Movie Review: The Sheep Detectives (2026)
Synopsis: Shepherd George Hardy is a loner who treats his sheep like his family, making sure to give them all names and taking the time to read them murder mysteries every evening. When George is murdered and his lawyer reveals he was a millionaire, his smartest sheep, Lily, becomes determined to find his killer and later learns she and the rest of her flock are also in danger.
Who's in it? The movie stars Hugh Jackman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Stewart, Tobin Cole, Nicholas Braun and Molly Gordon.
Review: Since it was Mother's Day weekend, I decided to have some family time last night and because it was less expensive than going out to dinner, took them to the movie theater. Since it was the only film we hadn't seen that looked reasonably interesting, we saw The Sheep Detectives.
It ended up being a great choice.
I'll start out with a word of caution for parents of young kids - pay attention to the PG rating. While I would still describe this as a family film, there are some fairly intense and dark scenes in it, including a surprisingly violent death of one of the main characters. Based on the crying child in the theater with us, it might not be the right choice for some children.
Other than that, there was a lot to like about this film. The murder mystery surrounding George (Jackman) was reasonably solid. My oldest daughter and I both correctly guessed at who was responsible but there were enough suspects to keep that theory in doubt, especially as more details regarding a neighboring shepherd (Cole) were revealed.
The comedy was also funnier than expected, given the overall plot. Some of the sheep were entertaining, just from a personality standpoint, and the local police officer, Tim Derry (Braun) was comically inept but also easy to root for as he started to notice clues with help from Lily (Louis-Dreyfus).
I'll chalk this up to it being a family-oriented film that didn't want to delve too deep into some subjects but there were a few things I thought the movie could explain a bit better. This included who the lambs' parents were, especially the exiled Winter Lambs' (voiced by Tommy Birchall) mom and dad. It wasn't anything that hurt the overall movie, just something someone who tends to overthink things (like me) will question.
Final Opinion: It's probably not a movie I would recommend for younger children, but it was a fun film that was funny and had an interesting story. It's worth seeing.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other family movies:
Movie Review: The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Movie Review: Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022)
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