^{Credit: Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom (Aardman Animations, GKIDS)}

If you’ve seen 2015’s Shaun the Sheep Movie and 2019’s Farmageddon, The Beast of Mossy Bottom may come off as familiar. When the name Aardman is attached, though, familiarity isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We can always count on this studio to deliver clever visual gags, charming characters, and stop-motion animation that’s distinctly... well, Aardman. While The Beast of Mossy Bottom doesn’t break new ground for Aardman, directors Steve Cox and Matthew Walker do bring a few unique touches, namely the Halloween backdrop. It may not be scary, but it will get you in the spirit of the season. 

With All Hallows’ Eve on the horizon, Shaun and his fellow sheep are busy growing pumpkins for jack-o'-lanterns. Meanwhile, the Farmer wants to ask out the local veterinarian, although his almost entirely receded hairline holds him back. The Farmer’s attempt to court his crush leaves the pumpkin patch in disarray, leaving a single seed. This is enough to awaken Shaun’s inner mad scientist, developing a formula that can make things grow at a rapid rate. While it works wonders on the pumpkins, Shaun’s experiment coincidentally - or perhaps not-so-coincidentally - coincides with the Farmer’s sudden disappearance and the arrival of a hairy monster terrorizing the town. 

You can probably connect the dots. You’ll also likely experience déjà vu. Several plot points not only echo the first Shaun the Sheep Movie, but also Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The story doesn’t bring many surprises, although there are plenty of smiles along the way. The opening, in particular, is right out of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” as the farm residents rise from slumber like zombies. If Curse of the Were-Rabbit was a Wolf Man parody, then The Beast of Mossy Bottom is Aardman’s answer to Frankenstein (Frankensheep, if you will), leading to some lovingly crafted imagery. 

Being an Aardman production, we expect quality craftsmanship. The art direction in Beast of Mossy Bottom is on another level, however. The production design is draped in Halloween, with colors that leap out at the audience, especially when so many other movies are desaturated. Weirdly enough, this somehow manages to be the darkest Shaun the Sheep Movie while also being the most vibrant. Even if you turned the sound off, the film would still be a delight to observe. It doesn’t hurt that this series already borrows a fair deal from silent cinema. 

While the aesthetic and theme help to distinguish it from past entries, The Beast of Mossy Bottom’s narrative can still feel formulaic. Even at their most familiar, though, Shaun the Sheep Movies are a breath of fresh air compared to most other franchises. Aside from Three Flavours Cornetto, I can’t think of many other trilogies where one entry is dedicated to horror and another is about aliens. The Beast of Mossy Bottom will naturally also draw comparisons to The Sheep Detectives in what’s been an unusually good year for wooly protagonists. The Sheep Detectives may be superior, but The Beast of Mossy Bottom should become part of your family’s Halloween tradition. The film is funny, atmospheric, and, in its own way, hair-raising. 

Awards Potential:

Best Animated Feature (Oscar, Golden Globes, BAFTA)

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Available Now!