Nerdly » ‘The Sheep Detectives’ Review

01st May2026

‘The Sheep Detectives’ Review

by Matthew Turner

Stars: Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Emma Thompson, Nicholas Galitzine, Hong Chau, Molly Gordon, Tosin Cole, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Patrick Stewart, Brett Goldstein, Regina Hall, Bella Ramsey | Written by Craig Mazin | Directed by Kyle Balda

Adapted from the best-selling German novel Three Bags Full by screenwriter Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), cheerful family comedy The Sheep Detectives is directed by Kyle Balda, who previously directed some of the Despicable Me movies, and here turns his hand to a blend of live action, along with a farmyard full of digitally animated characters. The result is an entertaining blend of murder mystery and talking animal comedy – think Babe meets Agatha Christie, or Miss Maaaaarple, if you will.

Set in the suspiciously sunny English village of Denbrook, The Sheep Detectives begins with kindly shepherd George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) tending his beloved flock of sheep and entertaining them by reading them murder mysteries before going to bed. When George is mysteriously murdered and found dead in his field with dye on his hand, Denbrook’s inept local cop Derry (Nicholas Braun) is inclined to write it off as a heart attack, but the sheep suspect foul play and set off to investigate, alerting Derry to clues however they can.

Chief suspects include: George’s long lost daughter Rebecca (Molly Gordon), local butcher Ham (Conleth Hill), rival shepherd Caleb (Tosin Cole), Reverend Hillcoate (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) and grumpy postmistress Beth (Hong Chau). Also in the mix are George’s lawyer Lydia Harbottle (Emma Thompson), and visiting reporter Elliot Matthews (Nicholas Galitzine).

Meanwhile, the sheep all have distinct personalities too, from sharp-witted Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to ditzy Cloud (Regina Hall), memory-afflicted Mopple (Chris O’Dowd), gruff outsider Sebastian (Bryan Cranston) and rambunctious twin rams Ronnie and Reggie (both voiced by Brett Goldstein). Indeed, if anything, there are maybe too many sheep characters, as their ranks also include sheep voiced by Patrick Stewart, Rhys Derby and Bella Ramsey, which maybe makes things a little too crowded at times.

The animation is handled very nicely, making all the animal characters look sufficiently different from each other, despite the fact that they’re all sheep. Similarly, the production design gives the film the bright, colourful look of a children’s storybook, which works well.

The cast is mostly excellent. Jackman is utterly charming, ensuring that the audience is as invested in solving his murder as the sheep detectives are, while Emma Thompson is the clear stand-out as Lydia, and she’s clearly enjoying herself. If anything, it’s a shame that no one else in the cast can match her comic energy, because she’s hilarious in every scene, to the point where she makes it look like no one else is really putting the effort in to the same degree.

On a similar note, Braun is fine, but anyone who’s seen him play Cousin Greg on Succession knows that he’s an immensely talented comic actor who’s capable of so much more, and he occasionally seems a little miscast here. At any rate, his line deliveries are a little off in places, and you can’t help thinking the part should have been a lot funnier.

As for the script, Mazin does a good job of balancing the family comedy elements and the murder mystery elements, while Balda maintains a consistent tone that’s unlikely to trouble any young children in the audience. Similarly, there’s some nice messaging around acceptance and tolerance that resists the temptation to get too mawkish and gets the job done without too much in the way of sentimentality.

In short, The Sheep Detectives is an entertaining and undeniably charming family comedy that should please young and adult audiences alike. Admittedly, it’s never quite as funny as it could have been, but it gets the job done well enough.