Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell) wins a piglet at a fair and they form a bond. Being a little out of place on a sheep farm, the pig is adopted by a sheepdog and learns the ways of sheep herding, only in a much more polite and agreeable fashion rather than just barking orders and biting them. Hoggett decides to enter him into a sheepdog trial.
Adapted from the children's book 'The Sheep Pig' , this film is quite an excellent kids film. It certainly doesn't gloss over the running of a farm and does become quite dark in places. There is plenty of light relief though. Ferdinand the duck is a particularly amusing character who decides that to avoid being eaten he must become of use around the farm and decides to take over the roosters job of crowing at dawn. Pigs acting like dogs, duck acting like roosters; it's quite the mixed up farm.
The film looks stunning and the visual effects are par excellence. A seamless mixture of live animals, puppets courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature shop and CGI effects make you believe that the animals are talking. Great voice characterisation from the likes of Miriam Margolyes and Hugo Weaving and a stalwart performance from Cromwell as the farmer of little words complete the recipe for an enchanting film.
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