Studio: Aardman Animations, BBC
Distributor: BBC Worldwide
Short Synopsis
Wallace and Gromit now run a window-cleaning business, Wash 'n' Go. A runaway lamb, escaping from a sheep-rustling gang, hides in their house and eats everything, including wool from Wallace's new Knit-O-Matic machine, which shears, knits and spits him out bald; they name him Shaun. Wallace is smitten with Wendolene Ramsbottom, the owner of the local wool shop, who keeps a frightening dog, Preston. Preston, a cyborg built by Wendolene's inventor father, is the leader of the sheep rustlers: he steals sheep and turns them into dog food with a terrible mincing machine. He frames Gromit for the sheep-rustling, and Gromit goes to prison. Shaun and the flock break him out. In a final chase, Wallace and Gromit, the sheep, and Preston race through the countryside and the wool shop, ending with a showdown in the Knit-O-Matic and in Preston's own mincing machine. Preston is caught in the machine and shredded, revealing his metal frame. Wendolene, who never wanted to be part of it, turns down Wallace's affection, because she is allergic to cheese, and Shaun returns to the flock.
Why It Matters
- The film turns the claymation adventure into a full-scale action movie, with a motorbike chase, a jailbreak led by sheep and a villainous robot dog modelled on the Terminator, and Shaun, the bald little lamb, steals the show.
- It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, Nick Park's third Oscar, and Shaun the Sheep later became the star of his own long-running television series and feature films. Its success helped Aardman secure the DreamWorks partnership that led to Chicken Run (2000).
Notes and Trivia
- Anne Reid voices Wendolene Ramsbottom.
- Preston's design and his "rebuilt" form parody The Terminator.
- See also: The Wrong Trousers (1993).