The Sheep Detectives (PG)

Kind shepherd George reads detective novels to his beloved flock every night, assuming they can't possibly understand. However. Lily, Mopple and the other sheep comprehend everything and excitedly try to solve the literary mysteries before George reaches the final chapter. When tragedy strikes, Lily and co resolve to test their powers of deduction and help human police officer Tim Derry catch a killer.

LondonNet Film Review

The Sheep Detectives (PG) Film Review from LondonNet

What do you call a sheep without legs? A cloud. That groansome dad joke has a Lion King-esque lump-in-throat payoff in this rambunctious murder mystery based on Leonie Swann’s novel Three Bags Full. In director Kyle Balda’s effervescent yarn, a wise ram (voiced by Bryan Cranston) notes that humans frequently take a sheep’s name in vain to reference someone lacking independent thought, who blindly follows the crowd. Clever ruminants in The Sheep Detectives have something to bleat about that…

Kind shepherd George (Hugh Jackman) lives in a caravan on the edge of the sleepy village of Denbrook, where the high point of the annual cultural festival organised by busybody Beth Pennock (Hong Chau) is a stall laden with locally produced cheese sweating in the sun. George’s flock of sheep graze and play in sweet harmony and every night, he reads detective novels to his four-legged friends, assuming they can’t possibly understand. However, Lily (voiced Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Mopple (Chris O’Dowd) and the other animals comprehend everything and excitedly attempt to solve the literary mysteries before George reaches the final chapter.

When tragedy strikes, Lily and co resolve to test their finely tuned powers of deduction in the real world and help bumbling human police officer Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun) catch a killer. “We shall solve the crime!” boldly declares Lily. Prime suspects include George’s daughter Rebecca Hampstead (Molly Gordon), local butcher Ham (Conleth Hill), who could make a fortune from the flock, rival shepherd Conrad (Tosin Cole) and visiting lawyer Lydia Harbottle (Emma Thompson). Thankfully, inquisitive junior newspaper reporter Elliot Matthews (Nicholas Galitzine) is also determined to crack the case to earn himself a promotion.

The Sheep Detectives knits together Babe and Midsomer Murders to produce an appealingly woolly caper that leaves the fate of the police investigation resting comfortable in the hooves of digitally rendered sleuths. Slick computer wizardry seamlessly melds a clue-hunting flock with actors, physical sets and props. Animator turned director Balda, who previously helmed those mischievous Minions on the big screen, orchestrates sequences of broad slapstick with aplomb: two sheep nervously crossing their first road is a snort-inducing interlude. His human cast bear-hug their larger-than-life roles with eyebrow-arching fervour. Braun’s village copper enjoys a winning narrative arc from sweetly clueless suit to bona fide crime-stopper.

Craig Mazin’s abundantly warm-hearted script engineers interspecies tomfoolery with a spring in its step but still elicits a few dewy eyes when death comes a-gambolling across the meadows. Louis-Dreyfus’s sincere vocal performance is the film’s emotional lynchpin and timing are impeccable when her resourceful ewe fends off self-doubt with words of encouragement from her greatest supporter. The whodunnit element is drawn out sufficiently to earn an overblown big reveal of the culprit a la Poirot. A simple, shear delight.

– Jo Planter