Critics reviews

It possesses the same dry wit, outlandish situations, and distinctive characters as the Wallace and Gromit films and Chicken Run.

Another beautifully realized movie, perfection from stem to stern, almost every pertinent detail the introduction to an observation or a gag that will pay off beautifully, sometimes within seconds, sometimes not until the end credits. Also a sincerely sunny and sweet-natured work that's never cloying.

Much like Pixar, the Aardman house style is flexible enough to accommodate multiple writers and directors, all putting their own stamp on the house style. With Shaun, the Aardmans exhibit their clearest debt to the silent comedians, along with a uniquely collectivist brand of British pastoral humor.

The chaos builds and builds with plenty of sweep, wit, and vigor, as the film's avoidance of dialogue adds to the intensity with which situations spiral out of control. For whatever reason, dialogue in most action setpieces — even appropriately breathless dialogue — tends to have a tamping-down, unwinding effect; when action unfolds without anyone being able to say anything, it compounds the urgency.

Aardman Animations, the British outfit responsible for the Wallace and Gromit films, delivers another highly enjoyable clay animation whose visual humor harks back to silent movie comedy... The sight gags are so meticulously designed that they often recall Rube Goldberg inventions; much of the fun derives from seeing how the filmmakers pull off their elaborate comic scenarios.

The situations may not be as wildly imaginative as they usually are in the Wallace and Gromit films, including the feature-length The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but this sweetly silly little-sheep-in-the-big-city cartoon has generous lashings of Aardman Animations' trademark warmth, visual inventiveness, and satisfying Claymation tactility.

It's clever without being smug or self-satisfied, which is more than can be said for even the best animated fare of late, and almost radical in its lack of any intelligible dialogue.

The result is suitable, by definition, for kids of all ages (though it may be slightly overlong for the very young) – but will also entice non-chaperone adults with some wildly clever gags, crack comic timing and an overall sweetness (even, dare we say it, innocence) that's sadly missing from most multiplex animation.

Retaining the gentle, non-verbal comedy and daffy sight gags of the popular stop-motion TV series — itself a loose spinoff from Aardman's cherished "Wallace and Gromit" franchise — while assigning Shaun and his flock an urban escapade more expansive than their usual short-form gambols, the film should reward small fry and parents jaded by more synthetic kiddie toons.