The Sheep Detectives Review

On paper, when you're pitching the idea of The Sheep Detectives movie, adapted from Leonie Swann's novel Three Bags Full, with the co-director of Minions and creator/writer of HBO's Chernobyl and The Last of Us, you tend to take a moment to think, "What is this movie going to be?"

The Sheep Detectives lands in the perfect middle ground of these two creators. It's for kids who are starting to outgrow the minions but not too old for their teenage angst to be embarrassed about seeing this film. The subject matter does get dark at times, even I had to take a moment and go, "They're doing this in a kids movie?" but once it's all said and done the more mature and darker themes this film touches on is handled well enough to not be too much for kids while also being digestible for such big themes.

George, played by Hugh Jackman, is a shepherd from a town in the middle of nowhere. He loves his sheep, is a bit cranky with his fellow humans, and is murdered. His flock, led by Julia Louis Drefus as Lilly and Chris O'Dowd as Mopple, have to come to terms with his death and their future.

At the end of every day George would read a mystery novel to his flock of sheep, and from that experience Lilly decides that they will have to solve their shepherds murder. And so, this whool-tag band of sheep start gathering clues, working with the humans, and thwarting the evil deeds of the killer in this shockingly sincere and emotional story about grief.

That's what surprised me most about this movie. There is a love for mysteries, even having the characters breaking down what makes a mystery in lines of dialogue, where this is a fun rollick through the genre, but the movie is mostly about Lilly and her coming to terms with these big ideas that shatter her perceived world. The Sheep Detectives is about grief and closure, coming to terms with thoughts that even make adults spiral. But there's so much heart behind the writing and directing, with some genuine laughs, that after your heart is broken you can feel it heal from these adorably dramatic sheep in the most therapeutic way.

The months leading up to this release I was telling everybody how this was my most anticipated movie of the year. Partly, this was a bit, but the more I was going in on it the more I felt genuine excitement and I am so happy to see it meet, and at times exceed, my expectations. I was able to see this movie twice, and honestly I want to see it many more times as this may be the perfect family movie to watch with your loved ones this year.