It’s hard to ever fault Aardman Animation. Even when they don’t reach the high water mark of “Chicken Run” or “Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” then still end up turning out movies that are either remarkably smarter than they first seem (“Flushed Away”) or have gallons of heart and emotion to spare (“Shaun the Sheep Movie”). While this sequel to the 2015 almost-silent film hit is still funny, it lacks in one particular area the previous film excelled.
Shaun and his flock of wooly friends are as hilarious as ever. The silent film antics Aardman often employs in Shaun’s various adventures continue to delight here. Whether it’s misunderstandings over the proper feed for the sheep or over a new hay bailer, the comedy flows freely throughout this adventure. There are also just as many smaller touches as there are in any Aardman film. The studio’s trademark visual style of leaving in smaller imperfections, such as thumbprints on the characters’ clay bodies or the holes in their eyes from where they were placed with toothpicks, is still ridiculously charming and leaves the impact that you really are watching something made by hand.
Aardman has never really gone for broke when it comes to their films, unlike studios like Laika, and this is no exception. First time directors Will Becher and Richard Phelan keep the film breezily moving along and focusing on smaller comedic moments to keep the sub-90-minute runtime feeling energetic. Moments in a supermarket with an interstellar belch are just one of many highlights.
Speaking of interstellar, yes, this film features an alien finding its way to Shaun’s rural U.K. farm home, and this little creature, referred to as Lu-La, is absolutely adorable. She’s a delight, mischievous and also homesick, setting the adorable-meter off mere moments after being introduced.
Things do get surprisingly intense in the third act, though no one ever really feels in harm’s way. The Aardman style of visuals and humor hardly ever shows much menace, let alone in Shaun’s world. It doesn’t reach the heights of creepy intensity of “Curse of the Were-Rabbit” and the final “battle” is instead yet another excuse to showcase some great visual gags and set pieces.
This is where the biggest criticism of the film comes into play. While every moment of Shaun’s intergalactic adventure is enjoyable, it feels lacking in one aspect that the first Shaun film did so well. Despite the lack of language, with the film being reduced to all manner of baa’s and grunts, the emotional through line of the first film was surprisingly heart wrenching, bringing audiences to tears numerous times throughout its plot. It was and remains one of the most unexpectedly emotional animated films of the last decade.
“Farmageddon” simply doesn’t have that. It does have a much smaller emotional arc, but it doesn’t feel nearly as inventive of unique as the first film’s and ends up being kind of a letdown. What this means is that instead of being the complete package of witty humor and heart wrenching emotion, “Farmageddon” is merely just really really exceptionally funny and clever.
There’s nothing
wrong with that, not in the slightest. It breezes by and ends up delivering
just as much twee humor for the whole family as could be possible in this
format. After all, it’s not very often that a film exists where the little kids
can understand it just as well as the grownups. However, given how strong the
first film’s emotional arc was, it’s disappointing that this film ends up being
only just exceptionally witty. Although, an Aardman film that’s a bit lacking
is still leaps and bounds ahead of pretty much anything Hollywood animation is
churning out. 4/5
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