Shaun the Sheep: Hang Glider product reviews

My girls (aged 4 and 5.5) had only seen a couple of episodes of Shaun the Sheep prior to us being given the Hang Glider DVD to review. When I bought it home my husband told my they weren't interested in Shaun the Sheep but I put it on anyway so my youngest was requesting it. Both girls sat glued to the screen for all six episodes (52 minutes). At one stage they were laughing very loudly. I was quite surprised as they don't react like that for shows very often. I must admit I found it funny.

The episodes are quite short. Only about nine minutes which makes them the perfect length to reward the children for getting ready quickly in the morning or to sit them still while trying to brush their hair. The downside of that is when you watch several episodes in a row there is a lot of the theme song. It is stuck in my head now as I am typing it. The children didn't seem to notice (thankfully they weren't singing it all the time) so it must be an adult problem as my husband commented to it too.

Shaun the Sheep's clever name is something I had to explain to my city girls but I am sure those children growing up on a sheep farm would think it was rather funny. It is a spin of from Wallace and Gromit but aimed more at young children than it's parent programme. There was certainly nothing it it that I didn't want my children watching. The stop-motion animation is very well done and I tried to explain how it was made to my girls but the concept was too hard for them. To them Shaun and the other characters weren't models moved slightly to film movement.

It reminded me of the old silent movies. Yes, it is an animation in colour but there was no speaking. It relied on sound effects and the pictures to tell the tale. It was very cleverly done. I am wondering if the children loved it because it was so different or simply because it was fun. Since watching this my girls and my husband have selected other Shaun the Sheep DVDs to watch from our local library. We all know this TV programme is one our children will enjoy and we may even chuckle quietly as we pretend not to be watching.