Film Preview: Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)

Page Revisions:

(May 24, 2015) Original
(August 2, 2015) New Posters (#6-#12) / Page Redesigned

Release Date:

August 7, 2015

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “When Shaun decides to take the day off and have some fun, he gets a little more action than he bargained for. A mix up with the Farmer, a caravan and a very steep hill lead them all to the Big City and it’s up to Shaun and the flock to return everyone safely to the green grass of home.”

Poster Rating: B- / B- / C+ / D / D+ / C (3) / B (4)

Review: (#1 & #2) These two designs are similar in tone, keeping the jovial nature of anthropomorphic sheep as an attention-getter, but the film-based scenery doesn’t seem as exciting or vibrant as it needs to be. (#3) This one is in keeping with the prior two, but it’s a bit more static, isolating the characters, but limiting their mobility.

(#4) We get that Shaun wants to laze about for the day, but that’s exposition we want out of the trailer or the film, not from a poster. This is unbelievably boring. (#5) While it’s a slight improvement over (#4), this design gives us a herd of sheep that at least generate a touch of the depth lacking from the predecessor.

(#6-#8) This is an unnecessary trio of designs that employs a progressive background image, but seems utterly clueless in how to sell the film. Were they intending to make an entire wall-length series of connected posters? This seems like too few. (#9-#12) This quartet on the other hand, is a much more compelling set, skewering four of the year’s most familiar films, Ant-Man, Minions, Spectre and Mission: Impossible. While I lump them together for review purposes, the Minions design doesn’t quite work, but the Mission: Impossible spoof is by far the most clever.

Trailer Rating: B+

Review: When you see the Aardman name, you know it must be good and the studio is definitely working hard to maintain that expectation. This trailer provides plenty of zany, humorous moments that epitomize what Aardman’s brand has always been about. A lot of the plot is given away here, so that’s a touch disappointing, but anyone who doesn’t want to give this a chance is probably not a fan of animation.