After my rave about the 2015 outing, I pretty much had to see this soon. Even if it meant reviewing three British movies in a row, each made in a successive year ending with 9.
A flying saucer descends pretty close to Mossy Bottom Farm, with one frightened human witness to its landing site and the solo pilot's emergence. As luck would have it, the alien, Lu-La, comes to the farm and is discovered by Shaun, who lets the other sheep in on her(?) but hides her from the farmer and his dog, Bitzer. The farmer does notice rumors of a UFO and decides to cash in by directing his animals to construct a crude theme park. The sheep cover for Shaun as he and Lu-La sneak out, trying to get her home before the Ministry of Alien Detection, led by a grimly determined Agent Red and a beleaguered WALL-E-like robot, stops her.
If there's any growth for the preexisting characters, it's in both Shaun and Bitzer. Early on, Bitzer puts his foot down on all kinds of activities that the sheep want to do, many admittedly dangerous (and likely to get the farmer to blame him), but others just make him look like a tyrannical stick in the mud. Shaun's defiance goes from reckless to wreckful. Both learn to dial it back for reasonable responsibility.
As always, the animals don't talk at all and the humans gibber; it's even mocked herein when an officer takes dictation (the rest of the Earthling text being plain English). Oddly enough, the alien language is the most understandable, as certain key words come up repeatedly.
Lu-La's head may evoke a pastel rabbit, but impressive speed is about the only other commonality. She has four long yet easily hidden limbs, which can share her memories by pressing another's head. More frequently exercised abilities include perfect vocal imitations and telekinesis, when she has the energy for it.
The film's similarity to E.T. was not lost on the filmmakers, who included an obligatory moon-passing parody. I also recognized references to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and even Jaws, along with two non-Spielberg TV shows, The X-Files and Doctor Who.
Farmageddon gets a high score on Rotten Tomatoes but a relatively middling one on IMDb. I'm inclined toward the latter. The first problem is the premise, which feels not just unoriginal but out of place in the realm of Shaun. It's what I expect of a show running out of ideas and jumping the shark. What's next? Time travel? A Freaky Friday flip? A genie?
I can forgive almost any premise with a great execution, but this points to the next problem. I think this is a little too kiddie even for Aardman Animations. Lu-La acts like a young child, because she is one. The interchangeable agents in hazmat suits are dim bulbs, and so are most other humans. Shaun is not at his cleverest, and some developments are predictable. There's a belch gag more extreme than the one from the Flushed Away trailer, along with a couple toilet gags. At least there's no visible sheep excrement for a change.
Perhaps the best thing about Farmageddon is the sweetness in the resolution. Agent Red is not irredeemable, and basically all the major characters end up content, however poignantly. Until the mid-credit sequence, anyway.
If all you're looking for is cuteness or something G-rated to keep your children busy, by all means, check this out. If you're more of a Shaun purist, proceed with caution.
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