La oveja Shaun: El vuelo antes de Navidad

My first ever encounter with the sprawling Shaun the Sheep brand is this festive special and I was sincerely taken with it. Aardman's charm and wit has barely diminished over the years and this festive wooly romp was a hoot. The brilliantly brief Snowman reprise was the TV highlight of the season, if not the entire year.

It's Christmas Eve and all was still - except, well it wasn't. The flock wanted bigger stockings and so the enthusiastic young "Timmy" has snuck out to procure some. Needless to say, these best laid plans don't quite work and so "Shaun" has to find a way of repatriating their lost sheep. Fortunately, the rather hapless farmer is going into town to try his hand at selling lemonade and so the germ of plan is devised that sees them rally round to rescue their pal before "Timmy" is, quite literally, presented gift-wrapped. Naturally, all of this has to be meticulously planned as their guardian sheep-dog "Bitzer" won't be playing along if he catches on. This is good fun, this, with plenty of silly antics in the snow, some exploding soft drinks and even them managing to interfere - in the friendliest possible way - with the work of Santa himself. The lack of dialogue allows the jolly score from Tom Howe to keep the pace rollicking along and the amiable and detailed stop-motion animation, especially of their facial expressions, all contribute enjoyably to a winter's tale that exudes all of the joys of Christmas, as well as it's hassles, and yes - of course there are gadgets.

It is well nigh impossible to top the quality of feature-length titles like Curse of The Were-Rabbit or Pirates, just to mention a few, but The Flight Before Christmas, at 30 minutes only, comes very, very close.

Everything about this gem hits the mark: the story is touching, the pacing perfect (fast without feeling forced), the humor and characters without a single false note, the animation is amazing, and then.. the visual part, the look and feel of the christmassy, wintry world, interiors as well as exteriors, had me totally mesmerized. This looks so lovely and colorful, that I'd give anything to step into its magic landscape.

A classic? Yes, if there is any justice in the world, this IS a new christmas classic (also check out Robin Robin, another splendid Aardman gem on Netflix) and those who are untouched by this jewel in Aardman's crown are either dead or deaf n' blind.

By the way, there is a short Shaun title, from season 2, called We Wish Ewe(!) A Merry Christmas, that is just like this new only, a small miracle. Only shorter.

The couple with the kid looked a bit like H&M, was this a coincidence I wonder? I love Shaun and all of his pals and have done for many years. The level of detail is astonishing and it takes about a day to film just a few seconds of screen time. It's so cleverly done that it takes a few watchings to notice all of the clever stuff going on. Suitable for all ages from 5 to 105.

I have always been a big Wallace & Gromit fan. I much preferred them to Shaun the Sheep who made his debut in a Wallace & Gromit adventure.

This extended Christmas special is utterly charming with a lot of love, care and detail.

It is Christmas and little Timmy has ended up going to the Christmas market with the Farmer.

It is Shaun to the rescue but Timmy inadvertently becomes a present for a little girl.

This is one that even adults will like. It reminded me a lot of Toy Story.

I loved the reference to The Snowman.