A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is a 2019 British stop motion animated science fiction comedy film produced by Aardman Animations. The film is directed by Richard Phelan and Will Becher (in their feature directorial debuts) and written by Mark Burton and Jon Brown, based on an idea by Richard Starzak. It is a sequel to Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) and is based on the claymation television series Shaun the Sheep, a spinoff from the Wallace and Gromit short films by Nick Park. The film stars Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Kate Harbour, and Rich Webber reprising their voice roles from the series and the previous film, whilst new cast members include Amalia Vitale, David Holt and Chris Morrell. In the film, Shaun and the flock encounter a cute alien with extraordinary powers, who crash lands near Mossy Bottom Farm. They have to find a way to return her home in order to prevent her falling into the hands of the Ministry for Alien Detection.[2]

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
  • Richard Phelan
  • Will Becher
Produced byPaul Kewley
Written by
Based on
Starring
Music byTom Howe
CinematographyCharles Copping
Edited bySim Evan-Jones
Production
company
Aardman Animations
Anton Capital Entertainment
Distributed byStudioCanal UK
Release date
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$42.8 million[1]

Plans for a sequel began in 2015, following the release of the first film. The film officially began production following the end of production of Early Man (2018). Richard Starzak was announced to return as director, however, in November 2018, the film was later announced to be directed by Becher and Phelan.

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon was released in theaters on 18 October 2019 in the United Kingdom, and on Netflix in the United States on February 14, 2020. The film made $42.8 million and received positive reviews from critics for its animation, humor, and story. It was nominated at the British Academy Film Awards for Best Animated Film.

Plot

In the town of Mossingham, Farmer John and his dog, Bitzer, discover the landing of a UFO and flee from the alien who comes out of it. On Mossy Bottom Farm, Shaun and the flock attempt to pass time with several dangerous activities, only for Bitzer to stop them and ban their escapades completely. After being banned from having a barbecue for dinner, Shaun decides to order three pizzas, but when the pizzas arrive, both Bitzer—who intercepts two-thirds of the delivery—and the flock discover the pizza boxes are completely empty.

The next morning, Shaun discovers a trail of pizza crusts and encounters the alien. The visitor introduces herself as "Lu-La", an impish alien from the planet To-Pa with extraterrestrial powers, and she can mimic sounds. When Shaun introduces her to the flock, she causes mischief with a combine harvester, damaging it while transforming a field behind the farm house into unintentional crop circles. Taking advantage of the recent news of alien sightings, the Farmer deduces he can create an alien-based theme park, "Farmageddon", in which he can earn money to afford a new harvester.

The Ministry of Alien Detection's (M.A.D.) leader, Agent Red, who has been obsessed with proving the existence of aliens since seeing two of them as a child, investigates the UFO claims. After discovering the UFO has disappeared, both John and Bingo are arrested. Meanwhile, Lu-La and Shaun track down the UFO, which is revealed to have been made invisible earlier. The pair try to get the UFO started but they are unable to. Trying to recall how to start the spaceship and Shaun's query on a picture of her family, Lu-La transmits her memories to Shaun, revealing that she is actually a child and accidentally launched her parents' spaceship while playing on it. They also realize they need an egg-shaped sphere device to activate it. M.A.D. captures the spaceship with Shaun and Lu-La still on board and takes it to their headquarters.

At the base, Shaun and Lu-La slip out and manage to retrieve the device, while the others are distracted by Bitzer, who has been following Shaun and is mistaken as the alien due to the Farmer having dressed him as an alien. Shaun and Lu-La restart the ship and manage to escape with Bitzer, plotting a course for To-Pa; en route, Shaun ignores Bitzer's instructions not to touch anything on the ship and causes them to crash back to Earth. Seeing the UFO destroyed, Lu-La is left heartbroken and powerless. Feeling bad for what he has done, Shaun tries to find another way to get Lu-La home. He discovers that the device can be used to contact Lu-La's parents back on her planet, but requires a signal at a greater height. Shaun suggests that he and Lu-La attempt to reach the top of the Farmer's "Farmageddon" theme park signboard to make contact.

With the help of the flock and Bitzer, Shaun and Lu-La climb the sign while the Farmer launches a show at the theme park. Meanwhile, Red arrives and chases Shaun and Lu-La up the signboard using a robotic device. Delaying her from capturing the alien and eventually pushing her down, Shaun manages to send a distress message to To-Pa. Lu-La's parents, Ub-Do and Me-Ma, quickly arrive and reunite with their daughter. Red eventually welcomes the aliens, recognizing them as the aliens she saw as a child. Shaun, Bitzer and the flock bid the aliens farewell, while the "Farmageddon" theme park and show receive rave reviews as the entire incident is regarded as part of the theme park's show's 'special effects'. On their way back to To-Pa, the aliens discover the Farmer on their UFO, prompting them to take him back to Earth.

In a mid-credits scene the Farmer, now back on Earth, tries out his new harvester, whilst Bitzer and the flock play frisbee. The frisbee blows into the field where the Farmer is, entering the harvester, clogging the machinery, and destroying it by mistake, scaring Shaun, Bitzer, and Timmy.

In a post-credits scene, one of the M.A.D. agents reveals himself to be a clay version of Professor Brian Cox; he plays the song "Things Can Only Get Better" on an electric piano, only for Timmy, in his pyjamas, to come and unplug it, claiming it's too loud.

Cast
  • Justin Fletcher as Shaun, the main character and leader of the flock
    • Fletcher also voices Timmy, Shaun's cousin and the smallest sheep of the flock
  • John Sparkes as Bitzer, the sheepdog of the farm and Shaun's best friend
    • Sparkes also voices the Farmer, the owner of the farm
  • Amalia Vitale as Lu-La, a mischievous female alien who befriends Shaun.
    • Vitale also voices Me-Ma, Lu-La’s mother.
  • Kate Harbour as Timmy's mum, Shaun's aunt.
    • Harbour also voices Agent Red, who is determined to track down the aliens to prove their existence. When she was young, she had encountered them and talked about it to her classmates, only to be laughed at.
  • David Holt as Mugg-1N5, a robotic probe.
  • Richard Webber as Shirley, a fat sheep
    • Webber also voices Obo, Lu-La’s father.
  • Simon Greenall as the twins, two sheep
  • Emma Tate as Hazel, a member of the flock
  • Andy Nyman as Nuts, a sheep with strange eyes
  • Chris Morrell as Farmer John
  • Joe Sugg as Pizza Boy[3]

Production

On 14 September 2015, StudioCanal announced it was working with Aardman on a sequel to Shaun the Sheep Movie.[4] On 25 October 2016, under the working title, Shaun the Sheep Movie 2, Aardman confirmed a sequel would go into pre-production in January 2017 with Richard Starzak, co-director of the first film, returning.[5]

In November 2018, it was announced that Aardman employees Richard Phelan and Will Becher would be co-directing the film, with Starzak still attached as director, due to Peter Lord and David Sproxton giving majority ownership of the company to employees to keep it independent.

Music

The music for the film is composed by Tom Howe. It was initially believed Ilan Eshkeri, who composed the music for Shaun the Sheep Movie, would return, but these rumors were false.

The theme tune for the film is titled "Lazy" and is written by Howe and performed by The Vaccines and Kylie Minogue. Furthermore, like the previous film, the film incorporates a remix of the series theme tune "Life's a Treat". Both Mark Thomas and Vic Reeves return to perform the remix and are joined by Nadia Rose.

Release

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon was first released in Germany on 26 September 2019 while in the United Kingdom, it was released on 18 October 2019.[6] Originally intended to release theatrically in the United States on December 13, 2019, by Lionsgate, the film was sold to Netflix who released it digitally on February 14, 2020.[7]

Marketing

In January 2018, it was announced that the teaser of the film would play theatrically in front of the other Aardman film, Early Man, worldwide, revealing the film's new title and synopsis.[8] On 7 December 2018, Aardman announced through their social media that the teaser trailer for the film along with release dates would be arriving the following week. The teaser trailer was released on 11 December 2018, followed by the first official trailer released on 1 April 2019.[9] On 3 July 2019 the second trailer was released.[10]

Reception

Box office

As of 29 December 2019, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon has made $42.8 million,[11] with the top-grossing country being U.K ($9.1 million), Germany ($6.7 million) and France ($5.4 million). It currently ranks as the 16th highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time.

Critical response

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes records 96% positive reviews based on 72 critics and an average rating of 7.43/10. The critical consensus reads, "A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon retains the charm of its small-screen source material while engagingly expanding the title character's world."[12] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 79 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13]

Awards and nominations
Award Date of Ceremony Category Nominee Result
British Academy Film Awards 2 February 2020 BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film Will Becher, Richard Phelan and Paul Kewley Nominated
British Academy Film Awards 12 March 2020 Best Long Form Will Becher and Richard Phelan Won
British Independent Film Awards[14] 1 December 2019 Best Effects Howard Jones Won
Douglas Hickox Award Will Becher and Richard Phelan Nominated
National Film Awards UK 1 July 2020 Best Animated Film Nominated
London Critics Circle Film Awards 30 January 2020 Technical Achievement Award Nominated
Satellite Awards 19 December 2019 Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media Nominated

Video game

A movie adaptation of Home Sheep Home, entitled Home Sheep Home: Farmageddon Party Edition was released on Nintendo Switch and Steam in October 2019. It was released in Japan in August 2020 by Greenlight Games.[15] In the game, Shaun, Shirley, and Timmy find their way back to the green grass of home, all hosted by Lu-La.[16] The platform-puzzle game re-used much of the gameplay from previous Home Sheep Home games.[17]

gollark: Actively punishing and imprisoning people for being in a bad situation they can't really leave easily is among the stupider things to do, yes.
gollark: I don't really like how the default seems to be "no, you cannot have the thing" in many people's minds.
gollark: There *are* more options than those.
gollark: I mean, you can do it, it would just probably be a bad idea.
gollark: Over here all universities cost the same for in-country students, and they select almost entirely on academic whatever, which is nice.

References
  1. "A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019) – International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  2. Erbland, Kate (11 December 2018). "'A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon' First Trailer: Aardman's Beloved Flock Goes to Space". IndieWire. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  3. Sister Reacts To My Performance!, retrieved 17 September 2019
  4. Hopewell, John (14 September 2015). "'Legend,' 'Shaun,' Smash Benchmarks for Studiocanal". Variety. Variety Media, LLC. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  5. Tartaglione, Nancy (25 October 2016). "Aardman, Studiocanal Reunite Flock For 'Shaun The Sheep Movie 2' – AFM". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media, LLC. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  6. "Shaun the Sheep Movie: Release Dates". shaunthesheep.com. 25 October 2019.
  7. "Netflix Adds Aardman's 'A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon' to Animation Slate — Exclusive". inderwire.com. 22 November 2019.
  8. Starzak, Richard (2019). "Shaun the Sheep Movie 2 teaser trailer before Early Man begins, says Wallace and Gromit maker Aardman". Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  9. "Shaun the Sheep Movie 2: Farmageddon - Official Trailer". YouTube. 1 April 2019.
  10. "Shaun the Sheep Movie 2: Farmageddon - Official Trailer 2". YouTube. 1 August 2019.
  11. "A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019) – International Box Office Results – Box Office Mojo". Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  12. "Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmaggedon". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  13. "Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon Movie". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  14. Yang, Rachel (15 January 2020). "NOMINATIONS THE AWARDS 2019". BIFA. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  15. "ひつじのショーン ホーム・シープ・ホーム：UFOフィーバー！パーティー版". Nintendo Japan. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. https://homesheephomegame.com/

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