Small ship. Big movie.
The film opens with a montage, set to Tim Wheeler's "Feels Like Summer". The montage shows clips of a young farmer just starting out his career with a new flock of lambs. He bottlefeeds the smallest, Shaun, and lets the little ones run and play with his new puppy Bitzer. Sometimes he plays with them as well, and they are a big happy family of sorts. He also takes a photograph of himself holding baby Bitzer and baby Shaun, with the rest of the lambs gathered round them. He keeps this photograph for many years.Time fast-forwards to the present day, and Shaun, Bitzer, and the flock have all grown up. One member of the flock has a baby of her own, Timmy. The farmer has grown older, and stricter. And Mossy Bottom Farm itself has grown to include many more animals - a rooster, chickens, a goat, a cow, a bull, three pigs, and some ducks. The farm has also become a lot less fun; the Farmer now has a schedule hung on the barn door, and with Bitzer's help he makes sure the sheep follow it to the letter. Every day has become the same routine over and over - the sheep are led into the field, allowed a specific time to graze, are penned up for part of the day, bathed or sheared if necessary, and then led back. The picture from the days when they all played together has been dusty and forgotten in the back of the storage shed for a long time.As the days go by, Shaun and the other sheep grow weary of the same dull routine. After one particularly rough day of shearing, Shaun becomes fed up with the farmer. He spots a bus driving by with the slogan "Take a day off" in large letters on the side. Shaun decides this is what the sheep need to do, and starts trying to cook up a plan to make it happen.The next morning, before the farmer has risen, Shaun gets up early and tells the other sheep his plan. He goes out and bribes one of the ducks to decoy Bitzer away for the day, paying him in slices of toast. The duck ties a bone to a string. Bones have a hypnotic effect on Bitzer, and he follows it blindly. The duck leads him across the fields and to a tall tree, where he leaves the bone dangling just out of reach while Bitzer vainly tries to jump and grab it.The farmer comes to the barn, and after searching for Bitzer without success, decides to handle getting the sheep across the lane and into the field on his own. While he is doing this, Shaun whacks him in the backside with a wad of paper shot from a toy catapult. The farmer searches for the culprit and the sheep start wandering down the lane. The farmer heads them off near a gap in the hedge which has a small, short gate, and orders them to jump over it into their field. The sheep obey, jumping in single file over the gate. However, once in the field, they follow Shaun through a second gap in the hedge farther down, then circle back and do it again. In this way they have made a ring around the farmer of continuously jumping sheep. The farmer, of course, is confused and starts counting them. However, doing so puts him instantly to sleep.The sheep celebrate their success but Shaun stops them for fear the farmer will wake. He puts earmuffs on the farmer to keep him from waking. The sheep change him back into his pajamas, put him in a wheelbarrow, and search for a place to put him. They spot an old abandoned caravan left at the side of the road, on the other side of the field. They wheel the farmer over to it and lay him in the bed, shutting all the windows and drawing nightscapes on them. They then lock him in and proceed to throw a party, cavorting across the fields and enjoying their freedom. Once they tire of this, they go indoors and - making rather a mess in the process - fix themselves some food and drinks and settle down to watch a movie.The party comes to an abrupt end when a very angry Bitzer, having discovered the ruse, barges in carrying the duck. Reluctantly, the sheep show him where they have put the farmer, who still has not awakened. Bitzer tries to let him out, but the door handle breaks off instead of unlocking. The chock holding the caravan in place is jiggled loose as Bitzer struggles with the door, and suddenly the caravan starts careening downhill. Bitzer hangs onto the back as tightly as he can but is dragged down the hill with it. The sheep all grab hold of Bitzer as well and soon there is a line of animals being dragged behind the speeding caravan.The piece of the caravan that Bitzer is hanging onto breaks off just as the caravan smashes through the main gate on the road to Mossy Bottom Farm, and he and the sheep are left lying in the dust, watching it roll away. Shaun tries to lead the sheep in pursuit of it, but Bitzer is furious with them for having caused the disaster in the first place. He tells them to stay out of it and pursues the caravan himself. The sheep wait for him to return, but when he does not they eventually trail back to the farm, reasoning there is nothing else they can do.Bitzer chases the caravan until he comes to a stoplight - as it is red, he obediently stops. The caravan rolls on down the hill, out of the countryside, and starts barrelling towards the Big City. When the light turns green, Bitzer charges after the caravan once again. By this time, the farmer has awakened - however, having misplaced his glasses, he just thinks he is in his own bedroom, until the window shade rolls up and he sees he is about to crash into oncoming traffic. Mercifully, the caravan finally hits a level patch and slows to a stop; however, the hitch of the caravan collides with a street lamp, and when the farmer steps out of the caravan to see where he is, the giant bulb of the street lamp falls on his head, knocking him out. Bitzer catches up to the caravan just in time to see the farmer, conscious but woozy, being taken away in an ambulance. He pursues the farmer to the hospital, only to be thrown out because there is a "no dogs allowed" sign on the door. Now very worried, he sits on a bench nearby to figure out what to do.Back at the farm, the sheep find their plan to resume their snack and movie has been foiled by the pigs, who have taken over the house for their own party and locked them out. The hungry sheep go to the trough where the farmer puts the special sheep feed once a day, only to find it is empty because the farmer never filled it that morning. The sheep feed is on a high shelf, and Shaun tries to use a grabber that the farmer recently installed on the tractor to get it down, but he puts the tractor in reverse by mistake and crashes into the bull's field. The enraged bull rampages around the farm, releasing the hungry goat in the process, and the two of them soon have the whole place in chaos.The sheep begin to cry, and tell Shaun they miss having the farmer there. Shaun knows the mess is his fault, so he reasons he will have to go to the city and find the farmer and Bitzer himself. He packs a rucksack with several things he thinks he will need, including an old tape recorder, some binoculars, and the picture they took when the farmer was young and Shaun and Bitzer were babies. He writes "Missing" on this, and then when the regular morning bus stops by, he climbs onboard and hides under a chair, riding to the big city. Along the way he accidentally sets the tape player off, and it plays "Feels Like Summer". He quickly shuts it off before anyone can hear.Meanwhile, the farmer has had his headwound treated, and has been evaluated by the hospital staff. They ask him who he is, but he cannot remember. As his reflexes and everything else seem to be in order, the doctors decide his only problem is amnesia and write this on his hotel chart.Shaun's bus arrives in the Big City. After the rest of the passengers exit, he makes his way down the stairs and looks around the bus terminal to see if the coast is clear. He spots a scruffy little dog named Slip, who is foraging for food in a trash can. He waves to her, but a large and angry man suddenly appears on the scene, grabs her with a claw-like device, and throws her in the back of a paddy wagon. The side of the paddy wagon says "Animal Containment Unit", and by the way the man and the people watching are acting, Shaun realizes that stray animals are strictly forbidden in the city and that he is in danger.It is at this moment that a second bus comes in from the countryside, and parks next to Shaun's bus. To his horror, he sees the rest of the flock has sneaked aboard and followed him. The Animal Containment officer is still patrolling, so Shaun quickly makes them all climb out of the bus and under it. The officer spots the tail of one of the sheep, however, and gets out of his car, carrying his animal grabbing device.Shaun sees they are being followed and quickly has the sheep duck into a clothing store in the bus terminal. The officer spots the tail of the hindmost sheep again and runs in the store after them, showing his badge with the surname "Trumper" on it. However, by the time he gets there, the sheep have bought and changed into clothes that disguise them as humans, so there are no stray animals in sight. Two of the sheep, sitting on top of one another, are dressed up as an attractive female - having come up with nothing, Trumper gives up looking for animals and flirts a bit with "her", before returning to his wagon and driving off. The sheep leave the bus terminal and commence their search for the farmer.Outside the hospital, Bitzer can stand the suspense no longer. A laundry van comes to drop off cleaned goods, and Bitzer hides in a wagon full of scrubs, and is wheeled into the hospital. Disguised as a doctor, he jumps out of the wagon and begins to look for the farmer. However, just as he finds the room the farmer is in, the security officer that threw him out the first time starts coming down the hall. Bitzer ducks into the nearest room quickly, but it's an operating room and he suddenly finds himself expected to perform a stomach operation on a patient. He does everything he can to stall, waiting on the security officer to leave the hallway. His cover is blown when a nurse moves a bit to reveal a skeleton hanging on the wall in the back. As before, the bones have a hypnotic effect on Bitzer; unable to stop himself, he runs over to it, losing his scrubs, and starts eating it. The nurses panic, alarms go off, and Trumper shows up outside the hospital to retrieve Bitzer. In all this chaos, the farmer leaves the hospital, taking his chart with him, and begins wandering around town, trying to discover who he is.Shaun and the flock work their way around town, trying to blend in with the crowd and find the farmer. Many times, their cover is nearly blown, and when they accidentally destroy a pantomime horse putting on a show, they find themselves running from an angry crowd. They duck into the nearest building to hide, and it turns out to be a fancy restaurant. Having not eaten since their interrupted party, the sheep beg Shaun to let them stay. They try to fit in by copying what a customer across from them, who is clearly a celebrity, is doing - reading the menu, drinking the wine, and so on.Timmy is tucked under the table, since he was the only sheep not disguised as a human (he was disguised as a backpack) and he spots a trolley with cakes rolling by. He creeps out and steals one of the cakes. Shaun sees this and walks over, tucking Timmy underneath his jumper and trying to get back to the table unnoticed. However, a thread of his sweater snags on the trolley, and his jumper is pulled off of him and he is exposed as a sheep. He tries to flee and in doing so throws the whole restaurant into a panic at a dirty sheep running round. Food is dropped, people fall and crash into one another, and the famous celebrity has his pompadour ruined by a flying purse, horrifying him. Trumper arrives on the scene and takes Shaun into custody. As he is dragged off, Shaun notices Timmy's teddy bear lying on the ground and Timmy looking longingly at it. Shaun rescues it before it is thrown away but is taken into the paddy wagon before he can give it back. As the paddy wagon heads off to the animal containment facility, Shaun spots the farmer, sad and lost, wandering about town. But the farmer doesn't see him or hear his cries.The famous celebrity rushes into an upscale stylist's shop, nearly in tears that his big hairdo was ruined. The farmer, wandering by, sees a set of electric clippers dangling by the chair - they look remarkably like a pair of sheep shears - and the customer's masses of unruly, fluffy platinum blonde hair. A memory is jogged of shearing the sheep and before he knows what he is doing he has stepped in, grabbed the customer round the neck, and shaved his hair short. The other stylists grab the farmer and drag him off the customer, and the farmer is horrified at what he has done. The customer is furious, until he sees himself in the mirror. His hair is not unlike Shaun's little topknot now, and he likes the look of it so much he pays the stylist's shop a good deal of money. The celebrity and his fans share the story on social media, and soon the farmer finds himself hailed as a celebrity in his own right - Mr. X, Hairstylist to the Stars. He decides to embrace this new identity, and is hired by the stylist's shop, where people eagerly line up to have their hair done by him.Shaun is led to the Animal Containment facility, which is run like a hardcore prison under Trumper's steely eye as warden. The other two workers try to make it more like an animal shelter, but he undermines their efforts, liking the power he has over all the helpless creatures. Shaun is thrown into a cell, only to find that his cellmate is Bitzer. Shaun is relieved to see him, but Bitzer is absolutely livid with him and refuses to be consoled, chewing Shaun out for landing them in this mess. The other animals in the cells are unfriendly as well - a vicious cat has a cone to keep it from biting people, a morose turtle does nothing but count days until he is released, a rottweiler and a poodle lift weights and growl if anyone looks at them, and a big grey pit bull with bloodshot eyes does nothing but stare unnervingly at Bitzer the entire time. Trumper watches all this with sadistic satisfaction from security cameras he has set up about the place.Wearied of chewing Shaun out, Bitzer proceeds to give him the silent treatment. Shaun looks around the cells and spots Slip, the little scruffy dog he saw before, in the cage next door. She is happy to see him, and he her. Moments later, a young couple enters, having seen a sign the other two Animal Containment workers hung out asking for people to adopt the strays (Trumper takes it down moments later). The animals immediately go on their best behavior, hoping to be adopted. Slip, sits up and begs, trying to look as cute as she can, but because of her scruffy fur and jagged teeth, the people pass her over as too ugly. She cries and retreats to the back of her cell as the couple adopts a large iguana instead and leaves.The two sheep disguised as a woman come into the shelter and start flirting with Trumper, which surprises Shaun and shocks Bitzer. Outside, while Trumper is distracted, the rest of the flock have divested themselves of their disguises and are tying a rope to the bars of the cell window. Shirley, the biggest and strongest sheep, tugs and rips the bars and a section of wall out. The sheep celebrate their victory until they see they have only taken down the lavatory wall. Shaun and Bitzer's cell is across from it. The sheep panic and abort the plan when an alarm goes off. Trumper comes running after them. Thinking quickly, Shaun draws with chalk a realistic hole in the wall of the cell and he and Bitzer hide under the bench. Trumper spots the fake hole and runs in to investigate. Shaun and Bitzer swipe his keys and dash out the opened door, locking him in. Shaun frees Slip, and the three of them run out and join the fleeing sheep. Slip, who knows her way about the city, shows them the way to safety, and they all celebrate. Shaun returns Timmy's teddy bear and tries to shake Bitzer's paw. However, Bitzer refuses to give Shaun a handshake back, as he is still very unhappy with him.The sheep see a billboard advertising the salon that the farmer, AKA Mr. X, is working at. His picture is on it, and so is a map leading there. Slip knows that street, so she leads Shaun and the flock there, clearly enjoying very much being in the company of so many friends. The Sheep are excited, but Bitzer is not so sure, sensing trouble ahead. When they arrive at the shop, Slip keeps watch while Shaun sneaks in. He bleats to let the farmer know he is there. The farmer looks at him for a moment, but his memory does not return and he starts to shoo Shaun away. Shaun does not understand, and tries to move closer, but the farmer backs away from him, disgusted. The other people in the shop start to notice and someone calls the authorities. Shaun is heartbroken, and stands there in tears. Bitzer, deciding that they can't risk their lives if the farmer doesn't want them anymore now that he's a celebrity, runs in and forces Shaun out. Slip leads them into the sewers before the authorities get there and to the junkyard in which she lives.Back at the animal containment facility, the other two workers discover Trumper locked in the cell, staring down the pit bull which is giving him the same look it was giving Bitzer. They let him out, and he gets a special animal grabber that is also a taser, and a pair of special computerized goggles that track animal hair. He takes the mug shots of Shaun, Slip, and Bitzer, and vows to bring them back in.Miserably, the sheep try to settle down in the junkyard. Shaun looks at the old photo he had been showing around town when they were searching for the farmer, but the wind blows it away, out of his reach. Slip is happy to have some friends with her in her lonely junkyard, but she can't seem to cheer up the sheep and Bitzer, who seem to have hit an all-time low. Then, Timmy starts crying, and the sheep start to try to cheer up for his sake. Bitzer tries to comfort him with his teddy bear, but to no avail. Shaun remembers the tape recorder and sets it off, and the cheery "Feels Like Summer" starts playing. Timmy is consoled, until the ancient cassette suddenly breaks mid-song. He starts to cry again, and in desperation Shaun whistles the tune instead. Shirley starts vocalizing the tune's melody as a bass line, and three other sheep join her, harmonizing. They give a bouncy, barbershop quartet style rendition of the song. Another sheep starts beat-boxing, and yet another picks up an old bicycle wheel and plays it like a guitar. Shaun joins in the singing, and soon the whole flock is either playing or singing the song in a moving, sweet performance. The music floats out of the junkyard and across the city.In the stylist's shop, the farmer hears the tune and is intrigued. He steps into the supply closet, opening the window to listen better. A memory is jogged, and he starts to question whether he has another purpose out there instead of being a stylist to the snobs of the world. He pulls the chart that says "memory loss" out of his pocket and looks at it, reminding himself he really doesn't have a true identity yet. But his new boss calls him to come back to work, so he wads up the chart and throws it out the window, deciding to go back to the one thing he knows he can do.The wad of paper is blown by wind and passing cars into the nearby junkyard. Shaun gathers it and several other bits of wood and paper to put in a large fire drum that Bitzer has set up to keep everyone warm as the cold night sets in. As the fire burns, the chart unfolds. Bitzer sees the farmer's face on it, and he and Shaun fish the half-burnt chart out quickly. When they read the words "Memory Loss", the flock realizes the truth about why the farmer didn't want them, and Shaun decides that they have to get the farmer back home to Mossy Bottom to remind him who he really is. The question is, how could they pull it off without being caught?Trumper, meanwhile, is hot on their trail thanks to his special goggles. Even the most minute strand of wool causes them to set off an alarm, and he uses this to follows their route across the city doggedly, getting more and more angry as the trail winds on with no sign of the actual sheep. He is determined to catch them and exact revenge at all costs.Slip shows Shaun a big pile of junk not unlike the one they have at the farm, which they have used before to create all sorts of inventions. Shaun decides the sheep will make their greatest invention now, and draws out a blueprint for it, and the plan to get the farmer home. With Slip's help, they put the device together, and set back off under the cover of night to the stylist's shop. Upon arrival there, Slip makes sure the coast is clear, then gets the farmer's attention. The sheep set up a gate near the window of the shop, and in a ring, as before, start to jump over it one by one. Not only the farmer but everyone else in the shop and on the nearby street succumbs to slumber, leaving the sheep free to do as they please.The sheep capture the farmer and drag him into an alley, and their invention is revealed as a life-size mechanical horse, which the sleeping farmer, now disguised as a mounted policeman, is riding on while Slip and the sheep operate it from inside. Bitzer is at the helm, and he "drives" the horse down the street, only to run smack into Trumper. He is momentarily fooled by the ruse, and asks the farmer if he's seen the three escaped animals. The sheep make the sleeping farmer mime directions and Trumper starts to walk away. However, his glasses go off as he looks at the horse. He starts to run after it and trips. His head rips through the fabric and he sees the sheep inside, but he is stuck half-in and half-out of the "horse" and can't do a thing about it. Timmy beats him over the head with his teddy bear, knocking him loose, and the sheep use an augmented fire extinguisher as a rocket to propel the horse away from Trumper as fast as they can go. Trumper shoots his electrified grabber at the horse but it gets tangled round a leg and Trumper finds himself helplessly towed after it, eventually crashing into a garbage bin.The sheep and the two dogs stop the horse at the spot where the old caravan still sits, abandoned, on the sidewalk by the wrecked street lamp. They all pile inside, and Shaun lassos the trailer hitch to a passing bus, which he knows is heading back towards Mossy Bottom farm. Trumper chases the camper on foot and uses his non-electrified grabber to catch hold of the back, but they hit a bump and he vanishes from view, much to their delight.The bus passes by the farm and the sheep make the rope come loose, the caravan coming to rest in the spot where it was before the whole mess started. However, it misses the chock and almost rolls away back towards the city again, much to the sheep's horror. The Bull spots the camper about to roll away and, having calmed down from his temper tantrum earlier, runs over and rescues it, putting it safely back into place. The sheep, Bitzer, and Slip get the still-sleeping farmer back into the wheelbarrow, and start to wheel him back towards the farmhouse. However, Trumper was actually run over by the caravan and clung onto the underside. He climbs out now, practically insane with rage, and with the seat of his trousers completely stripped off by friction with the road to reveal his red underwear beneath. He starts to storm after the sheep and dogs, grabbing a large scythe from a nearby field to finish them off.Shaun spots Trumper coming after them and changes course, and the lot of them pile into a small shed, locking the door and trying to wake the deeply-sleeping farmer who has been oblivious to the whole incident. Trumper winds caution tape round the building to seal them in, and then uses the tractor, with its new grabber, to rip the shed from its foundation and push it down the lane to a nearby granite quarry. The barb-wire fence round the quarry prevents the shed from being pushed over more than halfway - while the sheep try to figure out an escape, Shaun manages to wake the farmer by waving the contents of a bag of manure beneath his nose. This wakes him, but his memory is still gone and he screams in terror and tries to back away from all the animals.Trumper uses the grabber to pick up the shed and lift it over the fence of the quarry, but can't figure out how to get it to let go. Fearing the end has come, all the animals huddle against the farmer in a tight hug, crying. The farmer is stunned, and then sees his reflection in the window of the shed. The positions they are in are not unlike the old photograph he took of himself, Shaun, Bitzer, and the flock when they were all young. His memory returns in a rush, and he hugs the sheep back lovingly, then proceeds to heroically barge out the door of the shed to confront Trumper. Unfortunately, his short sight made him pick the wrong door and he plunges into the quarry. Bitzer catches and saves him, but the two of them are now leaning out the door dangling perilously over the sheer drop. Shaun jumps out the right door and struggles with Trumper, trying to get the tractor to go in reverse. He succeeds in this effort, dragging the shed and its occupants back onto solid ground, but Trumper grabs him bodily and throws him into the quarry, intent on killing him.The farmer catches Shaun and saves his life, and hugs him affectionately. He sets him down and confronts Trumper, who, while a terror to animals, shows himself a coward in the face of an angry human and starts to run away as the furious farmer advances upon him. Then Slip attacks him, chewing on his leg. In trying to escape from her, he turns his red-clad backside into the bull's line of vision. The bull charges and butts him hard in the rear. Trumper sails clean over the quarry to the other side of it, crashing headlong into a massive pile of manure. Everyone celebrates and heads back to the farmhouse - the pigs see them coming, and hurriedly clean and vacate it, so the farmer notices nothing amiss when he goes in.As the farmer goes back to his own bed after his city adventure, Bitzer finally shows Shaun he has forgiven him by giving him a high five and then hugging him. Shaun looks around for Slip, but she is nowhere to be found, having walked away during the celebration earlier. He finds a note pinned on the garden gate, saying she has left now that she isn't needed. He tries to run after her and bring her back, and sees her going down the lane back towards the city. The bus from earlier is returning and nearly runs her over - the driver skids to a stop just inches from her, and gets out to make sure she is okay. Slip tries to look cute but her ugly face still has snaggle teeth sticking out everywhere. However, the female bus driver smiles and shows the same sort of snaggled teeth, and picks up Slip and decides to take her home with her. Having found a family at last, Slip is happy, and waves goodbye to Shaun as the bus driver takes them both back home to the Big City.The next morning, the rooster crows and everyone wakes up to business as usual, but everyone is going about it more happily and with more of a spring in their step. The Farmer and Bitzer open the barn and the sheep happily gather round the farmer, glad to have him home again. The moment is almost ruined as the farmer sadly looks at the schedule, clearly wishing for once they didn't have to do it. Bitzer makes the decision for him by grabbing the paper, wadding it up, and throwing it to the goat to eat.During the credits, images are shown of the farmer, Bitzer, and the Sheep enjoying a day off in the country. Trumper is fired from his position and becomes a street hawker for a chicken restaurant. The other two workers convert the containment facility into a true shelter, and Slip and her new owner both get braces to straighten their teeth. The farmer turns the news on to see something about Mr. X having disappeared on horseback, which confuses him a bit, and the Rooster comes by carrying a sign that says "The End".
Orig. title:
Shaun the Sheep
Score: 73 %
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