The Sheep Detectives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyZI5oM6hWk

With ‘The Sheep Detectives’, I was most definitely expecting the cute.  And I got it.  What I WASN’T expecting was the clever, which this family feature certainly was.  And I really, really didn’t expect to receive the emotional, but the weep-inducing heft that this baby delivered…yeah, okay, I left a little verklempt.

Put it all together, and ‘The Sheep Detectives’ is not only one of the most delightful surprises of the early summer movie season – but maybe one of the best we’ll see all year long.

Hugh Jackman gets top billing as George Hardy, the sheep farmer who tenderly cares for a colorful flock of sheep in the quiet, unassuming English countryside…..although his performance is one notch above a cameo.  Reason being, poor George is killed off early in this story, discovered early one morning in front of his caravan.  And with local police officer Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun) leaning towards the ‘bumbling, stumbling’ category, even though a host of prime suspects for the crime emerge, it’s up to the sheep themselves to solve the murder.  After all, with George having read the flock bedtime whodunit’s for years, the wooly critters have a knack for putting the puzzle pieces together.

In an adorable setup like this, voice casting is essential, and ‘The Sheep Detectives’ nails it.  Famous pipes involved include the leader of the pack, Lily, branded by George himself as “his smartest sheep”, voiced with a necessary combination of spunk and vulnerability (cause let’s face it, being the favorite meant she had a special bond with the guy) by Julia Louis Dreyfus.  Bryan Cranston is perfect as the mysterious loner, Sebastian.  Sir Ritchfield, the distinguished and slightly cranky older sheep seems like a vocal job tailor fit for Patrick Stewart.  There’s the wise Mopple, voiced by Chris O’Dowd, who appears to be the only sheep with the capacity to not forget things that are unpleasant.  And my personal favorite, ‘Ted Lasso’ star Brett Goldstein, tackling double duty as reckless rams, Ronnie and Reggie.

Now, you might be wondering if a murder mystery is a little too intense of a subject matter for kids.  Not here.  Directory Kyle Balda, working off a script adapted from a German crime novel by Leonie Swann called ‘Three Bags Full’, is so focused on maintaining a heavy dose of whimsy for ‘The Sheep Detectives’ that the tale never veers into the dark; while the crime itself might be a little easier for grown ups to figure out before the younger set do, think of it as a safe, family friendly version of ‘Knives Out’.

It’s a sweet one, to be sure….and one I’d definitely see again on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Call it ‘shear’ charm.