Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) — PICK
Shaun the Sheep: Season 1 (2007) — PICK

 

Parents, if you haven’t met Shaun the Sheep, you don’t know what you’re missing.

From Aardman Animations, creators of Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep is a stop-motion treasure for the whole family, witty enough for grown-ups yet simple enough for the youngest children.

Shaun got his start as a supporting character from the third Wallace & Gromit short, A Close Shave; and in 2007, he became the star of a long-running, popular BBC series. This year, he hit the big screen in the Shaun the Sheep Movie, this summer’s second-best animated family film (after Inside Out, of course). You can also pick up a new boxed edition of Shaun the Sheep: Season 1 for under $10.

The premise of Shaun’s world is simple. Shaun is an unusually bright sheep who belongs to a small flock on a sheep farm somewhere in the north of England. Other farm residents include a tolerant farm dog named Bitzer, who tries to keep order, a trio of mischievous pigs, a stereotypically nasty housecat and a dim-witted, near-sighted farmer.

The running gag is that while Shaun and his mates get into all kinds of un-sheep-like escapades, Bitzer alternates between trying to keep order and colluding with Shaun to make sure the farmer notices nothing untoward. Silliness ensues.

The great creative twist of Shaun’s adventures is that they are related without dialogue, like latter-day silent films. The sheep bleat, the dog grunts and yowls, the Farmer mumbles, but the stories are told visually, which for some reason makes all the jokes funnier. Kids love this. A 4-year-old can follow Shaun the Sheep.

Shaun’s small-screen escapades unfold in seven-minute episodes, with Shaun and his mates playing soccer, going out for pizza, swimming and confronting extraterrestrials.

Shaun the Sheep Movie takes the sheep, along with the Farmer and Bitzer, off the sheep farm and into the big city, where the Farmer goes missing and his animals try to find him — while also avoiding a sinister animal-control officer.

There’s a playful, warmhearted exuberance to the film. It’s not a masterpiece, but it is a film that has been loved over, with none of the faintly desperate, money-grabbing floundering of Penguins of Madagascar or Minions. Great fun.