An earlier version of this article was published in May 2024 by Jess Bacon.
Aardman Animations has been entertaining audiences for over six decades with their acclaimed and award-winning stop motion films. Founded by Peter Lord and David Sproxton in 1972, Aardman started out making 5-minute shorts for UK broadcasters such as the BBC before Creature Comforts, a collection of shorts for Channel 4, won Nick Park an academy-award. The landmark series matched zoo animals with real human voices, making it seem as if the animals were commenting on their own living conditions. What began as an experimental series of stories laid the foundations for Aardman to become the billion-dollar studio it is today.
Despite the extensive time it takes to film a stop-motion feature (one project can take anywhere from 18 months to six years), Aardman has established a noteworthy filmography that has always subverted the norm in imaginative and witty ways. With the recent Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl marking Aardman’s long-awaited return to its most cherished characters, it feels like a good time to round up every Aardman animation movie. Read on to discover more and use the guide below to find out where to stream them on platforms like BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere.
Chicken Run (2000)
In 2000, Aardman began to extended their 5 to 30-minute productions into full length features with Chicken Run, a quick-witted movie that offered a perfect blend of Aardman's humour and classic prison movie tropes—imagine Wallace & Gromit meets The Great Escape and you’ll know what you’re in for.
The story follows a flock of cooped-up chickens as they attempt to break out of their farm. It also boasts a typically star-studded voice cast, including Mel Gibson (pre-meltdown, of course) and Julia Sawalha. After the movie’s commercial and critical success, Chicken Run soon became the highest grossing stop-motion film of all time.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Several years later, Wensleydale-loving Wallace and his intelligent dog Gromit took to the big-screen for the first time in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit, another perfect example of the Aardman brand. It's a movie that tends to delight younger audiences while offering riffs on classic Hollywood (there are gags here that reference everything from King Kong to The Exorcist) for older viewers to enjoy.
On top of taking in a whopping 200M at the box office, Were-Rabbit won Aardman the Academy Award for best animated feature, beating out Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle in the process.
Flushed Away (2006)
Flushed Away is another Aardman project for younger viewers that also has plenty of references for older members of the audience to enjoy—this time courtesy of 007 and specifically the gizmos of the Brosnan years, like Goldeneye. Just be warned, this is the first Aardman movie that was made with computer animation, so don’t go in expecting the stop-motion detail of their best-known work.
The plot, a classic hero’s quest, centres on Roddy: a rat living in an upper class flat in Kensington who ends up in the underground rat city of Ratropolis and must find a way to stop the evil Toad before he flushes its inhabitants out. Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet and Ian McKellen top the impressive voice cast.
Arthur Christmas (2011)
If you liked how Flushed Away took an ordinary character and put them into extraordinary situations, you’ll probably be just as enamoured with Aardman’s first festive movie, Arthur Christmas—another of the studio’s computer animated projects, but similarly one that blends movie references (Bond again, of course, but also Mission: Impossible) with humour that the whole family can enjoy.
Boasting a voice cast of British legends, including James McAvoy, Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton, the movie centres on Arthur, Santa’s clumsiest son, as he attempts to deliver a present on Christmas eve.
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012)
Set around 1837, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! is the first Aardman movie to play with historical humour—so if you like the idea of having the absurdist vibes of Monty Python or Our Flag Means Death in a classic Aardman stop motion, this might be the one for you.
The goofy plot follows Pirate Captain (yes, that’s the correct name), a pirate captain who believes he have a chance of winning the Pirate of the Year award. Hugh Grant and David Tennant lead the typically star-studded voice cast.
Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)
It took 20 years after his first appearance, in A Close Shave, but everyone’s favourite wooly hero finally got the big screen treatment in 2015’s Shaun the Sheep Movie—an Aardman classic for younger audiences that, thanks to having no dialogue, is also packed with delightful references to Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and other deadpan classics of the silent era.
The plot takes Shaun on an adventure from Mossy Bottom Farm to the city, where he gets lost and has to find his farmer and his flock.
Early Man (2018)
Having poked fun at everything from spy movies to festive favourites, Aardman finally tackled the sport movie genre with Early Man —and if you like the idea of seeing an Aardman animation that riffs on everything from Gladiator to Rocky, this could be the one for you.
The plot follows a caveman who ends up in the Bronze City. While there, he challenges his rulers to a game of football to win back his home. Eddie Redmayne and Maisie Williams lead the voice cast.
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019)
Four years after his first big screen outing, Shaun was back in A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon—and naturally, if you are a fan of the first one you’ll be happy (and probably not surprised) to hear that the pros at Aardman didn’t phone it in for the sequel.
As the delightfully goofy title suggests, this one has slightly more epic ambitions than its predecessor—with a friendly alien visitor plotline that allows the filmmakers to reference everything from ET to Close Encounters. If you like that era of Spielberg you’ll probably have a lot of fun with this one.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023)
More recently, Aardman teamed up with Netflix for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, delivering a long awaited sequel to their 2002 smash-hit with a film for the whole family to enjoy—and naturally, if you liked part one but felt it could be better without Mel Gibson, this is one for you.
The movie begins with Rocky and Ginger living happily in a safe haven for chickens—that is, until their daughter Molly runs away and gets trapped in a poultry processing plant. The story plays on some dystopian themes, so if you like movies like Nineteen Eighty-Four or The Matrix, you’ll find pletny to enjoy in the references here.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
For their most recent feature length project, Aardman returned to their most beloved duo with Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl—a movie that reintroduced the characters’ arch nemesis, Feathers McGraw. Given all the callbacks, this is one that long-time Aardman fans will adore.
The story focuses on Norbot, a robot Wallace invents to help with the gardening. Of course, Feathers reprograms it to help him commit his dastardly crimes. As always when Feathers is involved, this allows for plenty of delightful references to film noir.
