“Farmageddon” (G)   ***

DURING its 86 minutes, this claymation, stop-motion, animated, sci-fi comedy explores social, political, scientific and domestic aspects of life, the universe and relationships between humans, farm animals, tractors and interplanetary visitors.

There’s a lot of plot to absorb. When alien Lu-La’s spacecraft crashes near Mossybottom Farm, Shaun the sheep takes on the job of protecting her from a sinister earth-bound organisation until her family can come and take her home. 

It’s noisy, jangly and colourful. It’s clever in typical Aardman style.  The human characters are a cross-section of typical Brits. The principal diet is pizza. The gags enjoy a close relationship with puns. No-one speaks in any known intelligible language. 

It’s hard to pin down any specific age cohort at which Britain’s Aardman Films was aiming it. Several small fry and their grown-up minders walked out while I was watching it. 

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