Spun off from a hugely successful, dialogue-free TV series starring Shaun the sheep who first appeared in Nick Park’s 1995 Wallace and Gromit short “A Close Shave,” this feature co-directed by Mark Burton and Richard Starzack takes its farmyard characters on an urban adventure*.

    After some footage gives glimpses of the central characters in their younger, carefree days, the action proper opens in the present on Mossy Bottom Farm, the rural home of the Farmer (voiced by John Sparkes), his sheepdog Bitzer (also Sparkes), and his flock* of sheep, led by small but sparky* young ram Shaun (Justin Fletcher).

    Bored by daily life, Shaun plots with the flock and a conniving* duck to get some time off, achieved by lulling the Farmer to sleep and distracting Bitzer with a bone. But an unfortunate* string of accidents, the first of many set pieces that show off the studio’s facility with chase sequences and cleverly contrived, Heath Robinson-style comedy mechanics, leads to the Farmer rolling away in a mobile home into the Big City nearby where a concussion* leaves him with amnesia*.

    The sheep make their way to the city to find the Farmer, but cross paths with an animal catcher named Trumper (Omid Djalili) who runs after them around town. Finally, Bitzer and Shaun end up banged up in the local pound*. Meanwhile, the Farmer, guided by trace memories of his sheep-shearing* days, has become a celebrity hairdresser.

    Co-director Starzack was one of the guiding hands behind the series version of “Shaun the Sheep,” and that experience in the kind of brisk comedy that makes the series so charming shows through in stand-alone scenes. For instance, the flock create a fine mess* in the Farmer’s kitchen early on, and there’s some well-designed chaos when the flock disguise* themselves as people to eat in a restaurant. But the story as a whole is not very satisfying, and the supporting characters rather lack personality, apart from Timmy, Shaun’s little preschool-age cousin.(SD-Agencies)