A flock of sleuths: A review of 'The Sheep Detectives'
Published May 9, 2026 06:36 pm
"The Sheep Detectives" is directed by Kyle Balda, who co-directed "Despicable Me 3" and two of the "Minions" movies. It’s that unexpected guilty pleasure, that’s best served with minimal of expectations. Really, enter the cinema without any pre-conceived notions of whether this film is good or bad, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. It’s buoyed by smart anthropomorphizing of the sheep, the humor and light banter, and all mixed in with touchy-feely moments and feel-good sequences.
There’s a charm to the film that’s hard to resist, just don’t expect award-winning potential, or ‘take your breath’ away cinematic splendor - it has none of those; but it chugs along on it’s own bucolic and pastoral pace, and is blessed with some committed acting.
I say committed because it would be Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson whose names one spies on the movie poster, and you’ll think they’ll carry the film - but Emma is more of a cameo, and Hugh is there more to set the tone, and convince us that we have not stumbled into the wrong movie house.
Jackman plays George Hardy, a shepherd in modern England; and he raises sheep only for their wool, not their meat. He’s super-attached to the sheep, and he lives in a trailer right there on the field.
George reads detective novels to his dearly loved flock, and what he doesn’t know is that they understand him, and have their own language - and they love him back. What the film does well is imbue each member of the flock with its own personality. Lily is voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Mopple by Chris O’Dowd, and Sebastian by Bryan Cranston.
Set in the village of Denbrook, you’ll like Nicholas Braun as the local policeman, who is on the daft and simple, but well-meaning, side. Her appearance as Hardy’s lawyer is what Emma Thompson carries into the film, stamping it with a scene-stealing pedigree that only an Emma Thompson can create.
At its heart, this a crime-solving film that owes a lot to the Agatha Christie mysteries of yesteryear, and the more recent popularity of films such as "Knives Out." Here, the working concept is to blend such a film as "Death on the Orient Express," with "Babe." And if you’re one of those who rues the fact that "Babe" happened over thirty years ago, you’ll be engaged, and find yourself breaking into little smiles, throughout the film.
If I were to compare this film to a baseball game, this is one that doesn’t possess any home runs; but consistently comes up with effective base-running, and piles on the score so there’s more to like than dislike, when the end credits start rolling down.
"The Sheep Detectives" is showing now in cinemas.