Chris O'Dowd as the voice of Mopple and Julia-Louis Dreyfus as the voice of Lily in The Sheep Detectives.Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios/Supplied
The Sheep Detectives
Directed by Kyle Balda
Written by Craig Mazin
Starring Hugh Jackman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Bryan Cranston
Classification PG; 109 minutes
Opens in theatres May 8
Critic’s Pick
Hugh Jackman as George Hardy.Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios/Supplied
Honestly, we could all use a break right about now. It’s been so dreary with the news, the weather, it’s enough to keep you in the general blahs. Which is why you need to head to the theatre for a serious case of the baaas.
The Sheep Detectives is the cozy movie adaptation of German author Leonnie Swann’s debut novel, Three Bags Full, where a group of sheep decide to investigate a murder most foul – of their beloved shepherd George. It’s bleating good fun; I promise to stop with the puns now.
George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) is a loner shepherd who lives on the outskirts of Denbrook Village, somewhere in the English countryside. He tends to a flock of sheep, and each animal has a name and its own distinct personality. There’s the wise Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the taciturn ram Sebastien (Bryan Cranston), eidetic Mopple (Chris O’Dowd), the stentorian Sir Richfield (Patrick Stewart, naturally), the diva Cloud (Regina Hall) among others. The sheep live an idyllic life tended to by George, who likes to read them detective novels at night before going to bed – often leaving them guessing with a cliffhanger. Well, everybody else except Lily, who can usually solve the mystery well before the others.
George’s life has little to do with the rest of the villagers, who include the doltish cop Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun), local butcher Ham (Conleth Hill) and neighbouring farmer Caleb (Tosin Cole).
The sheep wake up one morning to find George dead. They know Tim is likely to bungle the investigation, even though the arrival of an American named Rebecca Hampstead (Molly Gordon), big-city journalist Elliot Matthews (Nicholas Galitzine), along with George’s formidable lawyer Lydia Harbottle (Emma Thompson), provide intrigue and motives galore.
This is truly an enviable cast of performers, and they deliver. Jackman, charming as ever, isn’t even the big draw. Nevertheless, his somewhat wizened presence here gives us the stakes. He was a good shepherd, who even after his death guides his sheep to step out of their comfort zones in more ways than one. Wonderfully animated through CGI, the sheep steal the show. Audiences are sure to be drawn to the whipsmart Lily, who has to overcome a moment of crisis, or ever so sardonic Sebastien who both add to the emotional core of the story. I found myself captivated by Mopple, the sheep who cannot forget but carries that burden with equanimity. (Plus O’Dowd is a highly underrated actor, whom I have adored since first seeing on the Brit sitcom The IT Crowd.)
The movie is an adaptation of German author Leonnie Swann’s debut novel, Three Bags Full.Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios/Supplied
The movie takes several significant departures from the book, originally written in German. The action moves from Ireland to a kind of constantly golden hour sun-dappled British village that Hollywood often conjures up. George’s murder is far less violent, other themes such as adultery and drug trafficking are left out to make The Sheep Detectives kid-friendly. Some scenes involving the deaths of loved ones may have young audience members welling up. But the characters and the plot are shaped by the broad strokes of a family movie so that you don’t dwell on such matters for long. And since it is mostly told from the perspective of the sheep, there’s a wide-eyed wonderment that generally works in the film’s favour.
If you’re a connoisseur of cozy crime, chances are you will solve this murder comedy fairly early on, and find the final unravelling a little too on the nose. The voice talent does an excellent job of getting into character, however, and there are plenty of jokes to keep the pace ticking along. Brett Goldstein as the twins Reggie and Ronnie is hilarious, for example, and brings a joke full circle at the denouement. Obviously, there can be never enough Emma Thompson, and she clearly relished the small part that she played.
So if you’re looking for spring diversion, The Sheep Detectives is a delightful respite from all that’s wearisome. Additional themes of goodness and memory, as well as inclusion/exclusion, offer some heft to all the surrealistic bucolic charm. And then if you do want to dwell a bit further, you could always check out the book.