A by-the-numbers whodunnit mystery with an unusual twist, The Sheep Detectives is light-hearted family fare that entertains in patches, even if it could have used a little more bite.
Hugh Jackman’s George Hardy is a happy shepherd, adored by his sheep but seen as a bit of a loner by the townspeople of sleepy little Denbrook. Every night, he reads his favourite murder mystery books to his sheep and likes to imagine they understand him; little does he know that they do. After he suspiciously turns up dead, the sheep must begin their own investigation and find out what happened.
After introducing a few key characters, the film steps into familiar territory. At the centre of the human cast is aloof local policeman Tim Derry, played by Nicholas Braun, who is constantly being helped by one of the sheep, Lilly, voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Lilly is the one sheep who always manages to figure out the killer in George’s books, so she feels she owes it to her previous owner to solve his murder.
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Jackman is enjoyable to watch, though he isn’t given a great deal to work with in his limited screen time. Most of his acting is done either to his sheep, or some sort of stand-in, or by himself. The bulk of the human drama comes from Braun and wannabe out-of-town reporter Elliot Matthews. They do well enough, but Braun doesn’t quite fit as the foolish policeman. He isn’t playing it like Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther, but he isn’t exactly Morgan Freeman’s Somerset from Se7en either. Emma Thompson also stars as the late Hardy’s lawyer and clearly enjoys herself while chewing the scenery. Rounding out the cast is Molly Gordon as Rebecca Hampstead, the estranged daughter of the deceased.
The voice cast brings in some heavy hitters, including Sir Patrick Stewart and Bryan Cranston, along with Chris O’Dowd and Regina Hall. As the 2019 live-action remake of The Lion King unfortunately showed, it is extremely difficult to convey much emotion with photorealistic animation. That means the voice acting needs to hit harder and do more of the heavy lifting, which it doesn’t quite achieve here. Thankfully, the CGI, save for a couple of iffy shots, is mostly well done.
As with every murder mystery, the final twist reveal needs to land, and in that regard the film does quite well, bringing with it a little bit of a Scooby-Doo vibe, whether intentional or not. I naturally had my suspicions, as any good mystery film should encourage. The film reveals its characters with just enough motive and justification to keep you guessing right up until the end, before flipping the script and blindsiding you with the real revelation.
Director Kyle Balda handles himself quite well with his first live-action film after working on several Minions-related pictures, but did he play it too safe with another kid’s film? As a breakaway from animated family films, it’s something a little heavier than his previous work, but not by much.
The Sheep Detectives is an enjoyable film that could have done with a little more oomph to take it over the edge. It’s a solid sidestep into the murder mystery genre, but lacks that little extra something that is hard to fully pin down.
