Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)

A scene from "Shaun the Sheep Movie," the new animated
movie from the makers of "Wallace & Gromit."

Plunged into a state of ennui from the clockwork daily routine of farm life, an enterprising, slightly mischievous young sheep figures out a way for him and his friends to avoid the farmer’s clippers and get a day off to sit on the couch, watch TV and eat snacks in “Shaun the Sheep Movie,” the delightful, funny and imaginative latest work from Aardman Animations, the wildly talented team out of Bristol, England behind such stop-motion gems as “Wallace & Gromit” (about an absent-minded Brit and his faithful dog) and “Chicken Run” (a cartoon version of “The Great Escape”).

The plan, of course, doesn’t go smoothly. Shaun and the rest of the flock from Mossy Bottom Farm end up sending their owner on a wild ride to the Big City, as it’s called, where he crashes and winds up with a case of amnesia. The sheep travel to retrieve the farmer, but are threatened with capture by a relentless animal control agent, who wants to lock them up in dark, gloomy cells with other stray animals and hilariously wayward pets—menacing dogs, a cat version of Hannibal Lecter, and a melancholy, harmonica-playing goldfish.

Along the way, Shaun is joined by a flurry of quirky, wonderfully distinct characters—all with the big, expressive eyes that are an Aardman trademark. There’s Bitzker, the farmer’s sheepdog, a shepherd with a weakness for bones and a skepticism that suggests Gromit; Slip, a lonely, lovable homeless dog with scraggly features; Timmy, a tiny sheep who looks up to Shaun; and Shirley, a sheep so large that items disappear under her round, cottony coat.

Most strikingly, there is no dialogue in “Shaun the Sheep.” The characters communicate almost entirely through facial expressions and physical gestures. It’s like a stop-motion silent film, with sounds limited to indecipherable murmurs and mumbles, grunts and groans, sighs and sometimes whistles. And since so much depends on the movie functioning in visual terms, its success is a celebration of the storytelling power of imagery and movement.

Much like Wallace & Gromit, which began as a series of short films before inspiring a feature-length movie in 2005, Shaun started small, first with a supporting role in “A Close Shave” in 1995, then as a series in 2007 for British television. The wunderkind behind these worlds is Nick Park, who created the characters and directed the films. This time, Park is signed on as executive producer, turning over the directing reins to fellow Aardman players Mark Burton and Richard Starzak, who also co-wrote the screenplay.

Still, it’s likely Park had plenty of influence on the collective vision. Regardless of who’s at the controls, nowhere else in movies is stop-motion animation done with such consistent beauty, humor and warmth. “Shaun the Sheep Movie” is another splendid example of the Aardman team operating at the peak of their creative powers.