalia Vitale, David Holt and Chris Morrell. In the film, Shaun and the flock encounter a cute alien with extraordinary powers, who crash-lands near Mossy Bottom Farm. They have to find a way to return her home in order to prevent her falling into the hands of the Ministry for Alien Detection.

Plans for a sequel began in 2015, following the release of the first film. The film officially began production following the end of production of Early Man (2018). Richard Starzak was announced to return as director, however, in November 2018, the film was later announced to be directed by Becher and Phelan.

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon was released in theatres on 18 October 2019 in the United Kingdom, and on Netflix in the United States on 14 February 2020. The film made $43.1 million and received generally positive reviews from critics, praising its animation, humour and charm. It was nominated at the British Academy Film Awards for Best Animated Film and at the Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature Film.

Plot

In the town of Mossingham, Farmer John and his dog, Bingo, discover the landing of a UFO and flee from the alien who comes out of it. On Mossy Bottom Farm, Shaun and the flock attempt to pass time with several dangerous activities, only for Bitzer the dog to stop them and ban their escapades completely. After being banned from having a barbecue for dinner, Shaun decides to order three pizzas, but when the pizzas arrive, both Bitzer—who intercepts two-thirds of the delivery—and the flock discover the pizza boxes are completely empty.

The next morning, Shaun discovers a trail of pizza crusts and encounters the alien. The visitor introduces herself as "Lu-La", an impish alien from the planet To-Pa with extraterrestrial powers, and she can mimic sounds. When Shaun introduces her to the flock, she causes mischief with a combine harvester, damaging it while transforming a field behind the farm house into unintentional crop circles. Taking advantage of the recent news of alien sightings, the Farmer deduces he can create an alien-based theme park, "Farmageddon", in which he can earn money to afford a new harvester.

The Ministry of Alien Detection's (M.A.D.) leader, Agent Red, who has been obsessed with proving the existence of aliens since seeing two of them as a child, investigates the UFO claims. After discovering the UFO has disappeared, both John and Bingo are arrested. Meanwhile, Lu-La and Shaun track down the UFO, which is revealed to have been made invisible earlier. The pair try to get the UFO started but they are unable to. Trying to recall how to start the spaceship and Shaun's query on a picture of her family, Lu-La transmits her memories to Shaun, revealing that she is actually a child and accidentally launched her parents' spaceship while playing on it. They also realize they need an egg-shaped sphere device to activate it. M.A.D. captures the spaceship with Shaun and Lu-La still on board and takes it to their headquarters.

At the base, Shaun and Lu-La slip out and manage to retrieve the device, while the others are distracted by Bitzer, who has been following Shaun and is mistaken as the alien due to the Farmer having dressed him as one. Shaun and Lu-La restart the ship and manage to escape with Bitzer, plotting a course for To-Pa; en route, Shaun ignores Bitzer's instructions not to touch anything on the ship and causes them to crash back to Earth. Seeing the UFO destroyed, Lu-La is left heartbroken and powerless. Feeling bad for what he has done, Shaun tries to find another way to get Lu-La home. He discovers that the device can be used to contact Lu-La's parents back on her planet, but requires a signal at a greater height. Shaun suggests that he and Lu-La attempt to reach the top of the Farmer's "Farmageddon" theme park signboard to make contact.

With the help of the flock and Bitzer, Shaun and Lu-La climb the sign while the Farmer launches a show at the theme park. Meanwhile, Red arrives and chases Shaun and Lu-La up the signboard using a robot device. Delaying her from capturing the alien and eventually pushing her down, Shaun manages to send a distress message to To-Pa. Lu-La's parents, Ub-Do and Me-Ma, quickly arrive and reunite with their daughter. Red eventually welcomes the aliens, recognizing them as the aliens she saw as a child. Shaun, Bitzer and the flock bid the aliens farewell, while the "Farmageddon" theme park and show receive rave reviews as the entire incident is regarded as part of the theme park's show's 'special effects'. On their way back to To-Pa, the aliens discover the Farmer on their UFO, prompting them to take him back to Earth.

In a mid-credits scene, Shaun, Bitzer, Timmy and the flock are playing with a frisbee, while the Farmer (now back on Earth) tries out his new harvester, but the frisbee jams the harvester, causing it to explode, scaring Shaun, Bitzer and Timmy.

In a post-credits scene, the man with the M.A.D. hazmat suit enters a black room with a keyboard. He then removes his suit and reveals himself to be Professor Brian Cox and then proceeds to play "Things Can Only Get Better" on the keyboard. Timmy (in his pyjamas) then enters the room and unplugs the keyboard, claiming that it's too loud.

Production

On 14 September 2015, StudioCanal announced it was working with Aardman on a sequel to Shaun the Sheep Movie. On 25 October 2016, under the working title, Shaun the Sheep Movie 2, Aardman confirmed a sequel would go into pre-production in January 2017 with Richard Starzak, co-director of the first film, returning.

In November 2018, it was announced that Aardman employees Richard Phelan and Will Becher would be co-directing the film, with Starzak still attached as director, due to Peter Lord and David Sproxton giving majority ownership of the company to employees to keep it independent. However, Phelan and Becher ended up being the directors of the final cut, while Starzak received both an executive producer and story by credit. Principal photography and production officially began in November 2017 and ended in June 2019.

Music

The music for the film is composed by Tom Howe. It was initially believed Ilan Eshkeri, who composed the music for Shaun the Sheep Movie, would return, but these rumors were false.

The theme tune for the film is titled "Lazy" and is written by Justin Hayward-Young, Yoann Intonti, Timothy Lanham, Freddie Cowan, Arni Hjorvar Arnason and Cole Marsden Greif-Neill and performed by The Vaccines and Kylie Minogue. Furthermore, like the previous film, the film incorporates a remix of the series theme tune "Life's a Treat". Both Mark Thomas and Vic Reeves return to perform the remix and are joined by Nadia Rose.

Release/Reception/Box Office

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon was first released in Germany on 26 September 2019 while in the United Kingdom, it was released on 18 October 2019. Originally intended to be theatrically released in the United States on 13 December 2019 by Lionsgate, the film was sold to Netflix who released it digitally on 14 February 2020.

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes records 96% positive reviews based on 78 critics and an average rating of 7.5/10. The critical consensus reads, "A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon retains the charm of its small-screen source material while engagingly expanding the title character's world." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 79 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".

Guy Lodge of Variety, who reviewed the previous film, gave the film a positive review, saying, "The great pleasure of these films' bright, largely wordless slapstick is that it plays universally whilst accommodating all manner of obsessive, idiosyncratic detailing at the edges."

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times who also reviewed the previous film, gave the film a positive review, saying "That all these characters and then some have distinct personalities is all the more remarkable because no one uses actual words, instead making do quite nicely with assorted grunts, groans and indefinable grumbles."

Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com gave 3.5/4 stars to the movie, saying "If you like anything Aardman, or anything funny really, you should make an effort to find it."

Carlos Aguilar of The Wrap gave the film a positive review, saying, "A quick-witted and uproarious homage to the sci-fi genre like only the stop-motion geniuses at Aardman Animations could imagine and handcraft."

As of 29 December 2019, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon has made $43.1 million, with the top-grossing country being UK ($9.2 million), Germany ($6.7 million) and France ($5.4 million). It currently ranks as the 16th highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time.

Box office $43.1 million

My Review

A charming, fun, and well animated adventure, Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon is a bit familiar and dragged out, but for the most part is an enjoyable time. The plot is a bit dragged out, perhaps the films greatest flaw, making it feel more dull in the process. In result of that, the pacing starts out strong, but later in the film, can slow to a crawl. Though this does interfere with the overall enjoyment of the film, lots of fun is to still be had. At its best, the film can be rather funny, perfectly timing its gags to the point of perfection, and at times pretty silly, which may not prove to be the smartest humour in the film, but it's incredibly enjoyable. The film is beautifully animated, and it's refreshing to see a new touch of stop motion on the screen, even if the film is only on Netflix. It can be a bit familiar, but its when the film embraces its story that it becomes its most fun. In the end, Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon is an enjoyable enough romp, that may have a bit of struggle nailing its pacing, but is ultimately a fun enough time to put a smile on your face.

Even though it's nowhere near as good as its predecessor, 'Shaun The Sheep: Farmageddon (2019)' is still an entertaining effort from Aardman, who remain one of the foremost animation studios. As you'd expect, it's drenched in charm. It's not particularly funny, though. Don't get me wrong, it's amusing and often chuckle-worthy. It's just that there aren't many - if any - really big laughs, which are frequent in the first flick. Still, it has oodles of charm, as I mentioned, and is a terrifically tactile affair, the stop-motion being propelled by a slightly 'home-grown' feel that's accentuated by its slight imperfections (fingerprints, for example). The craft on display here is actually amazing. It's most obvious in the animation but it also extends to the writing. It's essentially a silent movie, one that transcends all boundaries of language and, even, age. The fact that it manages to tell a full story, packed with character arcs and backstories, without dialogue is a huge achievement. It's not just about the gags, it's about the heart. Of course, its broad narrative is rather obvious if you stop to think about it. Nevertheless, it's great fun. It does skew slightly young with its humour, but a surprising number of its more childish gags still hit rather hard and it's packed with referential, pun-based detail destined to delight any sci-fi fan. It isn't complicated, but it's enjoyable. You'll probably be smiling all the way through. I do think its 'supporting sheep', so to speak, are a little short-changed as they're mostly relegated to a side-plot. Still, a bit of wholesome entertainment can go a long way; this goes to outer-space. 7.8/10