By Jasmine Ong
We’ve already established that sheep are already some of the cutest creatures out there, but turning them into amateur sleuths? That just unlocks a whole other level of cuteness, with a bonus side of mystery.
The Sheep Detectives does just that, telling the story of a flock of sheep who suddenly find themselves shepherd-less after their shepherd, George Hardy (played by Hugh Jackman), was murdered.
Determined to find the culprit responsible, the flock digs deep into their knowledge gained from mystery novels led by a Shetland sheep named Lily (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who takes it upon herself to solve the murder.
Together with the aid of a Merino sheep called Mopple (voiced by Chris O’Dowd), the flock’s investigating takes them into town where they meet a group of people gathered to hear George’s will; all with secrets to hide and a motive to kill.
While it might look deceptively like a kids movie, especially with the talking CGI sheep, it was far from anything that only a child might enjoy.
Not only did I find myself laughing hard at the punny and witty dialogue, I was also able to relate to some of the jokes that were made in the form of innocent conversation between the sheep.
This, of course, was during the part in the film when Sebastian (voiced by Bryan Cranston) makes a religious comment as he walks past the church with Lily and Mopple.
Rather than make it a type of remark that mocked the religion, the lines were instead delivered in a tasteful and lighthearted manner, turning it into a funny moment, especially for Christians and Catholics who can relate.
In a lot of ways, I could also see humanity being reflected in the behaviour of the flock whenever they face difficult situations. Instead of having to face reality, like when they find George murdered, they often irrationally opt to forget bad things ever happened as a group.
This survival-based instinct to follow the majority is also something that we often see in today’s society.
Whether it be social trends or beliefs, we all have this “sheep mentality” or human tendency to conform to what others are doing or saying, because of this innate sense of not wanting to be the odd one out.
Aside from the voice actors who did a phenomenal job in bringing the different sheep to life, the human cast also did an exceptional job in upholding their side of the story.
One person whom I thought did a wonderful job, was Succession’s Nicholas Braun, who played Officer Tim Derry.
Though he was giving off a little bit of British Cousin-Greg-from-season-one vibes, Nicholas was able to turn the bumbling and slightly annoying Officer Derry into an endearing character that we all end up rooting for to solve the mystery.
As someone who loves a good British cosy mystery (and any type of British show really), a large part of why I enjoyed the movie so much was because of the murder-mystery plot, which in itself isn’t an easy genre to tackle for film without either letting slip a couple of obvious clues, or losing the plot entirely.
However, with its fast-paced story-telling and colourful characters, The Sheep Detectives is one of the rare few I’ve seen so far, that holds it together for 109 minutes while keeping you engaged, entertained, and guessing until the very end.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s checked all of my boxes for a feel-good mystery film and is, in my opinion, a surprising must-watch of the year.
You can watch the trailer for The Sheep Detectives here.
