Right from the poor rooster trying to stay in shot at the start, this comedy adventure is riddled with subtle and detailed humour to complement the entertaining story that sees the eponymous sheep decide he needs a day off from the farm. He and his flock-mates go a-frolicking in the field and that's when disaster strikes. The farmer's caravan becomes unstuck and is soon a lethal missile travelling at great speed towards the big city - and there's nothing "Shaun" can do about it! Desperate, he concludes that he must board a bus and follow it. He sneaks aboard and makes it to the bus station, only to find the animal/pest control fella "Trumper" on alert! He might just be able to avoid him by himself, but when the next bus arrives replete with all his pals, it now becomes just as imperative that they avoid capture as it does that they find the farmer. Meantime, that poor gent is languishing in an hospital ward without the faintest clue whom or where he is! Now they must use all of their guile and a slew of disguises - even quite a provocative one - to get everyone back home safely. What ensues now is a series of genuinely quite funny scenarios with "Bitzer' the dog helping out as they must reunite with their erstwhile master and see if they can't jog his memory - ideally before his haircut craze takes off too completely. The standard of animation from Aardman is always great but they sometime struggle with full length screenplays. Not so here. This is a cleverly constructed piece of cinema with loads going on, a bit of slap-stick and an almost familial message of looking out for each other. There's not a great deal of dialogue, most of this is just left to the characters and our imagination and I think that worked well. I'm not sure "Shaun" will be taking any more days off anytime soon, though!
