Written by Matt Swanson
A murder mystery can take many forms—some more or less familiar than others. Agatha Christie helped popularize the literary genre, writing 66 detective novels with famous hits like Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None. The murder mystery genre became familiar enough that it required films to add their own flair to the genre to keep it interesting. Films like Clue take a parodic spin on a whodunit. A more contemporary example is the Knives Out series, which uses its characters and themes to tell a thinly-veiled social commentary through a murder mystery. And then there is The Sheep Detectives, a movie that uses this genre to tell a lighthearted story of a flock of sheep cracking the case of who murdered their shepherd. This film succeeds as a family-friendly whodunit because it balances an accessible yet subversive mystery, cartoonishly cute sheep, and a touching treatment of grief, despite not pushing the boundaries in the genre.
The Sheep Detectives opens with idyllic pastures and with the narration of George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) on how sheep are the secret to happiness. The audience is shown the his simple joy, as he lovingly takes care of his sheep. George details how he even named every one of his sheep, walking through all of the names and personalities of every single sheep in his flock. One thing George loves to do every night is read murder mysteries aloud to his sheep. What George doesn’t know is that his flock understands every word of the murder mysteries and that they argue among themselves about who they think the killer is in each story.
The sheep’s perfect lives take a tragic turn when George is mysteriously killed one night. The sole member of the Denbrook Police Department, Officer Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun) is utterly helpless when it comes to solving the mysterious crime, but he doesn’t face the challenge alone. Sebastian (voiced by Bryan Cranston), the loner ram of the flock, convinces Lily (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the smartest in the flock, that they need to help the clueless officer find clues. Once all of the suspects are called for the reading of the will, it is revealed that George was poisoned and had many secrets, like a net worth of $30 million at the time of his death. The mystery deepens as the means, motives, and opportunities of the suspects are investigated by the aloof detective and the keen sheep.
The German novel that the movie is loosely based on, Three Bags Full, contains much more mature themes like drug trafficking and love triangles that are not present in this rendition. This movie is tailored for family audiences and works as a satisfying murder mystery that has something to offer for all ages. For the youngest theater-goers, the talking sheep are very cute and humorous and the mystery and clues are very easy to follow. For the older audience, the mystery is truly subversive and hard to predict. The film’s broader themes of respect, justice and love resonate through the entire audience equally. While trying to appeal to as wide of an audience as possible, the film doesn’t bring anything groundbreaking to the genre and can be shallow at times, but it successfully delivers on a fun and accessible whodunit.
The story on the big screen is successful in making the mystery fun and avoids several things that could have derailed it. Whenever animating anthropomorphic animals, the artists have to be careful not to delve into the uncanny valley, where the effect is more discomfort than cuteness. The Sheep Detectives utilizes CGI effectively to give the sheep realistic bodies and faces that are capable of the expressiveness needed to tell an emotional story. Still, the voice acting brings more life to the sheep than any of the animation, with a noteworthy performance from Cranston as Sebastian. As far as human performances go, Braun is perfectly cast as the bumbling detective, acting as comic relief and the naive object of the sheep’s help.
The film sparingly chooses its more emotionally grounded moments among the more surface level murder mystery fun. One of the more compelling themes is the flock’s choice ability to forget anything that makes them upset. As the plot goes on, the sheep recognize the justice in remembering. The portrayal of this growth is a uniquely childlike way to acknowledge death and grieving. It gives the plot weight and elevates the story beyond a surface-level children’s mystery to a lighthearted film with substance.
