Sheep are smarter than people think.
They recognise faces, remember which gate leads to food and can detect the exact moment you’ve repaired a fence badly enough for them to escape.
So the idea behind The Sheep Detectives isnt quite as ridiculous as it sounds.
George is a shepherd who reads crime novels aloud to his flock each night. When a mysterious incident disrupts life on the farm, the sheep decide to investigate the human suspects themselves.
Yes, talking detective sheep.
Honestly, I’ve heard worse film ideas.
The Mystery Works Better Than Expected
The film is aimed at families, but it doesnt treat children like they cant follow a proper mystery.
There are clues, suspicious villagers and several possible explanations for what happened. The sheep misunderstand parts of the human world, which creates most of the comedy, but they arent written as completely stupid.
That mattered to me.
Spend enough mornings trying to move a stubborn flock and you develop a strange respect for how their minds work. They might refuse to walk through an open gate for twenty minutes, then somehow escape through a gap the width of a sandwich.
The voice cast gives each sheep a clear personality without making the group unbearably noisy. Hugh Jackman is warm and likeable as George, while the human suspects are just exaggerated enough to keep younger viewers interested.
A Regional Address for Britain
The Soap2day site now has a mirror made specifically for UK visitors. I came across the new Soap2day UK site after the usual address was taking ages to respond one evening.
The regional page loaded fine on my connection, which is impressive considering the broadband out here sometimes struggles with a weather forecast.
A Few Woolly Problems
The middle section drags.
Once the sheep begin following clues, the film repeats the same joke a few times: they understand detective books but get confused by ordinary human behaviour.
Funny once. Still fairly funny twice. By the fifth time, you start checking how long is left.
The final reveal is also easy for adults to guess, although the younger members of the family were genuinely surprised and immediately began explaining the entire plot back to me.
The countryside looks lovely, even if the farm is suspiciously clean. No mud, no broken machinery and nobody swearing because a gate has come off its hinge.
Pure fantasy.
The Sheep Detectives gets 7.5 out of 10.
It’s funny, gentle and clever enough for adults to sit through without reaching for their phones. The mystery isnt difficult, but the sheep are charming and the film understands that family entertainment doesnt need to be painfully loud.
Our own flock showed no interest in the review.
They were busy escaping again.