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(duì)] of them， working away on an industrial estate[工業(yè)區(qū)] on the outskirts[市郊] of Bristol， to produce around two seconds—two seconds！—of footage[連續(xù)鏡頭] a day.

Like The Simpsons， who began life as a short segment[短節(jié)段] on The Tracey Ullman Show注1， Shaun is the spin-off[派生產(chǎn)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(qū)] 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(duì)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(kāi)始，沉寂便降臨，唯有朗朗笑聲將沉寂打破。一個(gè)半小時(shí)的觀影結(jié)束后，每個(gè)人都神情愉悅，仿佛感受到了從未有過(guò)的快樂(lè)。

那便是我看電影《小羊肖恩大電影》時(shí)的情景。

純真與魅力兼?zhèn)?，卻又實(shí)實(shí)在在地滑稽搞笑，這著實(shí)是來(lái)自電影的純粹樂(lè)趣。當(dāng)然，它是由阿德曼動(dòng)畫(huà)公司那些聰慧的人們以令人驚訝的方式創(chuàng)造出來(lái)的。

這些影片創(chuàng)作人不僅聰慧過(guò)人，而且頗有耐心。這幫人在（英國(guó)）布里斯托爾市郊的工業(yè)園區(qū)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(lái)的一個(gè)衍生品。小羊肖恩這個(gè)形象產(chǎn)生了巨大的經(jīng)濟(jì)效益。它最早出現(xiàn)在20年前尼克·帕克制作的《超級(jí)無(wú)敵掌門(mén)狗》第三集短片，即《剃刀邊緣》里。從那時(shí)起，它就成為英國(guó)最成功的出口產(chǎn)品之一;迄今為止，《小羊肖恩》系列電視劇已經(jīng)被銷往全球一百七十多個(gè)地區(qū)。

于是，制作一部動(dòng)畫(huà)長(zhǎng)片就只是時(shí)間上的問(wèn)題了，雖然一天兩秒的進(jìn)度會(huì)花費(fèi)相當(dāng)長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間。兼任編劇和導(dǎo)演的理查德·斯塔扎克及馬克·伯頓是阿德曼動(dòng)畫(huà)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(gè)故事有點(diǎn)傻，卻不失歡樂(lè)。肖恩和他的農(nóng)場(chǎng)朋友們被送到了“大都市”去拯救一位得了失憶癥的農(nóng)民——農(nóng)民最后卻被當(dāng)作一個(gè)明星理發(fā)師而受到款待。我說(shuō)過(guò)的，劇情是有點(diǎn)傻。

然而，如今即使是兒童電影也必須有一個(gè)反派角色，電影里的反派角色便是主管動(dòng)物收容所的動(dòng)物典獄長(zhǎng)。與去年上映的電影版《郵遞員派特叔叔》相比，他只是個(gè)孩子們可以嘲笑但并不會(huì)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(duì)成年觀眾的風(fēng)趣片段，例如對(duì)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(gè)高檔餐廳里，肖恩和他的朋友們（除了本身為羊這個(gè)事實(shí)）擺出人的姿勢(shì)，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(jié)愉悅。盡管片中所有對(duì)話都以呼嚕聲和尖叫聲完成， 但我認(rèn)為這算得上是一部喜劇默片。如果說(shuō)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(huì)同意的。

注1：《特蕾西·厄爾曼秀》是美國(guó)著名的電視綜藝節(jié)目，由英國(guó)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(xiàn)的一件寶物。

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