‘The Sheep Detectives’ is a surprisingly poignant children’s movie

There are many surprises in my job. One of them was when I learned that something called “The Sheep Detectives” was a real movie and not a weird dream I had. The other was when I watched said movie, and actually enjoyed it. 

For a film critic with no children to speak of, I find myself ruminating on the status of children’s entertainment quite often these days. As I’ve stated before, I think we’re in a pretty dire spot – with few exceptions, most things aimed at children are either interested in making it impossible for them to turn their eyes away from the screen, are secretly aimed at their parents, or are live-action remakes of Disney movies that are barely 10 years old. 

“The Sheep Detectives” (written by Craig Mazin and directed by Kyle Balda) might seem like an unlikely antidote to this problem. Based on a 2005 novel by Leonie Swann called “Three Bags Full,” the film follows a shepherd named George (Hugh Jackman) who lives in the English countryside and spends most of his time ignoring other people, reading mystery novels to his sheep (goals, tbh). Unbeknownst to George, the sheep understand every word. And, when George is murdered, this talking, CGI flock –  led by the smartest of the bunch, Lily (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), is on the case. 

The biggest flaw of “The Sheep Detectives” is that most of its human characters aren’t nearly as fun to watch as their ovine counterparts. But, the movie isn’t called “The Human Detectives,” now is it? And these sheep know how to deliver! “The Sheep Detectives” walks a fine line between sweet and cloying, touching on tough themes about grief and death in a kid-friendly manner – and with plenty of humor along the way.

From a screenwriting perspective, Mazin uses the tropes of detective novels (tropes that George’s flock of sheep understand all too well) to set up the rest of our suspects. There’s Rebecca (Molly Gordon), George’s daughter, who has only just arrived in town and been left a startlingly large sum of money. There’s Ham, the butcher (Conleth Hill), Caleb (Tosin Cole), a fellow shepherd, and Beth (Hong Chau), the owner of the local inn – all who hate George, for different reasons. Trying to unravel all the tangled threads are local policeman Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun) and a London reporter named Elliot (Nicholas Galitzine) – but these two are going to need some help of the wooly variety. 

Thankfully, “The Sheep Detectives” gets the most important aspect of this endeavor right. The CGI looks pretty good, and there’s a spark of charm to the individuality in each sheep’s design. The visual effects studio Framestore apparently did extensive research, using footage of real sheep to inform the physicality and traits of their CGI counterparts, and it pays off.  There are Merino sheep, Shetland sheep, Boreray sheep – all the characters are distinct, their faces not so realistic as to feel uncanny and flat, but not so cartoonish as to take the audience out of the emotional core of the film. 

And there is a real emotional core to “The Sheep Detectives!” Throughout the film, we’re introduced to a hefty amount of what I’ll call “sheep lore,” the most important of which being that sheep can simply choose to forget things that upset them. They don’t know that sheep can die (they think they turn into clouds), and they don’t know that some people eat sheep. They’ve learned this before, but they’ve chosen to forget, to stay in their bubble, happy and ignorant – all except Mopple (Chris O’Dowd), who, for an unexplained reason, can’t forget. So he must shoulder the burden alone. 

A group who decides to insulate themselves against the evils of the world, ignoring what makes them upset for the sake of their own comfort – in today’s world, that’s a poignant concept. But when George dies, for the first time, the sheep make the decision not to forget. They jump on the case, using their knowledge of mystery novels to assist the police (as best they can without being able to communicate directly with humans), and make humorous observations about the confusing nature of humanity – when one of the more worldly sheep, a ram named Sebastian (Bryan Cranston), tries to explain religion to the others, he reasons that God is a shepherd who is also a lamb. And also made out of bread. And also invisible. Makes perfect sense. 

The human plotlines are the more challenging aspects of “The Sheep Detectives.” Jackman has a sweetness to him that comes through in his few moments, and as George’s attorney, Emma Thompson delivers the out and out funniest performance in the film. But, for the most part, when the human stuff works it’s because the jokes themselves are funny, not because the actors delivering those jokes are all that humorous. Braun has his moments (there is a line about a priest being defrocked that is particularly great), but the performances sometimes have trouble toeing the line between the comedic and gentle murder mystery tones. 

But the sheep (oh, the sheep!) carry enough humor and feeling for both species. The sheep might be able to make fun of humans for their admittedly silly habits, but they have their own lessons to learn about acceptance and community. Lily is ostensibly the smartest of them all, but even smart sheep can fall victim to the lure of a life without pain. “The Sheep Detectives” is about learning to accept the bad for what it is – to grieve, to rage, to cry with abandon – and then learning to take that knowledge and grow with it. 

“The Sheep Detectives” opens in theaters this weekend.