The Sheep Detectives: A Shears Out Mystery That's Far Better Than it Needs to Be

By Thom Ernst

Rating: A-

In 1995, George Miller, the Australian who gave us Mad Max, made a persuasive case for anthropomorphizing animals by scripting Babe. Then, taking over as director, he quietly elevated the idea into near-art with Babe: Pig in the City (1998).

Since then, we’ve had no shortage of talking animals—most of them content to chatter away while the kids pay attention and the adults check out.

Which is why The Sheep Detectives comes as a surprise.

At first glance, it looks like more of the same: a field full of sheep, each with a personality, watching their human counterparts with a mix of curiosity, judgment, and what we generously interpret as understanding. We’ve seen this before—on screens, in children’s books, and in those Internet videos where we insist our pets aren’t just listening but comprehending not just tone, but deeper meaning.

So no. The Sheep Detectives isn’t breaking new ground. Sheep solving a murder mystery sounds like exactly the sort of high-concept charm that wears thin somewhere around the second act.

Except it doesn’t.

From the first act straight through to the third, the film engages on a level far higher than it needs to. Which is what happens when you put real craft behind a premise that could have coasted on novelty. Director Kyle Balda (Despicable Me 3, Minions) works from a script by Craig Mazin (The Last of Us), adapted from Leonie Swann’s Three Bags Full. It’s an overqualified team for a flock of sheep—and that’s precisely why it works.

Somewhere between the whimsy and the absurdity, the film finds its footing. The cuteness never overwhelms the story, and the story holds. What emerges is a genuinely engaging mystery, one that plays fair while still indulging its premise. Call it Shears Out by way of Knives Out—lighter, warmer, and less interested in showing off.

Hugh Jackman anchors the film as George Hardy, a self-imposed outsider living in a trailer overlooking his flock. He’s a curmudgeon in the traditional sense—a hermit more comfortable with animals than people. But Jackman gives him just enough warmth to make the solitude feel earned rather than performed. Each night, he reads mystery novels to his sheep, who gather with an attentiveness that borders on ritual. It’s a ridiculous image, and somehow completely convincing.

When Hardy is found dead, the film makes its boldest move: the sheep don’t just react—they investigate. Their suspects range from local butchers and neighbouring herders to anyone unlucky enough to wander into the frame.

What keeps it from tipping into gimmick is commitment. A strong A-list voice cast—Chris O'Dowd, Bryan Cranston, Laraine Newman, Brett Goldstein, Patrick Stewart, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus—does the heavy lifting of making talking sheep feel, if not plausible, at least convincing. The animation, a blend of camera trickery, CGI, and high-end puppetry, avoids the plastic sheen that usually gives these things away. The sheep feel tactile, distinct, present. Their investigation matters not because it makes sense, but because the film never stops believing in it.

On the human side, the suspects are played straight, which helps ground the proceedings. Nicholas Braun, last seen as the outlying family member in Succession, brings a slightly off-kilter earnestness to a small-town police officer who is in over his head but not entirely out of it. His Barney Fife tendencies never slip into caricature, landing somewhere between competence and confusion in a way that earns real sympathy. Emma Thompson, meanwhile, leans into a cool, controlled malice that gives the film just enough edge to keep it from drifting into pure confection.

And that’s the trick.

For all its softness, pastoral charm and quietly ridiculous premise, The Sheep Detectives is smarter than it lets on. It understands structure, tone, and restraint. It knows exactly how much whimsy to allow before pulling back.

You go in expecting something slight. Something cute. Something disposable. What you get is something gentler, smarter, and, despite all reasonable expectations, strangely affecting. Which is no small feat for a film built on the idea that sheep can talk.

Let alone solve a murder.

The Sheep Detectives. Directed by Kyle Balda. Starring Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, Nicholas Braun, Chris O’Dowd, Bryan Cranston, Laraine Newman, Brett Goldstein, Patrick Stewart, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In theatres May 8.