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The brilliant animation wizards at Aardman strike again with _A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon_, a thoroughly delightful and hilarious new feature outing with Shaun the Sheep and all his

friends at Mossy Bottom Farm, this time in a comical, slapstick-style takeoff on just about every alien and Spielberg movie you have ever seen. In fact, directors Will Becher and Richard

Phelan and writer Jon Brown (with story by Mark Burton and creator Nick Park, who started the whole thing) seem obsessed with movie references throughout, making note of everything from

_2001, Alien, Signs _and _Close Encounters of the Third Kind _to even _Jaws _and others. But especially _E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, _clearly a heavy influence on the plot, which revolves

around a mysterious alien spaceship showing up around the farm, and the discovery later of a cute blue alien, kind of dog-like in appearance, named Lu-La, who is left behind and longs to

return home to her planet and parents. WATCH ON DEADLINE But first comes her close encounter with Shaun and friends as he befriends her and they share some wild adventures together,

including a disastrous visit to a grocery story where the little alien wreaks havoc with her telekinetic abilities, and numerous other wildly out-of control moments of mischief everyone gets

into. Of course this is what Shaun is _always _doing, but it is in uber-drive here as Farmer John seems oblivious and his dog Bitzer is doing everything he can to keep the flock and

especially Shaun in control, to no avail really. Things get dangerous when the Ministry of Alien Detection shows up, led by Agent Red, who has her own reasons for finding Lu-La and studying

the creature. But this gang doesn’t make it easy for her (this is where the story really seems to resemble _E.T._). But as with past editions, slapstick is the rule of the day, and a tip of

the hat to silent movies the result — in addition to every sci-fi film on this planet, there is a real affection for the likes of Keaton, Lloyd and definitely Charlie Chaplin, who is given

his own homage with a brief scene tributing his masterpiece _Modern Times. _Like I say, everything is thrown into this stew and most of it works, if occasionally going too far over the top

and relying a little too often on pop tunes flooding the soundtrack. The real charm, as in past films Aardman has turned out in this series, is the lack of coherent dialogue, which is

swapped with amusing noises from the the various characters instead. It proves to be lots of fun, although as a follow-up to 2015’s _The Shaun the Sheep Movie _it isn’t quite as inventive or

genuinely original, instead relying on undeniably funny but more predictable movie parodies. Still, this is all just as irresistible as it ever was. Mossy Bottom Farm is a great destination

for families and Aardman enthusiasts, and of course fans of the ever-troublemaking Shaun the Sheep. This film was released several months ago in the UK and landed a well-deserved BAFTA

nomination for animated feature. On North American shores, however, it will be streaming on Netflix beginning Friday, making it even easier to see. And it is well worth a visit. The producer

is Paul Kewley. Check out my video review above with scenes from the film. Do you plan to see _A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon? _Let us know what you think.