‘Shaun The Sheep: The Beast Of Mossy Bottom’ review: Aardman’s Halloween adventure is a spooky stop-motion delight

Dirs: Steve Cox, Matthew Walker. UK. 2026. 80mins

It’s Halloween on Mossy Bottom Farm, and Shaun and the rest of his flock are looking forward to carving the pumpkins they have been carefully growing in secret. But when they are accidentally destroyed, Shaun’s attempts to fix the problem sparks a chain of events that leads the Mossingham locals to believe there is a marauding monster on the loose. Packed with plenty of gags, pop culture references, loveable characters and even a sweet love story, Shaun The Sheep: The Beast Of Mossy Bottom is another delightful stop-motion family charmer from Aardman.

Packed with plenty of gags, pop culture references and loveable characters 

This is the third film based around characters that were originally introduced in Wallace And Gromit: A Close Shave (1995), and follows 2015’s The Shaun The Sheep Movie (which took $111m worldwide) and 2019’s A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon ($42m) – both of which were Oscar- and Bafta-nominated for best animated feature. (Aardman’s last Halloween-themed film, 2005’s Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit took $192m and won the Oscar.) Releasing in multiple territories including the US and UK on September 18, The Beast Of Mossy Bottom should do solid business with audiences looking for gentle, kid-friendly thrills this spooky season, and could also find itself in the awards conversation.

Directors Steve Cox and Matthew Walker come from the Aardman family – both have extensive experience working on former Shaun The Sheep projects including Netflix TV show Adventures From Mossy Bottom. That’s also true of screenwriters Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow – not to mention the 30 dedicated animators and other crew – and that familiarity and affection translates into a palpable on-screen warmth for these characters and their world.

As with all Aardman features, the screenplay is solidly constructed and easy to follow without dialogue. (Even though Paul Whitehouse, Dani Dyer and Nina Sosanya are credited amongst the voice cast, verbal communication is limited to the odd noise – a bark, a grumble, a giggle). As is normal with Aardman, the central conceit tracks classic comedy-of-errors territory: when Shaun, in full mad scientist mode, mixes up a potion to help the pumpkins grow, the glowing pink gloop makes it into a hair tonic bottle and is liberally applied by the farmer (voiced by John Sparkes). When he suddenly grows copious amounts of hair everywhere, the villagers (and the local vet, voiced by Sosanya) mistake him for a yeti, and the sheep must rescue him before he is run out of town.

That set-up lays the path for plenty of knock-about visual comedy, ranging from car chases and falling lampposts to misfiring boobytraps and influencers. There’s also an appealing subplot about the shy attraction between the farmer and the vet, which keeps being thwarted by increasingly outlandish events. That, however, stays firmly in the background; just as Farmageddon was a pitch-perfect sci-fi pastiche, here the tone is very distinctly of the devilishly fun Hammer Horror variety. There are plenty of broader genre references, from Frankenstein and Friday The 13th to Psycho and Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’, and the film is also chock-full of brilliant, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them nods to everything from home-grown hits The Wombles and The Traitors to international juggernauts The Simpsons, Jurassic Park and Game Of Thrones.

That exceptional attention to detail extends, as ever, to the incredible skill on show across all departments. Character and production design is exceptional; faces are open and demonstrative, the autumnal colour pallet is lush and vibrant; the Mossingham location comfortable and familiar. (That the high street includes a ‘Barber Black Sheep’ is one of myriad lovely background details that will reward multiple viewings). Natalie Holt’s score, performed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra and the Vienna Synchron Orchestra, is equally as meticulous and expressive, pulling in traditional horror elements of atmospheric pipe organ chords and quavering strings to add a darker atmospheric element to this colourful madcap adventure.