Written by Andreas Babiolakis

There is no way this film should be this good. Having watched The Sheep Detectives a whole month ago (I was caught up with other articles), I have allowed my giddiness surrounding the fluffy farm animals to subside as to provide some proper evaluation on this major success of the spring. Yes, it's true. The Sheep Detectives is shockingly great. As if the family classic Babe got merged together with Murder on the Orient Express (or any other standard whodunit), The Sheep Detectives is a film full of heart (but not too much as to forgo any of its brains). I cannot speak to director Kyle Balda's reputation (I could not care less about many Illumination titles that he has directed, including Minions and Despicable Me 3), but this film feels like a major step in the right direction for someone who was clearly ready to move on to greener pastures. Then, there is screenwriter Craig Mazin, who is such a mixed bag as a storyteller; you will either get Chernobyl and The Last of Us season 1, or you will get Superhero Movie and The Last of Us season 2. We get the former Mazin here with a story that does far more than the bare minimum; if anything, this is some of Mazin's most beautiful writing to date.

The Sheep Detectives is two coexisting halves of the same story. We have the villagers of Denbrook: a humble place in the middle of nowhere, England. These villagers include idiotic officer Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun), lonely-hearted innkeeper Beth Pennock (Hong Chau), complicated priest Reverend Hillcoate (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith), and rival shepherds Caleb Merrow (Tosin Cole) and George Hardy (Hugh Jackman). Then, there is the story of George Hardy's flock: a gang of sheep of all walks — or trots — of life. There is Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) who is somewhat considered the head of the herd because of her intelligence. There is also Mopple (Chris O'Dowd) who can never forget anything (meanwhile, all of the other sheep appear to be capable of forgetting new information on command), Zora (Bella Ramsey) who is an overly excited lamb who questions everything, two feuding rams named Reggie and Ronnie (both played by Brett Goldstein), and Cloud (Regina Hall), who is named as such because she is extra floofy (and that's pretty much it).

George lives a lonely life with just him and his sheep (and whoever he keeps sending letters to; one such letter serves as the expository narration for the first act of the film). He reads murder mystery novels to his woolly friends to end off each day. However, the sheep find themselves in their own such story when George winds up dead; I will say that I appreciate the seriousness and maturity in how this scene was handled, and many family-friendly films try not to even step near such a subject. The Sheep Detectives has a dark and heavy side, and it never shies away from it; in that same breath, the film doesn't get overly grim and is able to maintain its fun and hopeful elements as well. Once George's death has been correctly identified as a murder, the film kicks off with its two storylines. There's Lily, who tries to lead her team of sheep towards finding the killer. Then, there is Officer Tim who has never had to solve the case of how his shoes got untied, let alone a murder case. It's clear that Tim's storyline would stagnate if it wasn't for the encouragement of Lily and company, but seeing Tim hit the ground running when he has enough wherewithal is rather nice as well; this way, both detectives — the human and the ovine — sprint towards their deductions and suspicions around the halfway mark of the film.

Despite all of the wonderful sheep friends you will come across here, *The Sheep Detectives* is not a film that will put you to sleep.

There are also a pair of major subplots. One involves Sebastian (Brian Cranston) as an obsidian ram who ventures forth on his own and returns when he sees fit; his allusiveness gets explained later on, but he arrives shortly after George's murder and becomes an integral part to the case. There's also the concept of the winter lamb — outcast sheep who are born in the colder months and who are shunned by their species; I wish this was elaborated on a little bit more since the concept is quite an interesting one, but I chalk it up to this thread serving as an allegory of racism or other forms of bigotry (hatred that comes out of nowhere and is nurtured because this is what "tradition" dictates). While the case develops with the human side of the equation, early on we become acquainted with two outliers: flustered amateur journalist Elliot Matthews (Nicholas Galitzine), and Rebecca Hampstead (Molly Gordon); Rebecca is revealed to be George's daughter, and the recipient of his letters that we learned about in the first act. The heat is on her from the jump, but you have to give The Sheep Detectives more credit than that; it is clearly not Rebecca. Well, if not her, who killed George?

I will say that it speaks volumes when The Sheep Detectives feels less predictable than at least two of the Knives Out films (then again, Wake Up Dead Man is next to impossible to figure out by design). This is what a cheekier, more playful whodunit should feel like: a legitimate case that you can figure out on your own. Even though one or two more difficult threads to predict arrive towards the end, I still feel like an attentive viewer can figure out the outcome in a general sense; in that same breath, The Sheep Detectives is not stupidly simple to the point of feeling unnecessary (which could have easily been the case for a mystery film that is geared towards children). It is equal parts simple and challenging, so you feel like you are figuring out bits and pieces alongside our humans and sheep; when it plays its final cards, you may feel wowed if you didn't arrive to these conclusions first.

On that note, one of my only major gripes with the film is the character of Officer Tim, who is painted out to be a real Nimrod at first; I am happy that he develops as a person and is able to start to piece two-and-two together as a competent policeman. However, to have him be so pathetic at first makes me lose any belief in his ability to find his own ears on the sides of his head, let alone find clues in a case. It's okay that he comes off as buffoonish at first, but to have him be so useless and then have him become reliable just feels impossible. I also feel like the film could have afforded to have a slightly better explanation for how the sheep can forget things on command, and yet they are able to remember very specific things; how do the sheep know that Lily is able to solve all of George's whodunit stories if they are able to wipe their memories? Even a few seconds to clarify that the sheep are able to erase their most recent memories while still having hunches or old, established recollections would have sufficed. I know this subplot is meant to represent how the sheep are scared to remember deceased loved ones because grief is difficult for us all, but it feels like a metaphor that is almost where it needs to be (but not quite there).

Nevertheless, if these are my complaints about a family-geared murder-mystery, then I consider The Sheep Detectives a success for the most part. The fact that there exists a film that can make you squee with glee while also encouraging tears to well up in your eyes when it deals with adult concepts like death and belonging is quite something. When I say that more family films need high stakes that don't sugar coat the mature themes they profess to contain, a film like The Sheep Detectives is an example I can point to now; you can make a film as fun as this one while still treating serious concepts with the severity required. There are two kinds of films that are all ages: ones where all audiences will receive the same message (no matter who is watching), and the others where different ages will get something unique out of the same story. The Sheep Detectives operates as both. For all audiences, it is a fairly good mystery tale that will keep you interested the entire time. For children, this film is a lesson on working together as a team, overcoming our greatest fears, and understanding the difficult things that we all face in real life. As an adult, The Sheep Detectives is a message on how we move on after we lose loved ones; how we continue to operate when we are traumatized; how we keep he deceased alive in our thoughts, actions, and passions. The Sheep Detectives is a barrel of laughs, hunches, and reflections — it maintains all of its motivations with complete devotion and with a trio of stuck landings. No matter what happens in this life: be like the sheep that can frolic in the meadows and enjoy the new day — even if that means remembering all that came before this day.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.