Halloween is going badly at Mossy Bottom Farm. The Farmer has wrecked the flock’s treasured pumpkin patch, and Shaun’s plan to put things right involves a little mad science. Then the Farmer disappears and word spreads of a beast in the woods. That is the setup for Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, opening in U.S. and U.K. theaters September 18.
The new Aardman film takes a wonderfully small farm problem and lets it grow into a full-scale mystery. Shaun does not begin with a monster hunt. He wants to save Halloween for his friends. Naturally, the fix makes everything worse before anyone can enjoy a pumpkin.
What is The Beast of Mossy Bottom about?
GKIDS describes a missing Farmer and a wild creature roaming Mossingham after Shaun’s experiment gets out of hand. The trailer offers more of the film’s mischief: the flock tries to protect the pumpkins from snails, Timmy dresses as a sailor, and the Vet ends up in a boat chase. There is even a local influencer, voiced by Dani Dyer, who tries to take a selfie with the beast.
The film is selling the monster as a mystery, not giving away the answer in its official synopsis. The fun is in seeing how Shaun and his friends respond as the farm’s familiar routines are thrown into chaos. The stills show a flock working together, even when Shaun’s laboratory idea looks like the least safe option.
A new feature from the stop-motion team
This is Shaun’s third feature film, following Shaun the Sheep Movie and A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmaggedon. Steve Cox and Matthew Walker direct; Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow wrote the screenplay, with Richard Beek producing. The handmade detail is part of the appeal. A muddy pumpkin patch, tiny laboratory props and woolly faces give the Halloween setting more personality than a simple spooky backdrop.
Aardman has been telling Shaun stories since the character first appeared in Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave. You do not need to have seen the earlier movies to understand this one. The plot begins at the farm, gives Shaun a problem and lets his latest good intention cause the kind of trouble he is famous for.
Where can you watch it?
GKIDS lists a September 18 U.S. theatrical opening, and Sky has the same date for U.K. cinemas. Local showtimes depend on the theater. There is no confirmed streaming date in those release announcements, so this is a cinema story for now.
The film arrives well before Halloween on the calendar, but its pumpkins and playful monster mystery make the timing easy to understand. Shaun has always been at his best when a modest idea becomes a very large mess. Here, the whole farm gets to share it.
See the filmmakers and release details on our The Beast of Mossy Bottom movie page.
