“The Sheep Detectives” (2026) loosely adapts Leonie Swann’s 2006 German detective novel, “Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story,” which is set in Ireland and filled with drug trafficking, suicidal ideation and depression, into a family friendly, decorous murder mystery. Opening Mother’s Day weekend, this film is presumably for the family with young children old enough to deal with the concept of death but young enough for talking sheep to tickle their funny bone and including a bit of age-appropriate, hot, always clothed hunk Hugh Jackman, who plays George Hardy, the sheep’s shepherd. Real talk: I realized that I have zero integrity because I was completely committed to watching this movie because I’m in a committed cinematic relationship with Jackman and gave up on resisting it anymore. When the sheep find George dead, they must stop forgetting unpleasant things and solve George’s death to save their own lives. The biggest surprise is that it is genuinely moving with good lessons for young and old.
It is essentially an ensemble cast. It begins with George writing a letter to a mysterious American woman, Rebecca Hampstead (Molly Gordon from “Oh, Hi!”). The letter introduces her and the audience to his sheep, the people in the town of Denbrook and his daily routine, which includes reading a murder mystery to his flock. Elliot Matthews (Nicholas Galitzine, “100 Nights of Hero”), a Gazette junior reporter, decides to cover the town festival, which occurs from July through September, but when he realizes how disappointing it is, he starts looking for another story. When George is found dead, Elliot encourages Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun, who played a magician from “Splitsville” and two roles in “Saturday Night”), the inexperienced, lone law enforcement officer in the town, to see it as a murder, and the sheep try to help Tim solve the murder. Braun is tall so he should be picking up fans here and there. Finally an American faking a British accent!
It turns out that the sheep were paying attention to their end of the day readings, and Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), one of George’s favorite sheep, is determined to solve the mystery, but a more experienced, loner sheep, Sebastian (Bryan Cranston), warns her that the real world is very different from books, and the flock’s sheltered life and provincial prejudices could get in the way of finding the right culprit. Lily’s right-hand man is Mopple (Chris O’Dowd), the flock’s historian who refuses to forget anything. Wool-Eyes (Rhys Darby) can’t see for obvious reasons but plays a pivotal role in the solving the mystery. Reggie and Ronnie (Brett Goldstein, “All of You”), are dumb oafs who are the secret weapon of the group. Cloud (underutilized Regina Hall) is the prettiest sheep of them all. Sir Richfield (Patrick Stewart) is the oldest, most dignified sheep in the group but encourages continuing to exclude the Winter Lamb (Tommy Birchall), who has a crucial clue and wants to play with the three accepted spring lambs, Daisy (Aroop Shergill), Oliver (Jasper Ambrose) and Pickles (Ishi Agrawal). Zora (Bella Ramsey) is forgettable.
It is easy to get absorbed and invested in the sheep community, and it feels as if some adults could benefit from this movie, especially the dangers of the sheep’s practice of deliberately willing themselves to forget things so they do not have to deal with pain or anything that will upset them. Also, their horror at discovering how messed up the world is completely relatable as they become disillusioned at the townspeople that they thought were their friends. Louis-Dreyfus and Cranston are the real stars of the film with O’Dowd doing some decent, understated work as a pivotal supporting actor. If more promotions revealed that those three actors are the voices behind the sheep, more people would watch “The Sheep Detectives” because duh. They are great. Sebastian’s backstory may make you upset, but you will be able to handle his hero’s journey. Fortunately, things stay relatively light because they are adorable and trying to communicate with human beings, so it is the equivalent of watching cute fluffy beings getting into shenanigans, and the people noticing but reluctant to believe that the sheep are not only trying to communicate but know more than the human community does. The photorealistic animation combined with live action is seamless. They look real.
The human community is more two dimensional and keeps things light. When brightly dressed lawyer, Lydia Harbottle (Emma Thompson), arrives for the will reading, the sheep finally have a leg up on the possible suspects: Rebecca, The Partridge Inn owner Beth Pennock (the Hong Chau, another American putting on a British accent), Caleb Merrow (Tosin Cole), a neighboring shepherd from Sweet Clover Farm whom the sheep love, including his doggies, Reverend Hillcoate (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, “Wonka”), and butcher Ham Gilyard (Conleth Hill, Lord Varys, the powerbroker eunuch from “Game of Thrones”). Tim’s investigation provides the momentum of the story as he goes on a similar, parallel maturing journey as the sheep. Initially, moviegoers may dismiss him as a dumb oaf, but he gradually rises to the occasion, and it is fun to see him get invested in his job. Tim has a crush on Rebecca, but director Kyle Balda fumbled the first shot where her hair is supposed to move impressively in slow motion. Lydia plays less of a role than expected. Thompson is too good for this kind of work, and she accidentally imbues certain lines with too much meaning that could send the audience in the wrong direction.
The mystery is fairly easy to solve if you pay attention to the story or are familiar with the cast. It feels fairly obvious, but I also watch too many movies so maybe it is not. Does “The Sheep Detectives” take place in the UK? Yes, though the variety in sheep accents make it confusing or means that I’m overthinking it. It is the kind of fictional, cinematic UK that consists of the collective imagination of what the UK is like without resembling anything remotely recognizable as realistic. Think of “The Thursday Murder Club” (2025). It is as authentically British as Times Square is New York. Is that a problem? No. The story hinges on the consequences of sex while being sexless, which is not a problem because it is a family movie, but the course correction translation from the book to the movie was so far that it almost became nonsensical. Will anyone notice? Probably not. Also do the Magdalene Laundries exist in this world? Apparently so sit with that for a moment. The big revelations about George are perhaps too rushed over, especially regarding the will, but maybe it is legal, more than film, criticism.
There was a book sequel, “Big Bad Wool” (2010), which was translated and may be released this year, so there is definitely room to revisit the sheep and see how they are doing after George dies. It is super cute, but with George dead, they are going to need to find excuses for more flashbacks or visits from spirit George so Jackman can com e back and lure more moviegoers.
