Maxance Vincent
Who would’ve thought that the year’s biggest surprise (so far) would be Kyle Balda’s The Sheep Detectives? Some saw it coming, as this adaptation of Leonie Swann’s Three Bags Full was penned by Craig Mazin. Yes, yes, the same person who conceived HBO’s Chernobyl and The Last of Us. Or wrote Scary Movie 3 and 4, and The Hangover: Parts II and III. Whichever side of Mazin’s versatile mind you land on, the screenplay he wrote for The Sheep Detectives could’ve absolutely taken the lowbrow route he was known for in the early 2000s. The fact that it doesn’t and actively takes the intelligent route is primarily why it works.
Balda and Mazin express great reverence for the classic murder mystery, which was recently smartly reinvented by Rian Johnson with his Knives Out trilogy. One could even argue that The Sheep Detectives is the kiddie version of Knives Out, adopting the same structure: a simple-looking murder that unfolds as its eccentric cast of characters become suspects. In this movie, the live-action performers interact with anthropomorphized sheep, voiced by a bevy of well-known talents.
These sheep are shepherded by George Hardy (Hugh Jackman), who lives away from the picturesque village of Denbrook, because his relationship with its main townsfolk isn’t on good terms. Everyone seems, in some capacity, to have some form of beef with him. Because of this, it’s quite unsurprising that, one morning, he is found dead by the sheep’s de facto leader, Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).
One of George’s pleasures was reading murder-mystery tales to the herd of sheep, which made Lily an expert at solving each case and predicting specific storytelling patterns. None of the stories George read strayed far away from a classic, well-established formula, even if they somehow attempted to subvert expectations. In that regard, she convinces the herd that George was murdered, and it’s up to them to figure out who did it, because the town’s sole police officer (played by Nicholas Braun), is a total incompetent.
Things shift, however, when George’s daughter, Rebecca (Molly Gordon), arrives in town for the reading of his will by his lawyer, Lydia Harbottle (Emma Thompson). Of course, a large sum of money is involved, and the suspects begin to come into the fold. It would be foolish of me to even point at the people who may (or may not) have killed George, because the great joy at the heart of each murder mystery caper is becoming immersed in a film’s given quirks and trying to outsmart the writers by guessing who did it.
I’m not going to lie: I definitely fell for the traps and red herrings of Mazin’s screenplay and immediately ruled out the biggest of all suspects, which the screenwriter hopes you do as soon as that specific person appears. Yet once you put all the dots together, it makes perfect sense and actively satisfies astute viewers who picked up the clues along the way. There will be no spoilers in this review, but just know that The Sheep Detectives is a highly playful murder mystery film that thrives on executing the structure it’s introducing perfectly.
It might be a little too tongue-in-cheek in pointing out the tropes of a good murder mystery story and ensuring the reveal checks all of the boxes, but Mazin sets up an array of incredibly fun characters, both in live-action and animation form, and actively encourages the audience to develop a tangible emotional connection with them. Most of the live-action actors who populate The Sheep Detectives represent familiar archetypes, but they all evolve as the movie progresses and more clues are found. Gordon, in particular, is incredibly affecting as Rebecca, giving an impeccably modulated and surprisingly moving turn to a character who is immediately pointed out as the primary suspect, having conveniently arrived in town a day after her father was killed.
However, the most surprising aspect of The Sheep Detectives is how Balda and Mazin give texture to our group of sheep, from the smart Lily to the complex figure of Sebastian (Bryan Cranston), a winter lamb whose past connection with George is thoughtfully explored in a series of incredibly dark flashbacks. Whenever Mazin’s script focuses on specific sheep or begins to add more layers to the live-action population of Derrybrook, it’s where the movie shines the most. However, he’s also not lost his comedic touch, staging a number of very funny set pieces in which the on-set actors interact with the sheep. It’s the type of visual comedy that has sadly been lost in our uncreative era, but there’s hope that films like these and the upcoming Coyote vs. Acme will reinvigorate interest in a subgenre of family pictures that evoke incredible creativity and tickle the imagination of the youngest moviegoers.
Balda’s direction might not be the finest there is, but this is his first live-action directorial effort. Beforehand, the filmmaker was known for his work at Illumination Entertainment, including The Lorax, Despicable Me 3, and Minions: The Rise of Gru. The latter movie does have a dynamic visual style heavily influenced by kinetic live-action filmmaking, so there was hope that the same stylistic flourishes could be found in his first foray into a completely different medium than animation. Sadly, the murky visuals don’t help to convincingly sell the landscapes in which the sheep inhabit, save for a few ingenious Sam Raimi-esque match cuts.
That said, one can’t necessarily fault Balda for trying his best, especially with a screenplay that works well if the actors give their all, which they do. The murder mystery plot, on its own, is highly elaborate and often creative, so it won’t take long for anyone to be swept up in the case as it begins to complicate and make us doubt anyone on the primary list of suspects. It did make the culprit’s ultimate reveal surprising, even though viewers who paid attention might’ve absolutely picked up on clues Mazin’s script leaves for them to follow.
In short, The Sheep Detectives is first-rate family entertainment that works so well that one even wonders why Amazon MGM Studios didn’t market it as the smart, witty detective story it is. It recalls family tales such as The Great Mouse Detective and Barry Levinson’s Young Sherlock Holmes, both of which prioritized escapist popcorn thrills and elaborate narratives that kept viewers on the edge of their seats.
Mazin’s screenplay might not reinvent anything out of the ordinary, but it contains such a rock-solid caper and a surprisingly effective emotional center that audiences who are willing to meet Balda’s live-action directorial debut on its own terms might be pleasantly endeared by it. If you expect nothing out of a movie, more often than not, you might come out of the theater with a smile on your face. The Sheep Detectives is one of those movies.
SCORE: ★★★
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