Shaun the Sheep Movie

Shaun the Sheep Movie is a 2015 British stop-motion animated adventure comedy film produced by Aardman Animations and based on the Shaun the Sheep television series, a spin off of the 1995 Wallace and Gromit short "A Close Shave". The film was written and directed by Richard Starzak and Mark Burton. Financed and distributed by StudioCanal it was released in the United Kingdom on February 6th, 2015.

The movie won the Toronto Film Critics Award for Best Animated Film, and was nominated at the 88th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature.

Summary

All is well at Mossy Bottom Farm, except for the fact that the animals will do anything to get out of work. So, Shaun the sheep and his scheming friends devise a plan to put their master to sleep. However, the ruse backfires when the poor farmer finds himself transported to the big city, having lost his memory. Now, it's up to Shaun, Timmy, Shirley, Bitzer and the rest of the gang to travel to the metropolis and get him back, while not landing in even more trouble themselves.

Plot

The film opens with a montage, set to Tim Wheeler's "Feels Like Summer". The montage shows clips of a young, enthusiastic Farmer at the start of his career with a new flock of lambs. He bottle feeds the smallest, Shaun, and lets the little ones run and play with his new puppy Bitzer. The Farmer plays with them as well, and they all become one big happy family. The montage ends with the Farmer, the Flock and Bitzer all taking a photo together.

Time fast-forwards to the present day, and Shaun, Bitzer, and the Flock have all grown up. Mossy Bottom Farm itself has grown to include many more animals. Life on the farm has become dull and monotonous; the Farmer has a schedule hung on the barn door, and with Bitzer's help he makes sure the sheep follow it. Every day has become the same routine over and over. The picture from the days when they all played together has been dusty and forgotten in the back of the storage shed.

As the days go by, Shaun and the other sheep grow weary of the same dull routine. After one particularly rough day of shearing, Shaun becomes fed up with the Farmer. He decides to have a day off and starts trying to cook up a plan to make it happen.

The next morning, before the Farmer gets up, Shaun gets up early and tells the other sheep his plan. He goes out and bribes one of the ducks to decoy Bitzer away for the day, paying him in slices of bread.

The Farmer comes to the barn, and after whistling for Bitzer without success, decides to get the sheep into the field on his own. While he is doing this, Shaun whacks him in the backside with a wad of paper shot from a toy catapult. The Farmer searches for the culprit and the sheep start running down the lane. The Farmer heads them off near a gap in the hedge which has a small, short gate, and orders them to jump over it into their field. The sheep obey, jumping in single file over the gate. However, once in the field, they go through a second gap in the hedge farther down, then circle back around the farmer making him continuously count the sheep until he falls asleep.

Shaun and the flock then put earmuffs on the Farmer, change him back into his pajamas, put him in a wheelbarrow and then wheel him to an old abandoned trailer. The flock then lay him in the bed, shut all the windows and draw nightscapes on them. They then lock him in and proceed to throw a party. Shaun and the flock head into the farm house, fix themselves some food and drinks and settle down to watch a movie.

The party comes to an abrupt end when Bitzer, having discovered the ruse, barges in carrying the duck. Reluctantly, the sheep show him where they have put the still-sleeping Farmer. Bitzer tries to let him out, but the door handle breaks off. The chock holding the trailer in place is jiggled loose as Bitzer struggles with the door, and suddenly the trailer starts careening downhill. Bitzer hangs onto the back as tightly as he can but is dragged down the hill with it. The sheep all grab hold of Bitzer as well, and soon there is a line of animals being dragged behind the speeding trailer.

The piece of the trailer Bitzer is hanging onto breaks off just as it smashes through the main gate on the road to Mossy Bottom Farm, and he and the sheep are left lying in the dust, watching it roll away. Shaun tries to lead the sheep in pursuit of it, but Bitzer is furious with them for having caused the disaster in the first place. He tells them to stay out of it and pursues the trailer himself. The sheep wait for him to return, but when he does not they eventually trail back to the farm, reasoning there is nothing else they can do.

Bitzer chases the trailer until he comes to a stoplight - as it is red, he obediently stops. The trailer rolls on down the hill, out of the countryside, and starts barrelling towards the Big City. When the light turns green, Bitzer charges after the trailer once again. By this time, the Farmer has awakened - however, having misplaced his glasses, he just thinks he is in his own bedroom, until the window shade rolls up and he sees he is about to crash into oncoming traffic. Mercifully, the trailer finally hits a level patch and slows to a stop; however, the hitch of the trailer collides with a street lamp, and when the Farmer steps out to see where he is, the giant bulb of the street lamp falls on his head, knocking him out. Bitzer catches up to the Trailer just in time to see the Farmer, conscious but woozy, being taken away in an ambulance. He pursues the Farmer to the hospital, only to be thrown out because there is a "no dogs allowed" sign on the door. Now very worried, he sits on a bench nearby to figure out what to do.

Back at the farm, the sheep find their plan to resume their snack and movie has been foiled by the pigs, who have taken over the house for their own party and locked them out. The hungry sheep go to the trough where the farmer puts the special sheep feed once a day, only to find it is empty because the Farmer never filled it that morning. The sheep feed is on a high shelf, and Shaun tries to use a grabber that the Farmer recently installed on the tractor to get it down, but he puts the tractor in reverse by mistake and crashes into the bull's field. The enraged bull rampages around the farm, releasing the hungry goat in the process, and the two of them soon have the whole place in chaos.

The sheep begin to cry, and tell Shaun they miss having the Farmer there. Shaun knows the mess is his fault, so he reasons he will have to go to the city and find the farmer and Bitzer himself. He packs a rucksack with several things he thinks he will need, including an old tape recorder, some binoculars, and the picture they took in their youth. He writes "Missing" on this, and then when the regular morning bus stops by, he climbs aboard and hides under a chair, riding to the big city.

Meanwhile, the Farmer has had his head wound treated, and has been evaluated by the hospital staff. They ask him who he is, but he cannot remember anything. As his reflexes and everything else seem to be in order, the doctors decide his only problem is amnesia and write this on his hotel chart, along with giving him the name "Mr. X".

Shaun's bus arrives in the Big City. After the rest of the passengers exit, he makes his way down the stairs and looks around the bus terminal to see if the coast is clear. He spots a scruffy little dog named Slip, who is foraging for food in a trash can. He waves to her, but a large and angry man suddenly appears on the scene, grabs her with a claw-like device, and throws her in the back of a paddy wagon. The side of the paddy wagon says "Animal Containment Unit", and by the way the man and the people watching are acting, Shaun realizes that stray animals are strictly forbidden in the city and that he is in danger.

It is at this moment that a second bus comes in from the countryside, and parks next to Shaun's bus. To his horror, he sees the rest of the flock has snuck aboard and followed him. The Animal Containment officer is still patrolling, so Shaun quickly makes them all climb out of the bus and under it. The officer spots the tail of one of the sheep, however, and gets out of his car, carrying his animal grabbing device.

Shaun sees they are being followed and quickly has the Flock duck into a thrift store in the bus terminal. The officer spots the tail of the hindmost sheep again and runs in the store after them, showing his badge with the surname "Trumper" on it. However, by the time he gets there, the sheep have bought and changed into clothes that disguise them as humans, allowing them to move about without suspicion. Having come up with nothing, Trumper gives up looking for animals and flirts a bit with an attractive woman, actually the Twins disguised as a woman, before returning to his wagon and driving off. The sheep leave the bus terminal and commence their search for the Farmer.

Outside the hospital, Bitzer can stand the suspense no longer. A laundry van comes to drop off cleaned goods, and he hides in a wagon full of scrubs being wheeled into the hospital. Disguised as a doctor, he jumps out of the wagon and begins to look for the Farmer. However, just as he finds the room the Farmer is in, the security officer that threw him out the first time starts coming down the hall. Bitzer ducks into the nearest room quickly, but discovers it's an operating room and suddenly finds himself expected to perform a stomach operation on a patient. He does everything he can to stall, waiting on the security officer to leave the hallway. His cover is blown when a nurse moves a bit to reveal a skeleton hanging on the wall in the back. As before, the bones have a hypnotic effect on Bitzer; unable to stop himself, he runs over to it, losing his scrubs, and starts licking it. The nurses panics, alarms go off, and Trumper shows up outside the hospital to retrieve Bitzer. In all this chaos, the Farmer leaves the hospital, taking his chart with him, and begins wandering around town, trying to discover who he is.

Shaun and the Flock work their way around town, trying to blend in with the crowd and find the Farmer. Many times, their cover is nearly blown, and when they accidentally destroy a pantomime horse putting on a show, they find themselves running from an angry crowd. They duck into the nearest building to hide, and it turns out to be a fancy restaurant called "le chou brûlé. Having not eaten since their interrupted party, the sheep beg Shaun to let them stay. They try to fit in by copying what a customer across from them, who is clearly a celebrity, is doing - reading the menu, drinking the wine, and so on.

Timmy is tucked under the table, since he was the only sheep not disguised as a human, and spots a trolley with cakes rolling by. He creeps out and steals one of the cakes, causing Shaun to notice and panic. He walks over, tucking Timmy underneath his jumper and trying to get back to the table unnoticed. However, a thread of his sweater snags on the trolley, and his jumper is pulled off of him and he is exposed as a sheep. He tries to flee and in doing so throws the whole restaurant into a panic at a dirty sheep running round. Food is dropped, people fall and crash into one another, and the famous celebrity has his pompadour ruined by a flying purse, horrifying him. Trumper arrives on the scene and takes Shaun into custody. As he is dragged off, Shaun notices Timmy's teddy bear lying on the ground and Timmy looking longingly at it. Shaun rescues it before it is thrown away but is taken into the paddy wagon before he can give it back. As the paddy wagon heads off to the animal containment facility, Shaun spots the Farmer, sad and lost, wandering about town. Shaun yells out to him, but the Farmer cannot hear his cries.

The famous celebrity rushes into an upscale stylist's shop, nearly in tears over his ruined hairstyle. The Farmer, wandering by, sees a set of electric clippers dangling by the chair - they look remarkably like a pair of sheep shears - and the customer's masses of unruly, fluffy platinum blonde hair. A memory is jogged of shearing the sheep and before he knows what he is doing, he has stepped in, grabbed the customer round the neck, and shaved his hair short. The other stylists grab the farmer and drag him off the customer, and the farmer is horrified at what he has done. The customer is furious, until he sees himself in the mirror. His hair is not unlike Shaun's little topknot now, and he likes the look of it so much he pays the stylist's shop a good deal of money. The celebrity and his fans share the story on social media, and soon the Farmer finds himself hailed as a celebrity in his own right - Mr. X, Hairstylist to the Stars. He decides to embrace this new identity, and is hired by the stylist's shop, where people eagerly line up to have their hair done by him.

Shaun is led to the Animal Containment facility, which is run like a hardcore prison under Trumper's steely eye as warden. The other two workers try to make it more like an animal shelter, but he undermines their efforts, liking the power he has over all the helpless creatures. Shaun is thrown into a cell, only to find that his cellmate is Bitzer. Shaun is relieved to see him, but Bitzer is absolutely livid with him and refuses to be consoled, chewing Shaun out for landing them in this mess. The other animals in the cells are unfriendly as well - a vicious cat has a cone to keep it from biting people, a morose turtle does nothing but count his days since capture, a rottweiler and a poodle lift weights and growl if anyone looks at them, and a big grey pit bull with bloodshot eyes does nothing but stare unnervingly at Bitzer the entire time. Trumper watches all this with sadistic satisfaction from security cameras he has set up about the place.

Wearied of chewing Shaun out, Bitzer proceeds to give him the silent treatment. Shaun looks around the cells and spots Slip, the little scruffy dog he saw before, in the cage next door. Moments later, a young couple enters, having seen a sign the other two Animal Containment workers hung out asking for people to adopt the strays, which Trumper kicks down moments later. The animals immediately go on their best behavior, hoping to be adopted. Slip, sits up and begs, trying to look as cute as she can, but because of her scruffy fur and jagged teeth, the people pass her over as too ugly. She cries and retreats to the back of her cell as the couple adopts a large iguana instead and leaves.

The disguised Twins enter the shelter and start flirting with Trumper, which surprises Shaun and shocks Bitzer. Outside, while Trumper is distracted, the rest of the Flock have divested themselves of their disguises and are tying a rope to the bars of the cell window. Shirley, the biggest and strongest sheep, tugs and rips the bars and a section of wall out. The sheep celebrate their victory until they see they have only taken down the lavatory wall, with Shaun and Bitzer's cell right across from it. The sheep panic and abort the plan when an alarm goes off, as Trumper comes running after them. Thinking quickly, Shaun draws with chalk a realistic hole in the wall of the cell and he and Bitzer hide under the bench. Trumper spots the fake hole and runs in to investigate. Shaun and Bitzer swipe his keys and dash out the opened door, locking him in. Shaun frees Slip, and the three of them run out and join the fleeing sheep. Slip, who knows her way about the city, shows them the way to safety, and they all celebrate. Shaun returns Timmy's teddy bear and tries to shake Bitzer's paw. However, Bitzer refuses to give Shaun a handshake back, as he is still very unhappy with him.

The sheep see a billboard advertising the salon that the Farmer, AKA Mr. X, is working at, giving clear directions on where to find him. Slip knows that street, so she leads Shaun and the Flock there, overjoyed with their company. When they arrive at the shop, Slip keeps watch while Shaun sneaks in. He bleats to let the Farmer know he is there. The Farmer looks at him for a moment, but his memory does not return and he starts to shoo Shaun away. Shaun does not understand, and tries to move closer, but the Farmer backs away from him, disgusted. The other people in the shop start to notice and someone calls the authorities. Shaun is heartbroken, and stands there in tears. Bitzer, deciding that they can't risk their lives if the Farmer doesn't want them anymore now that he's a celebrity, runs in and forces Shaun out. Slip leads them into the sewers before the authorities get there and to the junkyard she lives in.

Back at the animal containment facility, the other two workers discover Trumper locked in the cell, staring down the pit bull which is giving him the same look it was giving Bitzer. Furious at the recent developments, Trumper breaks out a lethal tazer animal detainment gun, in addition to a set of animal-tracing goggles. The other workers watch in horror as Trumper is determined to bring in Shaun, Bitzer and Slip at all cost.

Miserably, the sheep try to settle down in the junkyard. Shaun looks at the old photo he had been showing around town when they were searching for the Farmer, but the wind blows it away, out of his reach. Slip is happy to have some friends with her in her lonely junkyard, but she can't seem to cheer up the sheep and Bitzer, who seem to have hit an all-time low. Timmy starts crying, causing the sheep to try and cheer up for his sake. Bitzer tries to comfort him with his teddy bear, but to no avail. Shaun remembers the tape recorder and sets it off, and the cheery "Feels Like Summer" starts playing. Timmy is consoled, until the ancient cassette suddenly breaks mid-song. He starts to cry again, and in desperation Shaun whistles the tune instead. Shirley starts vocalizing the tune's melody as a bass line, and the Twins join her, harmonizing. They give a bouncy, barbershop quartet style rendition of the song. Nutz begins beat-boxing, while Hazel picks up an old bicycle wheel and plays it like a guitar. Shaun joins in the singing, and soon the whole flock is either playing or singing the song in a moving, sweet performance. The music floats out of the junkyard and across the city.

In the stylist's shop, the Farmer hears the tune and is intrigued. He steps into the supply closet, opening the window to listen better. A memory is jogged, and he starts to question his past once more. He pulls the chart that says "memory loss" out of his pocket and looks at it, reminding himself he really doesn't have a true identity yet. But his new boss calls him to come back to work, so he wads up the chart and throws it out the window, deciding to go back to the one thing he knows he can do.

The wad of paper is blown by wind and passing cars into the nearby junkyard. Shaun gathers it and several other bits of wood and paper to put in a large fire drum that Bitzer has set up to keep everyone warm as the cold night sets in. As the fire burns, the chart unfolds. Bitzer sees the farmer's face on it, and he and Shaun fish the half-burnt chart out quickly. When they read the words "Memory Loss", the flock realizes the truth about why the Farmer rejected them. Shaun proposes they have to get the Farmer back home to Mossy Bottom to remind him who he really is.

Trumper, meanwhile, is hot on their trail thanks to his special goggles. Even the most minute strand of wool causes them to set off an alarm, and he uses this to follows their route across the city doggedly, getting more and more angry as the trail winds on with no sign of the actual sheep. He is determined to catch them and exact revenge at all costs.

Slip shows Shaun a big pile of junk not unlike the one they have at the farm, which they have used before to create all sorts of inventions. Shaun decides the sheep will make their greatest invention now, and draws out a blueprint for it, as well as the plan to get the Farmer home. With Slip's help, they put the device together, and set back off under the cover of night to the stylist's shop. Upon arrival there, Slip makes sure the coast is clear, then gets the Farmer's attention. The sheep set up a gate near the window of the shop, and in a ring, as before, start to jump over it one by one. Not only the Farmer but everyone else in the shop and on the nearby street succumbs to slumber, leaving the sheep free to do as they please.

The Flock capture the Farmer and drag him into an alley, and their invention is revealed as a life-size mechanical horse, which the sleeping farmer, now disguised as a mounted policeman, is riding on while Slip and the sheep operate it from inside. Bitzer is at the helm, and he "drives" the horse down the street, only to run smack into Trumper. He is momentarily fooled by the ruse, and asks the Farmer if he's seen the three escaped animals. The sheep make the sleeping Farmer mime directions and Trumper starts to walk away. However, his glasses go off as he looks at the horse. He starts to run after it and trips. His head rips through the fabric and he sees the sheep inside, but he is stuck half-in and half-out of the "horse" and can't do a thing about it. Timmy beats him over the head with his teddy bear, knocking him loose, and the sheep use an augmented fire extinguisher as a rocket to propel the horse away from Trumper as fast as they can go. Trumper shoots his electrified grabber at the horse but it gets tangled round a leg and Trumper finds himself helplessly towed after it, eventually crashing into a garbage bin.

The sheep and the two dogs stop the horse at the spot where the old trailer still sits, abandoned, on the sidewalk by the wrecked street lamp. They all pile inside, and Shaun lassos the trailer hitch to a passing bus, which he knows is heading back towards Mossy Bottom farm. Trumper chases the camper on foot and uses his non-electrified grabber to catch hold of the back, but they hit a bump and he vanishes from view, much to their delight.

The bus passes by the farm and the sheep make the rope come loose, the trailer coming to rest in the spot where it was before the whole mess started. However, it misses the chock and almost rolls away back towards the city again, much to the sheep's horror. The Bull spots the camper about to roll away and, having calmed down from his temper tantrum earlier, runs over and rescues it, putting it safely back into place. The sheep, Bitzer, and Slip get the still-sleeping farmer back into the wheelbarrow, and start to wheel him back towards the farmhouse. However, Trumper climbs out from under the trailer, driven insane with rage, down to his ruined pants showing off his red underwear. He storms off after the sheep and dogs, grabbing a large scythe from a nearby field to finish them off.

As the Flock dresses the Farmer in his clothes, they spot Trumper heading their way and change course. The lot of them pile into a small shed, locking the door and trying to wake the deeply-sleeping Farmer who has been oblivious to the whole incident. Trumper winds caution tape round the building to seal them in, and then uses the tractor, with its new grabber, to rip the shed from its foundation and push it down the lane to a nearby granite quarry. The barb-wire fence round the quarry prevents the shed from being pushed over more than halfway - while the sheep try to figure out an escape, Shaun manages to wake The Farmer by waving the contents of a bag of manure beneath his nose. This wakes him, but his memory is still gone and he screams in terror and tries to back away from all the animals.

Trumper uses the grabber to pick up the shed and lift it over the fence of the quarry, but can't figure out how to get it to let go. Fearing the end has come, all the animals huddle against the farmer in a tight hug, crying. The Farmer is stunned, and then sees his reflection in the window of the shed. The positions they are in are not unlike the old photograph he took of himself, Shaun, Bitzer, and the flock when they were all young. His memory returns in a rush, and he hugs the sheep back lovingly, then proceeds to heroically barge out the door of the shed to confront Trumper. Unfortunately, his short sight made him pick the wrong door and he plunges into the quarry. Bitzer catches and saves him, but the two of them are now leaning out the door dangling perilously over the sheer drop. Shaun jumps on a window of the shed and fights with Trumper making to gain the control of the tractor and saving his friends and the Farmer. But Trumper doesn't give up, he furiously throws Shaun at the quarry with the intention of killing him.

Terrified his end has come, Shaun is rescued by the Farmer, who hugs him affectionately. Realizing his predicament, Trumper attempts to slip away, before being stopped in his tracks by Slip biting his leg. His cover blown, Trumper finds himself on the receiving end of the furious Farmer's wrath as he tries to explain himself. Meanwhile, the bull, driven into a frenzy at the sight of Trumper's red underwear, charges and bashes into him from behind, launching him into a nearby pile of manure. The Farmer and his animals laugh at him, celebrate, and head back to the farmhouse - the pigs see them coming, and hurriedly clean and vacate it, so the Farmer notices nothing amiss.

As the Farmer goes back to his own bed after his city adventure, Bitzer finally shows Shaun he has forgiven him by giving him a high five and then hugging him. Shaun looks around for Slip, but she is nowhere to be found, having walked away during the celebration earlier. He finds a note pinned on the garden gate, saying she has left now that she isn't needed. He tries to run after her and bring her back, and sees her going down the lane back towards the city. The bus from earlier is returning and nearly runs her over - the driver skids to a stop just inches from her, and gets out to make sure she is okay. Slip tries to look cute but her ugly face still has snaggle teeth sticking out everywhere. However, the female bus driver smiles and shows the same snaggled teeth, and picks up Slip to take her home with her. Having found a family at last, Slip is happy, and waves goodbye to Shaun as the bus driver takes them both back home to the Big City.

The next morning, the rooster crows and everyone wakes up to business as usual, but everyone is going about it more happily and with more of a spring in their step. The Farmer and Bitzer open the barn and the sheep happily gather round the farmer, glad to have him home again. The moment is almost ruined as the Farmer sadly looks at the schedule, clearly wishing for once they didn't have to do it. Bitzer makes the decision for him by grabbing the schedule, wadding it up, and throwing it to the goat to eat.

In a mid-credits scene, the Farmer sits down to watch the news, only to discover a news report on everything that had happened since he lost his memory in the City, shocking him and horrifying Bitzer and Shaun.

In a post-credits scene, a member of the flock walks on screen with a vacuum cleaner.

Cast and Characters

Justin Fletcher as Shaun, Timmy
John Sparkes as Bitzer, The Farmer
Omid Djalili as Trumper
Kate Harbour as Timmy's Mother, Meryl
Richard Webber as Shirley
Tim Hands as Slip
Simon Greenall as The Twins
Emma Tate as Hazel
Henry Burton as a Junior Doctor, Animal containment visitor
Dhimant Vyas as a Hospital Consultant
Sophie Laughton as an Animal containment visitor
Nia Medi James as an Operatic sheep
Sean Connolly as Maitre D, Golfer, Stylists, Angry Panto Horse, Hospital Characters
Stanley Unwin as a Bus Station Announcer
Andy Nyman as Nuts
Jack Paulson as a Celebrity with Hair Trouble
Nick Park as Himself: the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. Park plays a man who spies on two birds kissing until his cover is blown by the Farmer's runaway trailer.

Other Characters

The Naughty Pigs
The Bull
The Cow
Doctor
Animal Containment Workers
Mower Mouth
People of the Big City

Critical reception

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 99%, based on 170 critics, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "Warm, funny, and brilliantly animated, Shaun the Sheep is yet another stop-motion jewel in Aardman's family-friendly crown". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 81 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". On CinemaScore, audience members gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Lou Lumenick of the New York Post gave the film three out of four stars, saying, "Shaun the Sheep Movie may be less elaborate than Aardman masterpieces like Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but there's still much to enjoy. It's not often you see a cartoon that references both Night of the Hunter and Silence of the Lambs". Inkoo Kang of The Wrap gave the film a positive review, saying, "Refreshingly for children (but especially for adults), there are no lessons to learn and no faults to admonish. Instead, it's an 84-minute, dialogue-free distillation of all the innocent fun we wish childhood could be". Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review, saying "Playful, absurd and endearingly inventive, this unstoppably amusing feature reminds us why Britain's Aardman Animations is a mainstay of the current cartooning golden age". Peter Keough of The Boston Globe gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "Like a great silent movie, it creates its pathos and comedy out of the concrete objects being animated, building elaborate gags involving everyday items transformed into Rube Goldberg devices". Colin Covert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune gave the film four out of four stars, saying "Sometimes the simplest movies are the best. Case in point: Shaun the Sheep, a dialogue-free, non-digitally designed, plain old stop-motion animated film that is hilarious beyond human measure". Guy Lodge of Variety gave the film a positive review, saying, "Though realized on a more modest scale than other Aardman features, the film is still an absolute delight in terms of set and character design, with sophisticated blink-and-you’ll-miss-it detailing to counterbalance the franchise’s cruder visual trademarks." Joe McGovern of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A-, saying, "In a bold move that pays off, the movie jettisons dialogue altogether and tells its whole story through barn-animal noises, goofy sound effects, and sight gags so silly they’d make Benny Hill spin in sped-up ecstasy. The effect is contagiously cute". Jordan Hoffman of the New York Daily News gave the film four out of five stars, saying "From the company that gave us Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit, this adorable tale about a sheep who leads his comrades on a big-city adventure is some of the most pure visual storytelling you’re going to see this year".

Awards

Nominated for Academy Award, Best Animated Feature - Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
Nominated for Golden Globes, Best Animated Feature Film - Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
Nominated for BAFTA Awards, Best Animated Feature - Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
Winner for Toronto Film Critics Association, Best Animated Feature - Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
Winner for British Animation Awards, Best Long for Animation - Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
Nominated for 5 Annie Awards:
- Best Animated Feature (Julie Lockhart and Paul Kewley)
- Directing in an Animated Feature Production (Mark Burton and Richard Starzak)
- Writing in an Animated Feature Production (Mark Burton and Richard Starzak)
- Production Design in an Animated Feature Production (Matt Perry and Gavin Lines)
- Editorial in an Animated Feature Production (Sim Evan Jones)
Nominated and Winner for Critics' Choice Awards:
- Best Animated Film (Mark Burton and Richard Starzak)
- Special Achievement Award for the 2015 Critics' Choice Award
Winner, 2nd Place and 5th Place for Golden Tomatoes Awards:
- Best Movie 2015: UK
- Best Animated Movie 2015
- Best Release Movie 2015
Nominated for Seattle Film Critics Awards, Best Animated Feature - Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
Winner for Anima Mundi Animation Festival 2015, Best Animated Feature - Mark Burton, Richard Starzak, Julie Lockhart and Paul Keylew
Winner for Golden Trailer Awards 2015 - Best Foreign Animation/Family Trailer
Nominated for Online Film & Television Association 2016:
- Best Animated Film (Julie Lockhart and Paul Keylew)
- Best Original Song - "Feels Like Summer" (Ilan Eshkeri, Nick Hodgson and Tim Wheeler)
Nominated and 3rd Place for Seattle International Film Festival:
- Jury Award (Mark Burton and Richard Starzak)
- Best Film (Mark Burton and Richard Starzak)
3rd Place for Village Voice Film Poll, Best Animated Film

Sequel

On September 14th 2015, StudioCanal announced it was working with Aardman on a sequel.

On February 2018, a teaser trailer premiered with Aardman's newest film Early Man, with the name of A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon. Richard Starzak confirmed that he would be back as the writer and director of the film, without Mark Burton. Paul Kewley confirmed his return as the Producer.

Trivia

The movie takes place between Series 4 and Series 5.
This film was originally intended to be the series finale, but since CBBC wanted more episodes, the series continued.
Unlike most episodes of the show, the movie only uses Sheep with previously established identities, with no "extra" members ever seen.
- Along with Shaun, Shirley, Nuts, Timmy and Timmy's Mom, the film makes extensive use of Hazel and The Twins, members of the Flock with stock designs who rarely receive any focus in the show.
One of the original ideas of the movie was the story of the episode of season 1 "Save the tree". But there wasn't much potential in the story for an 85 minute long movie, the crew and the director Richard Starzak (With the help of the story of Mark Burton) created the story of Shaun looking for his owner in The Big City.
It was rumored that the Farmer would be the villain, until they confirmed that Trumper would be the main villain.
Originally, the main relationship would be for Shaun, Bitzer and the Farmer, but since the series already showed the relationship between Bitzer and the Farmer, it was instead changed to Shaun and the Farmer, since they had minimal interactions in the series proper.
- Writer and Director Richard Starzak described the relationship between the Farmer and Shaun as "A father and son".
According to Producer, Julie Lockhart, The film's message is "appreciate the things you have, because one day you could lose them".
When the Farmer is taken away to hospital and Bitzer chases the ambulance in one scene and in another scene when Shaun is taken away to the Animal Containment facility and spots the Farmer, the Hook, Line and Sinker pub from "The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!" can be seen.
This is the first theatrical film based on the series.
In 2018 the movie aired on Nick@Nite and NickToons US. Making this movie the first Aardman Production to air on a Nickelodeon channel.
On Rotten Tomatoes, Shaun the Sheep Movie is the highest rated Aardman film with an "excellent" 99% rating.
This film was released on the Chinese New Year's Day of the Year of the Sheep.
In the post-credits sequence, the distracted rooster is playing a game on his phone. The sound effects of that game are from 'Sheep Stack', an Aardman Animations produced mobile game.
This is the only Shaun the Sheep film to receive a PG rating from the MPA, as the following sequel would instead receive a G rating from the MPA.
On Nick Jr USA Airings, several scenes are cut.
In 2016 the movie premiered on HBO Asia.
When the scene shows of the Mr. X photos two of those related memes are Doge and Nyan Cat.
In the caravan a nail spray is seen from Let's Spray.

Errors

For odd reasons, when the flock are disguised as humans Hazel's model was used twice.
When it shows the pictures of Shaun and Slip that are captured they didn't have red irises until it was shown again for the second time that they are shown in the scene.
In the teaser poster the Farmer was confirmed to be missing, the picture was his current self instead of his young self unlike the film.
It can't be possible how the flock was manage to become 2D when the Trumper did not look away.
When the Farmer approaches to the dead bug spray the dead cockroach was not seen for the first time.
Inside the barn the horse shoe and some of the black and yellow striped tape on the diamond hole are not in the way.
When Shaun catches the alarm clock in time before the Farmer gets hit by it his expression has changed.
When Shaun was drawing the word “missing” he was drawing in a red crayon but it draws in a blue colour.
When Shaun was grabbing Timmy he has cake stains on his face but when Shaun's disguised was revealed Timmy is now clean.