The Sheep Detectives

We've seen many live films that utilize animals where they are able to speak to each other by using computers and animation, such as "Babe" 1995, "Babe: Pig in the City" 1998 to mention a couple. These types of films are usually films that are from the heart, and "The Sheep Detectives" is no exception. This film is as wonderful as "Babe" was. 

In this witty, new breed of mystery, George (Hugh Jackman) is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night assuming they can't possibly understand. But when a mysterious incident disrupts life on the farm, the sheep realize they must become the detectives. As they follow the clues and investigate human suspects, such as Caleb Merrow (Tosin Cole), Ham Gilyard (Conleth Hill), Beth Pennock (Hong Chau) and Reverend Hillcoate (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith), they prove that even sheep can be brilliant crime-solvers. And with Officer Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun), an affable but ill-equipped police officer, the sheep save the day. 

Others to round out the cast are Julia Louis-Dreyfus as voice of Lily, Chris O'Dowd as voice of Mopple, Regina Hall as voice of Cloud, Bryan Cranston as voice of Sebastian, Patrick Stewart as voice of Sir Ritchfield, Brett Goldstein as voice of Ronnie, Bella Ramsey as voice of Zora and Rhys Darby as voice of Wool-Eyes. 

This film was directed with wit, heart and compassion by Kyle Balda ("The Lorax" (co-directed) '12, "Minions" '15, "Despicable Me 3" '17, "Minions: The Rise of Gru" '22) plus videos. Even though this filmmaker has only directed totally animated feature films, this live film with super-imposed speaking of the animals certainly uses animation to achieve this effect. His ability to stage and pace this film was consummate, and he will eventually make the transition from totally animated to totally live films very soon. It was equally written with heart and soul by Craig Mazin ("RocketMan" '97, "Senseless" '98, "Scary Movie 3" '03, "Scary Movie 4" '06, "Superhero Movie" '08, "The Hangover Part II" '11, "Identity Thief" '13, "The Hangover Part III" '13, "The Huntsman: Winter's War" '16) plus TV, based on a screen story by Craig Mazin, which is based on the novel "Three Bags Full" by Leonie Swann. When I saw my first trailer on this film, my first impression was that it was doable, and after viewing it, it was a wonderful, heartwarming and humorous film. It was cohesive, concise and sequenced well. I recommend this movie highly.

This film has it all: wit, heart, humor, redemption and love all rolled up into a great way to spend a couple of hours. The writing was tight and the directing was exquisite. This is a film for the whole family, and in a world that has been turned upside down, this is certainly something that is so needed today. I'd give this a 5 star out of 4 stars if that was possible. Grab the popcorn and enjoy this gem!

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                            Rated: PG                                              109mins.