THE SHEEP DETECTIVES – Review by Valerie Kalfrin
The family-friendly whodunit The Sheep Detectives is no mere Sherlock Hooves. This clever yarn about sheep who nose into their shepherd’s death becomes a surprisingly tender meditation on grief and how we keep memories of loved ones alive.
George Hardy (Hugh Jackman, Song Sung Blue) lives a peaceful and simple life in the bucolic English countryside, caring for a flock of sheep he calls “the kindest creatures on Earth.” He feeds a small lamb from a bottle in a hip holster, collects their wool, and each dusk reads them a mystery novel. The sheep nestle into the grass around his silver Airstream, baaing and bleating whenever George stops at a cliffhanger (and speaking through a stellar voice cast whenever he and other humans are out of earshot).
Their life takes a turn one morning when Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Thunderbolts*), the sheep George called his brightest, finds him lying dead in the grass. As George’s lawyer (Emma Thompson, Down Cemetery Road) breezes into town to handle the will, the naive Officer Derry (Nicholas Braun, Splitsville) discovers George was poisoned. He soon has a handful of suspects typical for a cozy mystery: the butcher (Conleth Hill, The Power of Parker), a neighboring shepherd (Tosin Cole, Bob Marley: One Love), a priest (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Dreaming Whilst Black), an innkeeper (Hong Chau, Wuthering Heights), and George’s long-lost daughter (Molly Gordon, The Bear). A reporter (Nicholas Galitzine, The Idea of You) eager to break a bigger story offers to help.
The sheep, who have the magical ability to forget things en masse, at first want to forget George because his loss is too painful, if not confusing. Sebastian (Bryan Cranston, All My Sons), a streetwise ram, stops them. A friend, he says, should never be forgotten.
From here, The Sheep Detectives, based on the German novel by Leonie Swann, braids the mystery with a type of coming-of-age story for Lily. Louis-Dreyfus gives this childlike know-it-all spunk, innocence, sorrow, and dawning wisdom as Lily and Mopple (Chris O’Dowd, Big Mouth), a sheep who’s seen more than he cares to remember, hash out what might be clues—and how to guide Officer Derry, based on what they’ve learned from George’s stories. Though voice actors often don’t record together, she also has chemistry with Cranston, as the gruff Sebastian challenges her assumptions, whether about humans or the tiny winter lamb (Tommy Birchall) the flock considers bad luck.
The script by Craig Mazin (The Last of Us) weaves in some visual puns but balances the comedy and more serious moments nicely. Likewise, director Kyle Balda (Minions: The Rise of Gru) finds the humanity in these characters, woolly and not. Hearing the sheep describe some human objects and customs is a hoot, as is discovering the residents’ quirks. (The butcher naturally distrusts any vegetarian, unless they’re women, for some reason.)
Between puppeteers, animators, and the effects and sound teams, The Sheep Detectives largely keeps its fleecy sleuths grounded. They might climb on each other to peek into windows—or itch to ram a shiny pickup—but their expressions are subtle, not uncanny, conveying emotions largely through the eyes, brows, sounds, and body language.
While its mystery isn’t as knotty as one of Agatha Christie’s (or Rian Johnson’s, for that matter), The Sheep Detectives weaves a warm spell. With its amiable humor, an appropriate comeuppance, and well-earned teary moments, it’s a shear delight.
