The Sheep Detectives, 2026.
Directed by Kyle Balda.
Starring Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Hong Chau, Tosin Cole, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Conleth Hill, Mandeep Dhillon, and featuring the voice talents of Bryan Cranston, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Brett Goldstein, Rhys Darby, and Bella Ramsey.
SYNOPSIS:
Every night a shepherd reads aloud a murder mystery, pretending his sheep can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep realize at once that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it.
Sheep are the key to happiness, according to shepherd George Hardy (Hugh Jackman, putting his charm to good use, building a believable bond with a CGI flock given limited screen time). He feeds them, grooms them, heals them, and, when the day is done, reads murder mysteries aloud to his flock. That understandably likely sounds cuckoo to you readers out there, but that’s nothing compared to the revelation that, although based on a book by Leonie Swann, The Sheep Detectives, a sweet and moving family-friendly whodunnit featuring talking sheep, is the product of director Kyle Balda (Minions) and screenwriter Craig Mazin (The Last of Us TV series adaptation of the best-selling video games). How is THAT for whiplash? Surprisingly, there is no tonal dysfunction, but the film isn’t without sad moments that complement the otherwise lighthearted, comedic, and fun-first approach.
After establishing George’s day-to-day life, the small Irish town and its key locals, and the personalities of the sheep themselves, the filmmakers put a mystery in motion when George turns up dead (entirely offscreen, though it might still upset the youngest viewers). It’s up to his flock, particularly the factor leader Lily (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), to put everything they know about such fictional murder mysteries to the test in reality, guiding a dimwitted police officer (Nicholas Braun) and an aspiring photojournalist (Nicholas Galitzine) in town for the local cultural festival to the clues they discover.
Now, there is no denying that this is an absurd premise and that one of the creators of the Minions in the director’s chair doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in clever comedy, but the filmmakers do take various factoids about sheep and, rather than solely run with it for the occasional joke, also work it into the thematic material, making for some emotional poignancy and worthwhile children’s lessons regarding acceptance, grief, memory, and family.
Sure, it could be argued that much of this is typical for a kids movie, but it’s unlikely that prejudices have been explored from the angle of a runt dubbed The Winter Lamb who is quite literally a black sheep to the flock, or taking animals’ penchant for forgetfulness to explore the importance of choosing to remember and holding sadness in the heart to keep alive those we love alive in spirit. Even the notion that sheep are the stupidest animal is both subverted and appears not to be true to begin with, based on some quick research (they can remember up to 50 people for years, which could make bigger, more expensive sequels a logistical nightmare but potentially more interesting). Yes, I would watch another one of these.
Expanding on that thought, it’s also a fairly brilliant business decision by Amazon to counter Netflix with a different breed of whodunnits for the whole family; there is a self-contained story here, but one has to imagine the distributor will have more ideas in play if this is a success.
Nevertheless, Lily, the smartest of the flock, works alongside the wisest, Mopple (voiced by Chris O’Dowd), a semi-outcast who doesn’t feel as if he belongs to any flock named Sebastian (voiced by Bryan Cranston), some others mainly functioning as comedic relief aimed at people of varying ages, which includes a pair of rams eager to, well, ram into anything in sight, or a wooly-eyed sheep determined to help even if he may as well be blind (at one point, there is an especially funny POV shot of him knocking into things inside an RV), and a qualifiable Winter Lamb (voiced by familiar Craig Mazin collaborator Bella Ramsey), eager to contribute but unfairly judged and perceived as impossible to be lovable.
Together, they investigate the community, ranging from a butcher, a rival farmer looking to purchase George’s flock before he mysteriously died, a woman with a longtime crush (Hong Chau) that was never reciprocated due to him never able to get over the tragic death of his wife, a possible shady lawyer played by Emma Thompson, the shepherd’s suspicious visiting estranged daughter (Molly Gordon) curiously fidgety and frequently playing with a metal bracelet, a long-lost son outside the country, and an actual priest. That last one is mined for both the hilarious interpretation of religion from the mind of a sheep and some food for thought about the merits of leading a flock.
The Sheep Detectives is sweet and smart, with clever misdirection that conceals the culprit’s identity, even if genre veterans will catch on to the movie laws and what the film is doing. However, that too is easy enough to forgive since this is both a family-friendly film that isn’t stupidly pandering to children but rather engages them with worthwhile messaging and tools to draw on in the more adult-oriented whodunnit books and movies. It’s not necessarily one to remember, but as the sheep come around to agreeing on, some things shouldn’t be forgotten.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
