‘The Sheep Detectives’ are the Sage Sleuths We Need

At face value The Sheep Detectives looks like a sweet way to capitalise on current fascination with crime fiction, but pretty quickly it reveals a far more meaningful intent.

Hugh Jackman (X-Men, Song Sung Blue) stars as British shepherd George Hardy, who reads his flock a crime mystery each night imagining they can understand and solve the clues together. When George himself is found dead, the sheep put their detecting knowledge to good use to find his killer.

For a family film about sleuthing farmyard animals, The Sheep Detectives is unexpectedly philosophical and deliberate in creating an opportunity for young audiences to be introduced to ideas about death, grief, God and belonging.

George’s herd includes the simple-minded, the curious, the wise and the lonely. Each of them grapples with The Sheep Detectives‘ overarching narrative about the role of a shepherd, the traits of a good one and the pain of feeling like yours has left you.

Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is George’s smartest sheep but struggles to believe George is gone and doesn’t understand where he is now. She wants the constant presence of her shepherd and it’s puzzling to her that life would have an end mark.

One of the ways the sheep handle this is to agree to collectively forget things they don’t like knowing. Sheep technically may not do this, but humans certainly do, and it’s telling that only the wise sheep (Patrick Stewart) holds the power to retain all his memories.

The people in the story – including a fabulously droll Emma Thompson (Bridget Jones, Cruella) as George’s estate lawyer – balance the sheep’s philosophising with the exaggerated characterisations that make a family film fun. They allow The Sheep Detectives to feel grounded in real life, while letting the sheep lead the charge.

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The Sheep Detectives is remarkably deep and definitely has a future in Friday night youth-group viewings and conversations about life, death and God as our Good Shepherd.

The Sheep Detectives is rated PG and is in cinemas now.

Feature image: Supplied (Canva Pro)