“Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” is so much fun to view.

The feature film uses stop-motion animation.

In the technique, physical objects are moved incrementally and filmed frame-by-frame.

The technique goes back at least to 1849 when photographs in successive positions were demonstrated by Joseph Plateau for his Fantascope, a.k.a., the phénakisticope.

William Ensign Lincoln and Milton Bradley in 1865 invented the zoetrope, a rotating cylinder displaying a sequence of drawings or photographs to give the illusion of motion.

A clay animation film, “Modeling Extraordinary,” was released in 1912.

Filmmaker George Pal used stop-motion with wooden dolls for his “Puppetoons” in 1932.

A landmark in stop-motion cinema was Willis O’ Brien’s “King Kong” in 1933.

Director Ray Harryhausen used stop motion in fantasy films, including “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958).

Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass’ Rankin/Bass Productions used stop-motion in 1964 for the Christmas TV special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

In 1975, clay animation filmmaker Will Vinton and sculptor Bob Gardiner made “Closed Mondays,” the first stop-motion film to win an Oscar.

The clay-animation shorts, “Mr. Bill,” began in 1976 on the “Saturday Night Live” TV show.

The biggest-grossing stop-motion animation feature, at $50 million domestically, is “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993), directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton.

Peter Lord and David Sproxton founded Aardman Animations in England, releasing the stop-motion feature films, “Chicken Run” (2000), and Nick Park’s “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” (2005), the latter receiving an Oscar for Animated Feature Film.

“Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” is the third Aardman Animations film stop-motion animation film in the series after “Shaun the Sheep Movie” (2008) and “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” (2019).

The feature movies are based on “Shaun the Sheep,” a British television animation comedy series (2007-2025), created by Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations.

“Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” is directed by Steve Cox (director, “Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas,” TV short, 2021; “Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom,” TV series, 2020) in his feature film directorial debut, and Matthew Walker (“Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom” TV series, 2020) in his feature film directorial debut).

The screenplay for “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” is written by Mark Burton (Oscar nominee, animated feature film, “Shaun the Sheep Movie”; screenwriter: “Paddington in Peru,” 2024; “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” 2024; “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” 2023; “Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon”; “Shaun the Sheep Movie”; “Gnomeo & Juliet,” 2011; “Madagascar,” 2005) and Giles Pilbrow (screenwriter, “Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas,” “Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom”) in his feature film screenwriting debut.

Director of Photography is Charles Copping (Director of Photography: “Shaun the Sheep Movie”; “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon”; “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” 2023; “Chicken Run”).

The Composer is Natalie Holt (three-time Primetime Emmy Awards nominee, composer: “Loki,” 2024; “Victoria, 2017). She keeps the soundtrack lively, even briefly invoking the “Psycho” (1960) movie shower scene violins score by Bernard Herrmann.

“Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom” is fun to watch because of the stop-motion animation. The antics of the sheep, other barnyard animals and the farmer are all the more humorous because of the stop-motion animation, which gives the characters lives of their own. It helps that the plasticine figures are so funny and distinctive-looking.

The plot for “Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom” is right out of a “Frankenstein” movie. The storyline is very derivative. That’s OK. The figurines, backgrounds and action are so lovingly rendered that the film is a joy to watch.

That attention to detail is important, especially in a film that has virtually no dialogue, other than grunts, screams and, of course, a chorus of bleats.

All in all, “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” should entertain, children, youths and adults.

Not “bah-ahd.”

It’s quite good.

“Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom,” MPA rated PG (Parental Guidance Suggested: Some material may not be suitable for children.) for mild scary action; Genre: Stop-Motion Animation, Comedy, Adventure, Horror; Run time: 1 hour, 21 minutes. Distributed by GKIDS.

Credit Readers Anonymous: “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” has no spoken dialogue.

At The Movies: “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” was seen in the standard format at AMC Center Valley 16.

Theatrical Movies Domestic Weekend Box Office, Oct. 2-Oct. 4: “Verity,” starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Harnett in the psychological thriller, $32 million in 3,510 theaters, opening.

2. “Resident Evil” stayed in place, $12.6 million in 3,259 theaters, $125 million, three weeks. 3. “Heart of the Beast” stayed in place, $10.8 million in 3,481 theaters, $38.2 million, two weeks. 4. “Digger,” starring Tom Cruise in the satire, $8 million in 3,321 theaters. 5. “Primetime” dropped one place, $7.7 million in 2,894 theaters, $33.8 million, two weeks. 6. “Forgotten Island” dropped one place, $7.2 million in 3,555 theaters, $23.6 million, two weeks. 7. “Avengers Endgame: Encore 2026 Re-release” dropped six places, $4.4 million in 3,000 theaters, $36.2 million, two weeks. 8. “Practical Magic 2” dropped two places, $2.7 million in 2,063 theaters, $64.8 million, four weeks. 9. “Drishyam: The Conclusion,” an India Hindi-language crime thriller, $2.7 million in 541 theaters, opening. 10. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” dropped three places, $2.5 million in 1,724 theaters, $954.5 million, 10 weeks.

Movie box office information is from Box Office Mojo as of Oct. 4.

Unreel, Oct. 2:

“Digger,” MPA rated R; 2 hours, 8 minutes. Alejandro G. Iñárritu directs Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller and Jesse Plemons in the Comedy, Drama, Satire. The synopsis: The most powerful man in the world embarks on a mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.

“Verity,” MPA R; 1 hour, 54 minutes. Michael Showalter directs Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Harnett in the Romance Mystery Psychological Thriller. Synopsis: Lowen Ashleigh is hired to ghostwrite for Verity Crawford. After she uncovers Verity’s autobiographical notes, she wrestles with the confessions about Verity’s husband, and finds it hard to separate fiction from reality. The screenplay is based on the novel by best-selling author Colleen Hoover (“It Ends With Us”).

“Rolling Loud,” MPA rated R; 1 hour, 35 minutes. Jeremy Garelick directs Owen Wilson Christian Convery and Travis Scott in the Comedy. Synopsis: A father makes a bad parenting choice by taking his young son to a wild hip-hop festival, leading to chaos as they navigate crowds, security and family dynamics with eccentric companions.

Three Popcorn Boxes out of Five Popcorn Boxes