The Sheep Detectives: A Fun, Funny Mystery of Unexpected Depth - Reactor

I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting too much from The Sheep Detectives—I love a high concept, but “CGI sheep solve a murder”??? Concepts can be too high. So it delights me to say that The Sheep Detectives is good! Great, even! I laughed a lot, the mystery is solid, the animation is fantastic, and I was surprisingly moved. There’s a deeper undercurrent than I was expecting in this film, which I’ll get into in a non-spoiler way below. And maybe best of all, I think this is the rare movie that could work for anyone over about the age of 5 or 6—there are some scary and intense moments, but the film works through them well, and I think most kids will come out fine on the other side.

I’m going to do my best not to spoil anything because a premise this weird deserves to be experienced on its own terms.

The Sheep Detectives was adapted from German author Leonie Swann’s 2005 mystery, Three Bags Full, by Craig Mazin, a man who has written a Hangover movie, Chernobyl, and The Last of Us. This a writer who enjoys a curveball. It was directed by Kyle Balda, a veteran animator who directed multiple Minions movies. Given this pedigree, I went in with no idea what to expect, and came out giggling like a fool. This is a deeply fun movie that’s also kind of deep—I’m not sure if this will be helpful as a review, but the woman sitting next to me said “AWWW” no fewer than 14 times over the last ten minutes.

Hugh Jackman plays a farmer named George Hardy. He lives alone in a rad Airstream trailer and keeps a flock of sheep, and by “keeps” I mean he doesn’t just feed them, shear them, and take them to the vet, I mean he plays with them, he bottle feeds lambs who need it, and, most important for the story, he reads to them every night before sunset. George loves mystery novels, and he’s been reading to them for a long time, which is why, when a murder occurs, these bovidae have a Rian Johnson-level skill at working out clues and tropes to figure out whodunnit.

The voice cast is stellar. Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is our lead sheep, the who’s always able to solve George’s mysteries before he even gets to the ending. She goes on a pretty harrowing emotional journey over the course of the film, and Louis-Dreyfus never hits a wrong note in either the comedic moments or the more existential ones. Her closest companion, Mopple, is played by Chris O’Dowd who does quiet, nuanced work as he tries to support her. Sebastian, an older sheep who’s seen more of the world and the evils men do, gives Bryan Cranston a chance to be world-weary and grizzled and he’s fantastic. The flock is rounded out by Rhys Darby (Wool-Eyes, who can’t see a thing due to the WOOL OVER HIS EYES and made me laugh every time he showed up), Regina Hall (Cloud, the prettiest sheep, a bit of a diva), Patrick Stewart (Sir Richfield, a wise old ram), Brett Goldstein (a hilarious dual role as Reggie and Ronnie, two young, bro-y rams), and Bella Ramsey (Zora, a yearling overflowing with existential questions).

The humans are every bit as good—everyone takes their roles completely seriously, with no winking to be seen. Hugh Jackman takes us through a full emotional arc with George Hardy. The village is populated by classic cozy mystery archetypes. There’s a bumbling constable who needs help with his first murder case (Nicholas Braun), a cub reporter who wants a scoop (Nicholas Galitzine), a mysterious newcomer (Molly Gordon), the town priest (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith), the nosy town booster (Hong Chau), a butcher (Conleth Hill), and, hilariously, a second and more popular shepherd (Caleb), who is young, cool, personable—everything introverted loner George is not. Emma Thomspon also pops up in a small role, and she is DELIGHTFUL. Really if I have one critique of the film, it’s that we don’t get enough time with the townsfolk.

The Sheep Detectives lives and dies by its CGI, and the animation here is lovely. The sheep have real weight. George’s flock are a mix of different breeds, and they’re each unique individuals whose personalities come through in their body language. The wool is beautifully rendered, with different textures and colors, and the animators really put time in to give the characters their own details. Also, and this might just be me, but sheep have amazing eyes? Their eyelashes are ridiculously pretty? And the movie takes a lot of time focusing on their eyes and how much personality can come through.

One of things that makes this film so fun is that it sticks almost entirely to the sheep’s perspective. For the most part, we learn what they learn, and it’s fun to see the limitations this places on story. This leads to the darker undercurrents I mentioned above.

I didn’t expect to write this sentence this year, but here you go: The Sheep Detectives is about grief.

It works through the ways we try to deal with the grief death causes—storytelling, willing ourselves to ignore it, willing ourselves to forget those we’ve lost, willing ourselves to remember them. I yelled in my group chat about how much I’d like to get one movie where I don’t have to talk about God and religion (and as they correctly pointed out to me, I’m protesting too much) but God pops up here, in a hilarious way, and the film gives us a much more nuances discussion of the theology and cosmology that I expected from the “sheep solve a murder” movie.

But, well, there’s no cure for death, or the grief it causes, and the movie doesn’t sugarcoat that. It makes the wise decision to come down on the idea that the best way to deal with it is through community. Which leads to the other two dark undercurrents. As it focuses on the way community can heal pain, it also asks what community is, and who should be included, which leads to a surprisingly deep look at prejudice and intergenerational trauma. And for all the whimsy and coziness, there is, don’t forget, a murder afoot—the sheep have to face the fact that not all humans are like their George, and that people are capable of violence and cruelty. One scene in particular kind of turns into horror for a few moments. (That’s the part that might be too much for younger kids.)

My only real issue with the film also comes from the perspective choice—as with Wake Up Dead Man last year, I don’t think we get quite enough time with the supporting cast. The movie sets up a fun English village full of archetypes, but it doesn’t give most of them quite enough to do. And obviously, the sheep can’t be in the hotel or the church with the suspects, but given that we got a couple human-only scenes, I wish the movie had stayed in the village longer to let the humans bicker and suspect each other, because the cast is really fun.

Braun is great at the “bumbling constable” aspect, but he really sells the idea that Officer Derry wants to do a good job. Galitzine embodies Elliot Matthews’ desperation without making him so irritating that we want him to leave town again. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith has one great scene as Reverend Hillcoate that kind of becomes a turning point for the mystery. Hong Chau and Molly Gordon are both excellent as Rebecca Hampstead and Beth Pennock, two women with secrets—and of everyone I really wish those two had gotten a bit more to do. And Tosin Cole is hilarious as the cool shepherd who makes the ladies of the town swoon as he walks by.

I think that’s my only quibble though—like I said this movie really grabs its concept and runs with it, and it almost always works. If it’s not quite up to the level of Paddington 2 or Babe: Pig in the City, who among us can claim that? It’s a very worthy successor to Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep, and I think this is a movie that will get popped on for families to watch together on many holiday weekends to come.