- Title: The Sheep Detectives
- IMDb: link
When a lovable shepherd (Hugh Jackman) dies who will solve his murder? Why, his sheep of course! Based on Leonie Swann’s novel, a flock of sheep (who have been raised on murder mysteries) set out to solve the death of their beloved owner. As Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the smartest of our GCI woolly investigators, knows, there are rules to every investigation which, believe it or not, with the unlikely help of a buffoonish local police officer (Nicholas Braun), are destined to lead to the truth.
If there’s a weakness to The Sheep Detectives it’s that its four-legged characters (voiced by the likes of Patrick Stewart, Regina Hall, Chris O’Dowd, Bryan Cranston, and others) are far more interesting than its two-legged ones (Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Hong Chau, and Emma Thompson). Jackson is incredibly charming as our victim, but he’s knocked off fairly early. Thankfully, director Kyle Balda knows where the magic of the story lies and focuses on the sheep as much as possible. While the mystery and last-minute revelations aren’t really that noteworthy, the process of watching the sheep solve the crime is almost immediately addictive. I would gladly sign-up for a series of these.
The Sheep Detectives is just a remarkably well-made all-ages film. Sweet and delightful, I’m hoping it holds up for multiple viewings because it’s a film I definitely plan on revisiting.
