Cert U
85 mins
BBFC advice: Contains mild slapstick, threat, rude humour
This is not only the time of year for serious movie-goers who want to tick off Oscar contenders, it is also a golden moment for children's films.
So, hot on the heels of the excellent Big Hero 6, comes the fun-packed and heart-warming Shaun Of The Sheep Movie.
It's a fair few years since we were kids but Mrs W and I laughed merrily, particularly after one scene which prompted a rare old fit of the giggles.
Shaun The Sheep is an Aardman creation so has the same style of animation as Wallace And Gromit. However, there is no dialogue.
This makes no difference to the warmth of the characters who are, with the exception of the animal-catcher (more on him later) truly lovable.
Mark Burton and Richard Starzak were directors and writers of the movie which sees Shaun and his friends fed up of the hum-drum daily routine down on the farm.
So, Shaun hits upon a plan to pre-occupy the farmer and sheep-dog while the sheep have a jolly nice time.
Of course, this backfires and somehow the farmer ends up in a runaway caravan heading to a nearby town.
The rest of the movie involves a hectic attempt to bring him home, despite him suffering amnesia, and while the sheep are being pursued by a relentless stray animal-catcher,.
Yes, it's true that the storyline doesn't bear much scrutiny but it is rollocking great fun and the more scrapes the sheep get into, the bigger the laughs.
As I was chuckling, I was musing on the amount of time it must have taken to piece together such intricate scenes and the levels of imagination required.
I concluded that there must have been strokes of genius.
Richard Starzak: "I devised the series but very early on I thought there was more to Shaun that seven-minute episodes and we first started talking seriously about the film about four years ago."
Reasons to watch: A charming laugh-out-loud comedy.
Reasons to avoid: If you have no soul and don't enjoy animations.
Laughs: six out loud and more chuckles
Jumps: none
Vomit: sheep vomit
Nudity: only the sheep
Overall rating: 8/10