Review: 'The Sheep Detectives' is a whimsical delight, a gentle comedy about farm animals becoming crime solvers

There may not be a mood that’s harder to get right on film than whimsy — so when a movie gets that delicate balance of humor, absurdity and charm just right, as “The Sheep Detectives” does brilliantly, you have to stop and celebrate.

Top-billed Hugh Jackman plays George Hardy, who tenderly cares for a flock of sheep in the English countryside. He sees to all their needs, has given each one of them names, and every night before going to bed, he reads to them. Murder mysteries, mostly.

What George doesn’t know is that when he goes to bed, the sheep talk to each other as they try to guess who committed the crime in that night’s book.

The sheep have distinctive personalities, and the voice casting matches them well. They include: the distinguished oldest sheep, Sir Ritchfield (voiced by Patrick Stewart), the cantankerous rams Ronnie and Reggie (both voiced by “Ted Lasso” star Brett Goldstein), the loner Sebastian (voiced by Bryan Cranston), the maternal Cloud (voiced by Regina Hall), and the wise Mopple (voiced by Chris O’Dowd), who alone possesses the knack among the sheep of not forgetting things that are unpleasant. The leader of the sheep, and of the mystery book club, is Lily, voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Just as the sheep are close to solving the latest literary whodunnit, a real-life mystery lands in their midst — when they find George dead in front of his caravan. Lily says the sheep can figure out this case, just by following the advice they’s learned from listening to George’s nightly readings.

Certainly there are plenty of likely suspects, who are all gathered in town when George’s lawyer, Lydia Harbottle (Emma Thompson), invites several townspeople to the reading of his will. The possible suspects include: a rival shepherd (Tosin Cole), the town’s butcher (Conleth Hill), the local innkeeper (Hong Chau) who had a crush on George, and a newcomer, Rebecca Hampstead (Molly Gordon), who was visiting George because he was her long-estranged daughter. 

The idea that George was murdered also interests Officer Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun), the town’s not-very-bright constable, and Elliot Matthews (Nicholas Galitzine), a rookie reporter who thinks cracking the case could make for a winning news story.

The sheep soon find that solving a real murder is harder than the books make it out to be — and there’s the added problem of getting the humans to believe a murder has happened. The steps Lily and the others take to lead the townsfolk — especially Officer Tim — to the clues they’ve found make for a good amount of the movie’s off-kilter humor.

Director Kyle Balda finds a level of charm and wit that eluded him helming three movies in the “Despicable Me”/“Minions” franchise, striking a tone that’s similar to “Babe” or the “Paddington” films. Also give credit to screenwriter Craig Mazin —  who co-created “The Last of Us” for HBO, as radically different a project from this as you could imagine — for adapting German crime writer Leonie Swann’s novel, “Three Bags Full.”

“The Sheep Detectives” is the kind of movie that sneaks up on you as you watch. You think you’re settling in to watch a sweet, slightly odd little comedy about farm animals and murder, and things unfold that deliver a surprising gentleness and emotional heft. It’s as perfectly delightful as a movie can be.

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‘The Sheep Detectives’

★★★★

Opens Friday, May 8, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for thematic material, some violent content and brief language. Running time: 109 minutes.