The Sheep Detectives review: Baa-rmy murder-mystery is tonally confused, but a yarn worth telling
After shepherd George (Hugh Jackman) is discovered dead, his flock of sheep quickly conclude it was no accident — and set out to solve the murder themselves.
Agatha Christie fans have been eating well over the last few years. Not only has Hercule Poirot been revived — and even given a moustache origin story — on the big screen, the whodunnit boom has been racking up bodies at a rate to rival John Wick, from Knives Out to The Thursday Murder Club. The genre’s latest spin, The Sheep Detectives, follows a literal flock of sheep trying to solve the murder of their beloved shepherd (Hugh Jackman); although it seems like the set-up for a sharp, child-friendly satire, what we get is a case that is far more by the numbers.
It quickly becomes apparent that The Sheep Detectives has a bit of an identity crisis on its hands. Its setting is caught somewhere between the whimsical, colourful world of Paddington and a hard-boiled murder-mystery. Despite being populated by giddy CG sheep, it comes as a surprise that this kids’ film is, for the most part, a serious affair. Based on the 2005 German crime novel Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann — which featured murder, suicide, and drug trafficking — this is not a film with much in the way of successful jokes. Under its cosy exterior, it is mostly concerned with being a straight whodunnit. With the flock themselves obsessed with murder-mysteries, the film repeatedly calls out tropes of the genre, but it rarely does anything to subvert them, beyond merely repeating them.
It does at least manage to spin an engaging mystery.
Despite some tonal whiplash, it does at least manage to spin an engaging mystery. It keeps you constantly second-guessing which of the quirky townsfolk committed the murder. The central story is fairly generic, but it holds together well enough that if you stumbled across it on a Sunday afternoon, you might just find yourself guessing alongside these sheep sleuths.
What can’t be doubted is The Sheep Detectives’ abundance of pathos. While the murderous material can feel confusing in its kiddy-friendly setting, its meditations on grief, inclusion and caring land like a big, fluffy hug. This is helped in large part by the voice cast that bring this adorable animated flock to life — especially Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Lily, Chris O’Dowd’s soulful Mopple, and Bella Ramsey’s high-energy, question-asking lamb. It is a committed ensemble that sells this flock’s love for their shepherd, and while the tale often treads on familiar ground, it is in the bond between these animals and their owner that the film finds its woolly heart.
These furry detectives are no Hercule Poir-ewe, but this eclectic, well-voiced herd takes on the case with enough earnestness to make it a yarn worth telling.
