The Sheep Detectives Review

The Sheep Detectives is a family-friendly murder mystery that sets out to be an entertaining yarn.

George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) is a devoted shepherd who loves his flock and has been communicating with a woman in America. When George is found dead, his sheep suspect foul play, and three of his flock, Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Mopple (Chris O’Dowd), and Sebastian (Bryan Cranston), investigate the crime.

I have been interested in The Sheep Detectives since the release of the first trailer. It had such a baa-rmy premise that I want it to succeed because it would screw with some studio executives’ minds. The signs have been good since the film has earned positive reviews in the UK, and it was released for the weekend in some European markets. It was a release strategy that worked for Amazon MGM/Sony’s big hit earlier this year, Project Hail Mary.

The Sheep Detectives was based on a German story set in Ireland, but the film was set in England. This change worked. The UK has produced many cosy murder mystery shows, like Midsummer Murders, Lewis, and Beyond Paradise, so a child-friendly version wasn’t out of the realms of possibility. The Sheep Detectives did have self-awareness since Lily enjoyed murder mystery novels, so she knew the tropes and formula of these stories, and used her knowledge to nudge the police in the right direction.

The Sheep Detectives felt like an animated film. This seems obvious because it was directed by Kyle Balda, a veteran from Illumination, and well, the film was about sheep. The sheep in the film were more expressive than real animals, and the trailers emphasised the slapstick comedy. One of the big set pieces was Lily and Mopple encountering a road for the first time. A sequence where a sheep runs into a hotel and causes havoc felt like when Paddington was in the Brown’s bathroom or attempting to be a barber.

The Sheep Detectives was a film that had humour for ages. There was an acknowledgement of the film’s absurdity, and it was used to great effect. Emma Thompson had a small role in the film, but she dominated every scene she was in and was a comedic force. Nicholas Braun was a highlight as the gormless police officer who acted like Neil from The Inbetweeners. It was surprising to find out that Braun was actually American. Some of the supporting sheep characters were one-note, but they served their purpose, like Brett Goldstein as Reggie and Ronnie, twins who wanted to ram things.

Whilst The Sheep Detectives was marketed as a light-hearted film, it did have shadows. Craig Mazin was the screenwriter, and he came from a different background to the film’s director. He’s known for being the showrunner of Chernobyl and The Last of Us. The darkness came from it being told from a sheep’s perspective. Even though Lily was the smartest sheep, she did have a limited understanding of the world. If the flock ever faced a dark reality, Lily would order collective amnesia. However, Mopple was cursed with a memory and carried the burden of knowledge. Sebastian was a loner who had a tragic backstory, which felt similar to Gill from Finding Nemo. Cranston brought gravitas, and O’Dowd was sincere in his role.

There was a Watership Down quality to The Sheep Detectives. The sheep formed their own beliefs, one of them being that sheep will become clouds later in life. There was prejudice within the flock because winter lambs were seen as bad omens and shunned because of it. Since the film was about farm animals, they would make a horrible discovery at some point. This does push The Sheep Detectives into territory occupied by Chicken Run and The Secret of NIMH.