Starring: Hugh Jackman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Nicholas Braun, Molly Gordon, Bryan Cranston Written by: Craig Mazin Directed by: Kyle Balda
I have a 10-year-old daughter. Two of her favorite things right now are animals (specifically dogs and farm animals) and the TV show High Potential. The Sheep Detectives exists in the center of that Venn diagram.
The movie tells the story of a shepherd, played by Hugh Jackman, who reads mystery novels to his flock every night. When the shepherd is murdered, it’s up to the sheep—who we can see speaking English to each other though it just sounds like baaas to the humans in the movie—to crack the case.
In typical Agatha Christie fashion, there are a handful of suspects in the small town where the shepherd lived. He even helpfully calls out each of them in his will. The town’s bumbling sheriff, Officer Tim (played by Nicholas Braun AKA cousin Greg from Succession) tries to make sense of it all.
But the humans are secondary here. The real stars of the show are the sheep, voiced by actors like Patrick Stewart, Brett Goldstein, Regina Hall, Bryan Cranston, and, as our main protagonist, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
It’s to the movie and director Kyle Balda’s credit that, while you recognize the sheep are largely CGI creations, you mostly don’t get too distracted by it. The effects are good enough and the story is engaging enough that there are even a few emotional moments where you have to remind yourself you’re getting choked up over a bunch of pixels.
Part of the movie’s charm is that it never pushes either the laughs or the mystery—a decently well-crafted whodunnit—too hard that you roll your eyes. Rather, it keeps the absurdity low key and matter-of-fact.
The same can be said for Jackman’s performance, which feels so natural you never think twice about it. Jackman might have actually reached a point in his career where he’s become underrated. There’s something about his casting here that just seems right.
Which goes for the movie as a whole. By bringing together elements of live-action talking-animal movies (ala Babe) with the puzzle-solving murder-mystery format, you somehow get a family film that feels both familiar and refreshing.
I haven't seen it. But after reading this, I feel like I've already let myself down. Although my 8yo son "hates" animals, by his own words. )))