Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom (dirs. Steve Cox and Matthew Walker)
Certificate: U
Running Time: 80 mins
UK Distributor: Sky
UK Release Date: 18 September 2026
WHO’S IN SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE BEAST OF MOSSY BOTTOM?
Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Kate Harbour, Nina Sosanya, Paul Whitehouse, Dani Dyer, Roman Kemp
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Steve Cox and Matthew Walker (directors), Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow (writers), Richard Beek (producer), Natalie Holt (composer), Charles Copping (cinematographer), Dan Hembrey (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Shaun the Sheep (Fletcher) and his flock encounter a terrifying monster…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE BEAST OF MOSSY BOTTOM?
As the Bristol-based Claymation studio Aardman marks its 50th year of entertaining viewers with their Plasticine adventures, one could certainly look upon Wallace and Gromit as their most fitting mascots, or Ginger and Rocky from the Chicken Run movies, or possibly even Morph (y’know, that weird little orange humanoid shapeshifter who often appeared opposite Tony Hart). But perhaps the most obvious answer is Shaun the Sheep, who ever since his debut in the Oscar-winning short A Close Shave opposite Aardman’s most famous duo has gone on to become a star in his own right, having fronted a successful CBBC spin-off series as well as two Oscar-nominated movies.
If nothing else, those movies are proof that Shaun the Sheep is more than worthy of being Aardman’s truest mascot, for he represents everything that is adored about the studio, including the highly inventive gags, simple but lovable characters, and that unmistakably British charm. All of that is on display in this delightful new entry subtitled The Beast of Mossy Bottom, from directors Steve Cox and Matthew Walker as well as dozens of hard-working stop-motion animators whose playful passion collectively carry the fast-paced hilarity that will delight just about everyone.
Taking place in the lead-up to Halloween, we find Shaun (voiced as non-verbally as ever by Justin Fletcher) and his flock on Mossy Bottom Farm preparing for the spooky season by growing a pumpkin patch, only for their bumbling Farmer (John Sparkes) to accidentally destroy the whole lot during a moment of self-consciousness around his crush, a local vet (Nina Sosanya). In an attempt to regrow the pumpkins at an accelerated speed, Shaun goes full mad-scientist by inventing a special substance that makes anything it’s coated in far bigger than it originally began as. But unfortunately, the Farmer unwittingly uses it to grow out his hair – it’s stored in a hair-growth bottle, you see – which causes him to transform into an impossibly hairy beast that runs amok throughout the town, and naturally it’s up to Shaun and friends to try and fix the problem before things get too out of hand.
If you’re worried about spoilers, please know that it’s really not a mystery as to who the titular Beast of Mossy Bottom actually is, as it’s revealed straight away to the viewer. But that shouldn’t matter to anyone under the age of five, or indeed anyone over it, as the movie is still really good at telling this sweet and wholesome story while also delivering an 80-minute rapid-fire session of gags. As often is the case with Aardman, the physical and visual humour is exceptionally sharp with the vast majority of jokes landing with the right amount of comedic force, whether it’s hilariously over-detailed parking signs or an inspired use of the famous Psycho score. Directors Cox and Walker – and by extension screenwriters Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow – constantly find ways to up their own ante while also keeping the focus sternly on the simplistic story and its fun bunch of characters, making even the rare misfires feel poignant as you can always feel their passion and literally see their thumbprints in every single frame of their film.
One of the many fun things about Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is that, like how its immediate successor A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon was to the sci-fi genre, much of it feels like a sweet homemade love letter to classic horror, specifically the kind made by another British cinematic institution, Hammer Films. Of course, this film never gets as extreme or even as scary as your average Hammer horror, but you can tell that the filmmakers have religiously watched those types of movies and have been able to replicate their campy charm almost to a tee, right down to how they’re shot from the ominous purple-and-green haze within Shaun’s Frankenstein-esque windmill laboratory to brief but prominent visual nods to the brightly-coloured costumes of both Dracula and the Mummy. The ever-gorgeous animation also, in its own way, recalls plenty of other classic monster movies and their own, much jankier stop-motion effects that existed well before the craft had been more or less perfected by the folks at Aardman.
It’s honestly quite hard to think of many things that are truly wrong or even all that negative about this movie. Like the other Shaun the Sheep movies, The Beast of Mossy Bottom is an endless source of visual comedic delight that anyone, regardless of their age, will laugh hard during. As mentioned, not every joke works as well as others do, but they’re really not enough to completely take you out of the experience, and although some supporting characters seem mainly there to just fill a particular void, especially among the human characters whose job is mainly to serve as the film’s parody of classic monster movie angry mobs, it’s focused on all the right people as opposed to wasting too much time on the wrong ones. Although, I do suppose that if you’re not already on board with this particular franchise, then this one probably won’t win you over, as it does offer plenty more of the same style of storytelling and humour as the other movies and TV shows. Plus, some soundtrack choices are a bit jarring.
Then again, these movies are so consistently delightful and visually splendid to watch that I can’t imagine most people not liking this one, even if they do consider it to not be as equal quality as the others (I personally think they’re all just about on par with one another). In the case of Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, it’s further proof that he may indeed by Aardman’s most defining character, and the perfect mascot for the fifty-year-old studio.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is yet another delightful entry in Aardman’s charming franchise that contains plenty of great physical and visual gags alongside its sweet and wholesome nature, as well as a passionate tribute to the classic Hammer Films style of horror that’s replicated for families everywhere to enjoy.
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