By George & Josh Bate
The writer of Chernobyl wrote a movie called The Sheep Detectives. Yes, you read that correctly. And yet, while wildly discrepant projects, Chernobyl and The Sheep Detectives have more in common than one would think, namely that they’re both fantastic.
Based on the novel Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann, The Sheep Detectives takes place in the cozy English village of Denbrook. A flock of sheep, which includes Lily the smartest sheep (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Mopple the most patient sheep (voiced by Chris O’Dowd), enjoy a pleasant life under the care of their beloved shepherd George Hardy (Hugh Jackman). But when George is unexpectedly murdered, the sheep take it upon themselves to investigate and sift through suspects, which include a clumsy policeman (Nicholas Braun), a reporter (Nicholas Galitzine), a lawyer (Emma Thompson), an innkeeper (Hong Chau), a rival shepherd (Tosin Cole), a minister (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith), a butcher (Conleth Hill), and their shepherd’s daughter (Molly Gordon).
If one were to describe The Sheep Detectives succinctly, it would be best characterized as an Agatha Christie mystery blended with Babe. With the intrigue of the former and the heart of the latter, the film from director Kyle Balda (Minions, The Lorax) excels both as a whodunnit and family comedy, culminating in one of the year’s best films to date.
Screenwriter Craig Mazin, whose work ranges from Scary Movie 3 to the aforementioned Chernobyl, intelligently allocates the first 15 minutes of the film to flesh out its victim, George Hardy. “The victim is the most important clue” is a sentiment often repeated by sheep in the film, who learned this lesson from all the nights George spent reading them murder mystery novels. But the victim isn’t just the most important clue to the mystery that unravels – he means everything to our titular sleuths. With relatively brief screentime, Hugh Jackman portrays a character that exudes warmth and calm, so much so that the audience quickly understands and even relates to the sheep’s adoration of him. A prologue that sees Jackman’s George Hardy feed, protect, provide medicine to, read to, and genuinely care for the sheep anchors the proceeding whodunnit with genuine emotional weight and fosters immediate investment in discovering who is responsible for his murder.
When George meets his end, the anthropomorphic sheep launch a murder investigation, spurred into action by their love for their shepherd and encouraged by the knowledge gained from listening to so many murder mystery novels. But, as sheep, these detectives are far from your Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. For starters, they have an innocent understanding of the world, which makes concepts like murder difficult to wrap their heads (and wool) around. Much of the film’s humor comes from the sheep’s endearing confusion as they orient themselves to life beyond the pasture and their newfound roles as amateur sleuths. The jokes consistently land and span physical gags that will appeal to younger viewers all the way to more existential jokes about the sheep’s usual ideas of God that will appeal to adults.
Largely through its sharp and whimsical sense of humor, The Sheep Detectives features interesting commentary on the human condition. In telling a story that unfolds entirely from the perspective of sheep, the film centers characters who are blissfully unaware of the shortcomings and moral pitfalls of humanity. The audience sees an adult world full of betrayal, scheming, and lies through the eyes of our naive and pure protagonists and, in doing so, is forced to reckon with our intellect and development of a species often comes at the cost of our kindness, an issue the surprisingly wise sheep don’t struggle with.
Driving the story forward is a layered murder mystery that would not feel out of place in an iconic Agatha Christie novel. The mystery hits on all the conventions of the whodunnit genre, from the colorful personalities that comprise the suspects to the discovery of clues and red herrings to the cozy setting and more. Mazin doesn’t dumb down or overly simplify the mystery to gel with the expectations of a family movie; rather, he crafts a winding mystery that, while easy to follow, intrigues and keeps one guessing to the very end.
The Sheep Detectives bolsters an ensemble cast who bring both the sheep and humans to life. What could easily become unwieldy given the sheer number of characters at play is instead treated with such care by the filmmakers that everyone, especially the sheep, feel fleshed-out and fully developed. Much of the story unfolds from the perspective of Julia Louise-Dreyfus’ Lily, the leader of the flock proclaimed as the “smartest sheep in the world.” Her loyalty to George, natural leadership skills, and expertise gleaned from detective novels lead her to spearhead the investigation into the shepherd’s death. Louise-Dreyfus brings real heart to the role of Lily, while also selling the sweet confusion of a sheep unfamiliar with the intricacies of the human world.
Lily is joined by Mopple, the most patient sheep voiced by Chris O’Dowd. Unlike the other sheep, who have the ability to forget any bad thing that has ever happened to them, Mopple remembers everything. While Lily is certainly intelligent, she lacks knowledge of death, but, over the course of the film, comes to realize that her previously held belief that sheep become clouds in the sky may not be true. Through Lily and Mopple’s conversations, the film serves as a beautiful meditation on grief and memory. The desire to forget someone we loved following their death in order to also be liberated of the pain of their loss will likely resonate with many viewers and engenders The Sheep Detectives with a lovely lesson about the value of remembering our deceased loved ones, even if their loss causes indescribable pain.
On the human side of things, Nicholas Braun’s dopey police officer Tim Derry plays the most prominent role as his investigation into the murder of George Hardy parallels the sheep’s. At first, it seems as if Tim’s awkwardness and incompetence are included merely for laughs, but they actually serve as the foundation for an unexpected coming-of-age (or fulfilling-of-potential) arc. Braun’s iffy English may be a tad distracting at times, but the Succession alum does well to create a character who we can laugh at and root for.
The supporting human characters are each given relatively little to do, other than serve as suspects for George’s murder. That being said, there isn’t a weak link in the bunch as all the actors, in particular Nicholas Galitzine and Emma Thompson, light up the screen whenever they feature.
Upon its conclusion, The Sheep Detectives wraps up its central mystery and emotional throughlines with pitch-perfect execution. The ultimate reveals surprise, all of the characters are given deserved endings, and the film converges on a genuinely heartwarming finale that will bring tears to your eyes. Family comedy, murder mystery, coming-of-age story. Balda’s film encompasses all three of these genres and triumphs with every one.
VERDICT: 8.5/10
The Sheep Detectives blends classic Agatha Christie whodunnits with Babe, embodying the intrigue of the former and the heart of the latter. The film from Minions director Kyle Balda and Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin quickly earns audience investment and interest with a prologue that engenders genuine care for the victim, played by a Hugh Jackman that exudes calm and warmth. The ensuing murder mystery embraces all the conventions of detective novels, from a cozy setting to discovery of clues to a colorful collective of personalities that comprise the suspects, and has a level of sophistication one might not expect from a family movie called The Sheep Detectives. Also unexpected is the film’s poignant observations on the human condition, which come from positioning naive and endearing sheep as the protagonists. In addition to serving as a beautiful meditation on grief and memory, the film delights with a varied sense of humor that spans physical gags all the way to existential jokes about the sheep’s unusual ideas of God. Backed by a sizable group of human and sheep characters, the movie excels in fleshing out each and every player, especially Julia Louise-Dreyfus’ Lily. Eventually, the story converges on a conclusion that perfectly wraps up its central mystery and emotional throughlines. A genuinely heartwarming finale is destined to bring tears to your eyes and caps off a film that, nearing the halfway point of 2026, is the best of the year to date.