★★★½ (3½ out of 4)
Halloween comes a month and a half early in “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom,” arguably the most gently funny scare fest you’ll find this pumpkin season. And that’s all to the good. The fine folks at Aardman Animation have been spotlighting wooly bully Shaun since “Wallace & Gromit’s A Close Shave” back in 1995. The popular British animated series has spawned nearly 200 TV episodes and two feature films, 2015’s “Shaun the Sheep Movie” and 2019’s film “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon.” Three times is more than just the charm as I’ll wager “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” offers more deadpan delights than any animated family film in ages.
And you can’t complain about the dialogue because there isn’t any. Shaun is as silent as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton and almost their equal as a star. Who can resist that white fleece, inky face and oversized eyes? Shaun (vocal effects by Justin Fletcher) is the leader of the flock, but the one most likely to get in trouble. Like all sheep, he communicates entirely through bleats, relying on expression, movement and comic timing. Shaun loves mixing it up with The Farmer (voiced by John Sparkes), a bespectacled, balding and remarkably unobservant man. It’s Bitzer (vocal effects again by John Sparkes), the Farmer’s loyal sheepdog who runs the show by blowing a whistle, even though Shirley (vocal effects by Richard Webber), the largest member of the flock, is usually too busy eating to pay attention. Oh, I almost forgot Timmy (vocal effects by Justin Fletcher), Shaun’s cousin and the flock's only lamb who cries like a baby when things don’t go his way, which is like always.
Nothing to traumatize the kid fan base, just some of the best stop-motion animation anywhere, all done by hand
OK, that’s enough catch-up for newbies to the Shaun-verse. Now onto the show. Directed by Steve Cox and Matthew Walker, “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” begins just a couple of days before Halloween, as Shaun, Timmy and the gang prep for Trick or Treat in a pumpkin patch hidden from the Farmer and Bitzer. Then the patch is destroyed; you’ll never hear how from me. This forces Shaun into mad scientist mode—of course it does—to create a magic serum that will grow new pumpkins fast.
You can imagine the hijinks when the Beast approaches (it’s not what you think) and everyone does monster cosplay with references grownups will love to Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Dracula, “Psycho,” “Night of the Living Dead,” Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and angry mobs that show young audiences the stupidity of attacking things you don’t understand. This film is a love letter to Halloween, the fun part mostly as it goes easy on the fright.
There is nothing to traumatize the kid fan base here, just some of the best stop-motion animation anywhere, all done by hand by 30 animators working across 47 sets. The lack of computer and artificial intelligence is another draw for those weary of the digital mud that passes for family fun these days. I sense another Oscar nomination for animation and a lot of happy faces across the age spectrum. Trust Shaun the sheep to make sure there is something for everyone.