‘The Sheep Detectives’ Review

Growing up, children of so many generations were first introduced to mystery through ‘Scooby Doo’, be it the original cartoon, the live action movies or any number of its animated spin offs. Each installment was a mini-whodunnit, with layers of kid friendly spooks that were ultimately harmless, more often than not ending with a greedy person in a mask trying to make more money.

For a new generation, ‘The Sheep Detectives’ will serve as a surprisingly clever and cute entry level murder mystery, that handles delicate topics without sacrificing any comedic adventure.

Unlike the comparatively innocent ‘Scooby Doo’, ‘The Sheep Detectives’ opens not with a fake-out, not an elaborate moneymaking scheme, but an actual murder. George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) is a standoffish loner of a shepherd, who bristles every time he interacts with people, but glows whenever he is among his precious sheep. Each night, as the sun sets, George gathers his flock together and reads aloud to them from one of his many murder mystery novels. Unbeknownst to George, the sheep understand every word of what he says, and go to sleep discussing who they think did it, and what they think will happen next.

One morning, the flock wakes up to find George outside of his trailer, dead. The flock, led by the smartest sheep Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the wisest one Mopple (Chris O’Dowd) and the mysterious loner Sebastian (Bryan Cranston), determines to find out who killed their beloved shepherd, finding themselves caught up in the sort of trope-filled mystery they long heard about from George’s books, filled with shady characters, a long lost daughter, and a last minute rewriting of George’s will. But they find the real world is much more complicated than their books, as they try to steer the bumbling police officer Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun) to exacting justice.

‘The Sheep Detectives’ is a pleasant surprise in that it functions both as a wonderfully compelling Agatha Christie pastiche and as a talking-animal family comedy. This combination feels like it shouldn’t work, and yet somehow it miraculously does. The acting is committed across the board, with Nicholas Braun the standout from the live-action cast as a well-meaning but inept police officer who leads with his heart and proves himself capable with a little help from some nosy sheep.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the film is that for a children’s movie it does not shy away from heavy subject matter, be that death, belonging or the moral quandary of eating meat. The storytellers show a trust in their audience, both kids and adults, that hiding from difficult truths doesn’t make them disappear and that the best learnings can come from the darkest moments.

To be sure, this is still ostensibly a kid’s movie, and there are moments when the sentimentality is less affecting than it is cloying, with characters frolicking in an idyll to the sappiest music imaginable. And the mystery could have been explored more, with the human suspects leaving a lot of room to be developed further. This flaw is perhaps inevitable in a movie where the detectives are talking sheep, who consequently don’t get much in the way of interrogation time with the suspects, but nonetheless stands out as demerit.

‘The Sheep Detectives’ is the most pleasant of surprises, a sheep based ‘Scooby Doo’ for a new generation that provides cute laughs while emotionally challenging its audience and providing whodunnit delight for people of all ages.

The Sheep Detectives
Rated PG for thematic material, some violent content and brief language.
Running Time: 1 hour and 49 minutes

Director Kyle Balda
Writers Craig Mazin
Stars Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Brett Goldstein, Hong Chau, Emma Thompson
Rating PG
Running Time 109 Minutes
Genres Action, Comedy, Family, Mystery