Every night a shepherd reads aloud a murder mystery, pretending his sheep can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep realize at once that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it.
‘The Sheep Detectives’ is pretty much perfect family entertainment. It follows George Hardy (Hugh Jackman), a sheep farmer who is mysteriously murdered one night, leaving his flock to fend for themselves. As the local police turn their attention to a series of villagers with axes to grind with George, the flock become convinced they are best placed to solve the crime themselves, driven by the knowledge they’ve gained from the detective novels George used to read them before bed. Yes, it’s a daft premise, but I thought ‘The Sheep Detectives’worked surprisingly well, in large part because everyone involved commits to it completely.
The human cast play things with a straight face, while the voice cast, led by Bryan Cranston and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, throw themselves into the material, and the filmmakers never wink at the audience. I also found it much funnier than I expected, with the sheep’s attempts at detective work providing plenty of genuinely good laughs alongside the inevitable chaos.
The film is at its strongest whenever it stays with the flock themselves. Beneath the silly premise and the endless sheep-related hijinks is a surprisingly thoughtful story about grief, loss and trying to make sense of death, with the mystery becoming a way for the animals to process what has happened to someone they loved. Comparisons with ‘Babe’ are inevitable, and they’re not unwarranted. You can feel that film’s influence in the warmth, sincerity and belief that talking animals can carry stories with genuine emotional weight.
‘The Sheep Detectives’ won’t reinvent family cinema, but it doesn’t need to. It’s funny, heartfelt and consistently entertaining, striking a nice balance between broad comedy for younger audiences and enough emotional substance to keep adults invested. I had a great time with it.
Rating: 4/5
Directed By: Kyle Balda
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Hong Chau, Emma Thompson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey and Brett Goldstein
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