Time: 109 Minutes
Age Rating: PG – Violence & coarse language
Cast:
Hugh Jackman as George Hardy
Nicholas Braun as Tim Derry
Nicholas Galitzine as Elliot Matthews
Molly Gordon as Rebecca Hampstead
Hong Chau as Beth Pennock
Emma Thompson as Lydia Harbottle
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Lily
Bryan Cranston as Sebastian
Chris O’Dowd as Mopple
Regina Hall as Cloud
Patrick Stewart as Sir Richfield
Bella Ramsey as Zora
Rhys Darby as Wool-Eyes
Brett Goldstein as Reggie and Ronnie
Director: Kyle Balda

From looking at the title to the poster, The Sheep Detectives really didn’t seem like a real movie, and didn’t appear that it would be anything particularly good. However, I heard some really positive reactions to it. I eventually got around to watching it, and I can confirm that it lived up to all the high praise.

The Sheep Detectives has a very good script from Craig Mazin. The central murder mystery isn’t the most unpredictable or creative, but it’s decent enough that you can get invested in it, and most importantly, the movie takes it seriously. It’s definitely light and easy to watch for the whole family including the kids, especially with the cute and funny animals. It’s also genuinely very funny without being juvenile, with hilarious jokes and dialogue. The most surprising thing was the emotional depth and how it deals with its more heavy topics. This includes existential things and dark realities, including the inevitability of death, the very concept of death, memory, and grief. It’s done surprisingly well, approaching the topics with nuance and maturity. It’s genuinely impressive for a family movie like this to deal with these subjects without feeling too simplified or dumbed down. Overall, it’s just a warm, charming and heartfelt movie that has a satisfying end.

There’s also a good ensemble cast, which includes Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Galitzine, Emma Thompson, and Hong Chau. The human characters are definitely more in the background and perhaps could’ve used more development, but the sheep are the real stars of the movie, so you wouldn’t want to take away from them too much. Nicholas Braun is the clear weakest link of the human cast. He plays the bumbling cop who’s not the best at investigating and requires help from the sheep to be set in the right direction. He had his moments, but ultimately, it felt like that part might’ve been better served with a different actor. The voice cast with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Rhys Darby and Brett Goldstein are excellent. The sheep are engaging and charming as characters, and the voices helped to convey them and bring them to life.

Kyle Balda has previously made animated movies like Minions, and The Sheep Detectives is his first live action movie. Everything is well presented and shot. The editing is especially good, with so many effectively hilarious comedic cuts. On a technical level, the most impressive aspect are the animals. The sheep are obviously CGI, but the animation is so good that you quickly buy into them being talking animals, without falling into uncanny valley territory.

The Sheep Detectives is a hilarious, charming, heartfelt, and delightful murder mystery, with a great ensemble cast. One of the most surprising movies of the year.