‘Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom’ Review: Aardman Returns for More Light-Hearted Spooky Fun
If you weren’t satiated with Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (a masterpiece), Aardman has got the big-screen cure for you with Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. This lighthearted, enjoyable family fare is highly stimulating for young viewers and smart enough for grown-ups. It’s the kind of sophisticated entertainment only a stop-motion-driven animated studio can pull off so elegantly, especially coming off the heels of the success of Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.
Shaun the Sheep (Justin Fletcher) may not be Aardman’s most prized IP, but he gets the job done, and his films are never boring. They are aimed more at children than the intricate pleasures of Wallace and Gromit, largely because of the lack of dialogue.
But the visual humor that directors Steve Cox and Matthew Walker put on screen requires a lot of knowledge. Kids will obviously enjoy the slapstick as Mossy Bottom’s farmer (John Sparkes) becomes Bigfoot after accidentally putting a formula Shaun devised to grow pumpkins faster on his hair, but will they recognize the references?
A refined animated film from Aardman with many deep cuts
Barring the callbacks to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Psycho, and Universal monsters classics such as Dracula or Frankenstein, the “hair growing out of control” part is a direct reference to one of the most horrifying “children’s” movies you’ll ever see, Michael Rubbo’s The Peanut Butter Solution.
Are Cox and Walker, or screenwriters Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow, actually familiar with such a demented production that was born out of Rock Demers’ Tales for All? It could be a total coincidence, but the storyline is eerily similar to that film, and only creators who know genre cinema like the back of their hands would be familiar with such an offering.
This refinement is what makes The Beast of Mossy Bottom such an enjoyable watch. It doesn’t pretend to be high art, nor is it. It knows exactly what to accomplish in such a short time and keeps the story contained to a single situation: Shaun must find an antidote to restore the farmer to his human state before he destroys the whole of Mossingham, which believes Bigfoot is upon them. From there, you get the same essential running visual gags as in the last film, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, although the film relies a bit more on slapstick this time around.
As always with Aardman, the film is wondrously animated and dazzlingly shot, favoring the stretch-and-squash approach of claymation and pushing the techniques they’ve developed into territory they’ve yet to explore.
The result is a bevy of terrifically engaging sequences sure to enthrall both young and old moviegoers looking for a breezy, carefree time at the cinema. It would be futile for me to spoil them, too; they’re so exuberantly constructed that, no matter how old you are, you will ultimately end up with a smile on your face.
It feels slightly more commercial than previous Shaun the Sheep endeavors, especially with its endless parade of pop culture references that slightly dilute the humor, but not enough to make us feel cheated that Aardman would revert to such tropes. Furthermore, it’s not as egregious as, say, Flushed Away or Arthur Christmas, films that moved away from stop-motion to embrace 3D. The dazzling creativity isn’t as strong as when they actually bring their iconic characters to life with their bare hands.
Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom film rating and final thoughts
A film like Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, while simple in its execution, is an experience of great humility. It reminds you what the human mind can accomplish with its creative side in an era where we’re told, “AI is the future.”
Without apologizing to the AI slop supporters, this vehemently anti-AI animated movie is far more exciting than anything made or generated by an algorithm. The multiple references, many of them deep cuts. The slapstick. The colorful and lovable characters. The pace and energy of its storytelling. Natalie Holt’s propulsive music. No single program could make Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. Not now. Not ever.
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