<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>
Directed by Mark Burton, Richard Starzak. The Voice Talent of some people who don’t matter since there’s no dialogue at all.
For those of you who hated Minions (though I though it was fun) since there was no coherent dialogue in English by the protagonists you’re going to hate Shaun The Sheep.
Aardman – the makers of Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit, Flushed Away and more – are the wizards of stop motion clay animation but with Shaun The Sheep they’ve done a baaaaad job. Not only is the story so apocryphally blah and yawn-inducing there is absolutely no dialogue even from the human characters who just mumble gibberish to each other. Of course you’re supposed to understand the meaning behind it all and the sentiments, which admittedly are simplistic and uninteresting.
The Farmer and his Sheep live a routine life until one day his sheep decide they want to relax in the cottage and try and put him to sleep by jumping over a fence so he counts them and… falls asleep! But Mr Farmer rolls off into the big city and bumps his head, losing his memory and becoming a hairdresser. The sheep have to get him back and then starts their big city adventure or rather boring excursion.
Songs are sung and some background tracks are played as the animators try to make you feel something for the poor sheep and the sheep dog that are alone in the city. There are a few moments of fun but I found myself yawning at the sheer dumbing down of everything. It’s like they want to appeal to a 3-year-old.
The film has a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and I guess we’re living up to our name ‘Minority-Review’ here but seriously, go watch it and tell me you weren’t bored out of your mind. There have been far better animated films that didn’t have to use dialogue (Wall-E) that touched you and didn’t make you feel like you were in kindergarten.
Shaun The Sheep tries for cute and cuddly but ends up being monotonous and lacklustre.
.
0
comments