The Sheep Detectives

Growing up on a sheep farm, I have to admit, I don't have a lot of love for the wooly creatures. Nor do I have any affection for talking CGI animals of any phylum, genus, or species. But The Sheep Detectives is a welcome return to the type of family/kids movie that isn't the cinematic equivalent of Pop Rocks and Coke. Venerable producer Lindsay Doran has assembled a terrific creative crew, including screenwriter Craig Mazin (the go-to scribe for lame Scary Movie and Hangover sequels turned creator/show-runner of prestige TV like Chernobyl and The Last of Us), Minions director Kyle Balda, and a solid cast of actors to who make each of the titular sheep into full fledged characters rather than CGI animals sound like obnoxiously recognizable celebrities. They all come together to bring Leonie Swann's 2005 bestselling German novel Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story, to life as a warm, humorous, goodnatured theatrical kids' feature.

The simple story centers on a flock of sheep in a small English village, tended to by a loner shepherd (Hugh Jackman) who reads them mystery novels every night as the sun sets. When he's mysteriously murdered, the flock, lead by the smartest ewe (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) who's always one step ahead of the characters in the nigh-time detective stories, take it upon themselves to help the clueless constable (Nicholas Braun) put the clues together to determine which of several locals with a motive has bumped off their protector.

Just like talking animals, a little Nicholas Braun goes a long way, but Balda, Mazin, and Doran never succumb to the urge to make this kid's movie as broad as it can be with either the human characters or the sheep, so no actor or element wears out their welcome. The filmmakers lean into the Englishness of this American production to create something playfully droll that, were I a kid, I'd want to watch over and over because of the subtly of how the humor and subtext are delivered. I really appreciated the voice work in the film; you recognize Louis-Dreyfus, Chris O'Dowd, Bryan Cranston, Patrick Stewart, and Regina Hall, but not from word one. You get to know the sheep as individuals before you start to realize who is voicing them. The plot is a little simplistic for my taste, this is a kids movie after all, but the themes are smart and refreshingly honest, even challenging (at least for our current era).