I realize it has been a few weeks since my last kid-friendly movie review and when I was eyeballing our local theater’s online ticket sale page, I decided to take a chance on “The Sheep Detectives.”
Initially, I was only drawn in to the very talented voice cast, but the trailer really sold me on the movie’s premise.
Plus, I wanted to see if I could solve the murder before the sheep could!
So, I stopped in to Schulman’s last week to catch the CGI-heavy movie and was pleasantly surprised at both the barnyard banter along with the variety of jokes for audience members of all ages.
Detectives is a mystery comedy film directed by Kyle Balda and written by Craig Mazin, based on the 2005 novel “Three Bags Full” by Leonie Swann.
The film features an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Hong Chau, and Emma Thompson, with the voices of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, and Brett Goldstein.
Clocking in at 109 minutes long, the movie is rated PG for thematic material, some violent content and brief language.
Outside the English village of Denbrook, shepherd George Hardy (Jackman) lives in a meadow and spends his time isolated from society, reading murder mystery novels to his flock of sheep.
The sheep live in blissful ignorance, believing they turn into clouds upon death – not to mention that when they are faced with an uncomfortable situation, they can will themselves to forget.
The flock also discriminates against a “winter lamb” that was born in winter rather than the typical spring.
One morning, George is discovered dead outside his trailer.
The town’s only policeman, Tim Derry (Braun) initially thinks the cause of death is a heart attack.
Reporter Elliot Matthews (Galitzine), in town to report on a local festival, believes it to be a murder, and encourages Tim to look deeper.
Tim eventually concludes George was poisoned by one of the townspeople.
Devastated by George’s death, the sheep decide to solve the mystery on their own.
The sheep team set on solving the case are the crime aficionado ewe Lily (Louis-Dreyfus), the ram Mopple (O’Dowd) who always keeps his memories, loner Sebastian (Cranston) who George rescued from being exploited at a carnival, and the yet unnamed winter lamb.
During a will reading at the local inn, it is revealed that George had twins – a son and daughter – whose mother died in childbirth.
Because George was young and poor back then, he decided to send them away for adoption via the church.
His daughter Rebecca Hampstead (Gordon) is actually visiting for the first time from the U.S., after reconnecting with George and exchanging letters.
Also in attendance are Tim; Lydia Harbottle (Thompson), George’s attorney; Reverend Hillcoate (Holdbrook-Smith); butcher Ham Gilyard (Hill); innkeeper Beth Pennock (Chau); and neighboring shepherd Caleb Merrow (Cole).
Elliot attempts to stay but is told to leave by Lydia, while she calls Hardy’s son Peter, who lives in South Africa, to attend the event remotely via a phone call.
During the reading, it is discovered that George was secretly worth a fortune due to him selling the patent for a sheep medicine that he invented for the treatment of “orf.”
The new will awards this fortune to Rebecca, replacing an old will which donated the fortune.
However, the will only seems to frame Rebecca for Geroge’s murder and the sheep team spend the entire movie trying to find out the truth.
Still, it was an overall entertaining experience and something that the whole family can catch on the big screen – so a win-win all the way around.
