小羊肖恩大电影

The film starts， and silence sets in， interrupted[打断] only by delighted[高兴的] 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[电影的] joy. It is also， of course， stunningly[令人震惊地] brought to life by those clever people at Aardman Animations.

Clever—and patient. It takes gangs[群，队] of them， working away on an industrial estate[工业区] on the outskirts[市郊] of Bristol， to produce around two seconds—two seconds！—of footage[连续镜头] a day.

Like The Simpsons， who began life as a short segment[短节段] on The Tracey Ullman Show注1， Shaun is the spin-off[派生产品] 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[地区] 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[失忆症]， 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[坏人]， and here its the Animal Containment[控制] man. By contrast[对比] 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[参照] to The Silence of the Lambs.

But most memorable of all is a scene in a fancy[昂贵的] 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[呼噜声] and squeaks[吱吱声] 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.

影片一开始，沉寂便降临，唯有朗朗笑声将沉寂打破。一个半小时的观影结束后，每个人都神情愉悦，仿佛感受到了从未有过的快乐。

那便是我看电影《小羊肖恩大电影》时的情景。

纯真与魅力兼备，却又实实在在地滑稽搞笑，这着实是来自电影的纯粹乐趣。当然，它是由阿德曼动画公司那些聪慧的人们以令人惊讶的方式创造出来的。

这些影片创作人不仅聪慧过人，而且颇有耐心。这帮人在（英国）布里斯托尔市郊的工业园区要工作整整一天才制作出约两秒钟——仅两秒钟——的影片镜头。

就像《特蕾西·厄尔曼秀》中的短片《辛普森一家》一样，小羊肖恩的形象也是得以保存下来的一个衍生品。小羊肖恩这个形象产生了巨大的经济效益。它最早出现在20年前尼克·帕克制作的《超级无敌掌门狗》第三集短片，即《剃刀边缘》里。从那时起，它就成为英国最成功的出口产品之一;迄今为止，《小羊肖恩》系列电视剧已经被销往全球一百七十多个地区。

于是，制作一部动画长片就只是时间上的问题了，虽然一天两秒的进度会花费相当长的时间。兼任编剧和导演的理查德·斯塔扎克及马克·伯顿是阿德曼动画公司的两名老将了，他们能够超越自己，也是下了一番工夫。

这个故事有点傻，却不失欢乐。肖恩和他的农场朋友们被送到了“大都市”去拯救一位得了失忆症的农民——农民最后却被当作一个明星理发师而受到款待。我说过的，剧情是有点傻。

然而，如今即使是儿童电影也必须有一个反派角色，电影里的反派角色便是主管动物收容所的动物典狱长。与去年上映的电影版《邮递员派特叔叔》相比，他只是个孩子们可以嘲笑但并不会惧怕的恶棍。影片里面有好些精彩的片段，还有一些显然是针对成年观众的风趣片段，例如对电影《沉默的羔羊》的引用就颇为有趣。

但最让人难忘的一幕是在一个高档餐厅里，肖恩和他的朋友们（除了本身为羊这个事实）摆出人的姿势，模仿其他人所做的一切。

《小羊肖恩大电影》这部影片鼓舞人心， 情节愉悦。尽管片中所有对话都以呼噜声和尖叫声完成， 但我认为这算得上是一部喜剧默片。如果说这部电影能被分类为喜剧默片的话， 那么它值得与查理·卓别林和巴斯特·基顿的上乘作品媲美。要是查理·卓别林和巴斯特·基顿还在世的话，我想他们一定会同意的。

注1：《特蕾西·厄爾曼秀》是美国著名的电视综艺节目，由英国喜剧演员特蕾西·厄尔曼主持，于1987年首播。

注2：金羊毛，希腊神话中出现的一件宝物。

注3：巴斯特·基顿（1895—1966），美国默片时代演员及导演，以“冷面笑匠”著称。