小羊肖恩大電影

The film starts， and silence sets in， interrupted[打斷] only by delighted[高興的] laughter. An hour and a half later， everyone exits looking not just happy， but about as happy as theyve ever been.

Those were the circumstances[情景] in which I saw Shaun the Sheep Movie.

Innocent[天真的] and charming[迷人的] but genuinely funny， it is pure cinematic[電影的] joy. It is also， of course， stunningly[令人震驚地] brought to life by those clever people at Aardman Animations.

Clever—and patient. It takes gangs[群，隊] of them， working away on an industrial estate[工業區] on the outskirts[市郊] of Bristol， to produce around two seconds—two seconds！—of footage[連續鏡頭] a day.

Like The Simpsons， who began life as a short segment[短節段] on The Tracey Ullman Show注1， Shaun is the spin-off[派生產品] that keeps on spinning. And in his case， spinning a golden fleece注2. It is 20 years since we first met him， in Nick Parks third Wallace & Gromit film， A Close Shave. Since then， he has become one of Britains most successful exports; the Shaun the Sheep TV show has been sold to more than 170 territories[地區] worldwide.

So a feature film[故事片] was only a matter of time， though， at two seconds a day， rather a lot of time. And the two writer-directors， Aardman veterans[老手] Richard Starzak and Mark Burton， have excelled themselves， which takes some doing.

The story is blissfully[幸福地] silly， sending Shaun and his farmyard pals into The Big City to rescue the farmer， who has amnesia[失憶癥]， and ends up being feted[招待] as a celebrity[名人] hairdresser. I told you it was silly.

Nonetheless， even childrens films these days must have a villain[壞人]， and here its the Animal Containment[控制] man. By contrast[對比] with last years film version of Postman Pat， however， he is a bad guy that children can laugh at rather than be afraid of. There are any number of wonderful and lovely moments of wit[才智] aimed at the adults in the audience， such as a funny reference[參照] to The Silence of the Lambs.

But most memorable of all is a scene in a fancy[昂貴的] restaurant， where Shaun and his friends pose as humans except， being sheep， copy what everyone else is doing.

It is properly， joyfully inspired， and if this film can be classified[把……分類] as silent comedy， which I think it can despite all the grunts[呼嚕聲] and squeaks[吱吱聲] in place of dialogue， then it deserves[值得] to be ranked with the best of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton注3. If they were still around， Im sure theyd agree.

影片一開始，沉寂便降臨，唯有朗朗笑聲將沉寂打破。一個半小時的觀影結束后，每個人都神情愉悅，仿佛感受到了從未有過的快樂。

那便是我看電影《小羊肖恩大電影》時的情景。

純真與魅力兼備，卻又實實在在地滑稽搞笑，這著實是來自電影的純粹樂趣。當然，它是由阿德曼動畫公司那些聰慧的人們以令人驚訝的方式創造出來的。

這些影片創作人不僅聰慧過人，而且頗有耐心。這幫人在（英國）布里斯托爾市郊的工業園區要工作整整一天才制作出約兩秒鐘——僅兩秒鐘——的影片鏡頭。

就像《特蕾西·厄爾曼秀》中的短片《辛普森一家》一樣，小羊肖恩的形象也是得以保存下來的一個衍生品。小羊肖恩這個形象產生了巨大的經濟效益。它最早出現在20年前尼克·帕克制作的《超級無敵掌門狗》第三集短片，即《剃刀邊緣》里。從那時起，它就成為英國最成功的出口產品之一;迄今為止，《小羊肖恩》系列電視劇已經被銷往全球一百七十多個地區。

于是，制作一部動畫長片就只是時間上的問題了，雖然一天兩秒的進度會花費相當長的時間。兼任編劇和導演的理查德·斯塔扎克及馬克·伯頓是阿德曼動畫公司的兩名老將了，他們能夠超越自己，也是下了一番工夫。

這個故事有點傻，卻不失歡樂。肖恩和他的農場朋友們被送到了“大都市”去拯救一位得了失憶癥的農民——農民最后卻被當作一個明星理發師而受到款待。我說過的，劇情是有點傻。

然而，如今即使是兒童電影也必須有一個反派角色，電影里的反派角色便是主管動物收容所的動物典獄長。與去年上映的電影版《郵遞員派特叔叔》相比，他只是個孩子們可以嘲笑但并不會懼怕的惡棍。影片里面有好些精彩的片段，還有一些顯然是針對成年觀眾的風趣片段，例如對電影《沉默的羔羊》的引用就頗為有趣。

但最讓人難忘的一幕是在一個高檔餐廳里，肖恩和他的朋友們（除了本身為羊這個事實）擺出人的姿勢，模仿其他人所做的一切。

《小羊肖恩大電影》這部影片鼓舞人心， 情節愉悅。盡管片中所有對話都以呼嚕聲和尖叫聲完成， 但我認為這算得上是一部喜劇默片。如果說這部電影能被分類為喜劇默片的話， 那么它值得與查理·卓別林和巴斯特·基頓的上乘作品媲美。要是查理·卓別林和巴斯特·基頓還在世的話，我想他們一定會同意的。

注1：《特蕾西·厄爾曼秀》是美國著名的電視綜藝節目，由英國喜劇演員特蕾西·厄爾曼主持，于1987年首播。

注2：金羊毛，希臘神話中出現的一件寶物。

注3：巴斯特·基頓（1895—1966），美國默片時代演員及導演，以“冷面笑匠”著稱。