A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

I’m not sure if this in an homage or a collage, but there are certainly elements of just about everything from “ET” to “Close Encounters” via “The Day the Earth Stood Still” in this enjoyable sci-fi adventure. Up front, I do struggle with Aardman’s long-form animation. Not because the standard of the creative artwork isn’t superbly innovative, but because the stories are usually pretty thin - and here isn’t much of an exception. A little blue alien crash lands on the farm where he is quickly befriended by the not-so-sheepish “Shaun”. He is called, we think, “Lu-La” and he seems a jolly and curious little fella who means no harm to anyone. The same can’t be said for the menacing “Agent Red” from the Ministry of Alien Detection who is utilising all of her resources to track down our visitor before he can figure out some way to get himself back to his folks in a galaxy far, far, away. It’s a family-friendly story that is hard not to enjoy, and rather than hush up aspects of it’s obvious inspiration, it actively incorporates elements form other features to enrich the story. As usual with their works, there is plenty of attention and humour amidst the detail, their surroundings and the characters and this is, for example, then only science fiction movie I have ever seen that addresses one of the most fundamental issues of space travel. Is there a toilet on a spaceship? The craft involved here is hugely imaginative and though it will never be “Wallace” or “Gromit”, it’s still a film that I think will stand the test of time and extol the virtues of human craftsmanship.