by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
High Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Hong Chau, Emma Thompson, Bella Ramsey, [voices by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Brett Goldstein, Rhys Darby
Intro:
… a great example of what family films should strive for, with plenty of childish silliness while still respecting its audience both young and old as it brings out the emotional and even spiritual fireworks.
Behold one of the most baffling director/writer team-ups we’re likely to get all year. On one side, director Kyle Balda, Illumination mainstay, whose last film was Minions: The Rise of Gru. And on the other, writer Craig Mazin, whose work in film (Superhero Movie, The Hangover Part II and III) and streaming (Chernobyl, The Last of Us) are so demarcated, it often feels like two totally different lads running around Hollywood with the exact same name. Ewes elucidating evil enigmas makes more real-world sense than this collaboration… or so it may seem on the surface.
Before locking in with the yellow-bodied noisemakers, Balda did some notable work in the ‘90s adding CGI to live-action footage for films like The Mask and Jumanji, and he seems to have held onto those lessons for The Sheep Detectives and its impressive VFX integration. Doubly so with studio Framestore giving the titular woolly characters enough facial emotion to avoid turning this into another Lion King remake, yet still recognisably ovine. And for a first time directing live-action, Balda shows great synergy with DP George Steel, giving the frame a suitable but not overwhelming cartoonish quality that fits the brief for animal-assisted atrocity analysis.
As for what Mazin brings to the table, his adaptation of the original Three Bags Full sticks closely to what made it so beloved… in that the sheep are vastly more interesting and fleshed-out than the humans. Sure, Hugh Jackman as victim George Hardy brings enough compacted charisma to ensure that a) it’s believable that animals would care enough about him to do any of this, and b) that it’s believable that an audience would care to find out along with them. But otherwise, it’s fairly standard (and thin) character archetypes that hint at Knives Out-esque deconstruction rather than going through with it.
Of course, the mystery or indeed the light-hearted take on classic detective fiction, isn’t really the draw here; it’s the sheep. And not just because of “d’aww!” either; there’s some Watership Down levels of detail to the microculture of Hardy’s flock, from their understanding of humans, to their relationship with memory, to what can only be described as sheep racism, to… well, coming to terms with grief.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Chris O’Dowd as the star sheep Lily and Mopple respectively deliver the palpable and surprisingly eye-watering drama, with the central murder as a road leading to a lot of contemplation about life, death, and the many fields of grass and dandelions between them. The comedy often mirrors the mystery construction in its flimsiness, but with the frivolous and the fervent balanced throughout, with Craig Mazin pulling from all of his screen experience to pen this. With Balda lending a cinematic eye that delivers on both just as readily.
The Sheep Detectives is as cuddly as a baby lamb and as hard-hitting as a charging ram. It’s a great example of what family films should strive for, with plenty of childish silliness while still respecting its audience both young and old as it brings out the emotional and even spiritual fireworks. Yeah, the murder mystery that gets everything isn’t the most engaging, but it’s ultimately just a wool coat to protect this film’s pure heart, and it is a simply beautiful thing to behold once that heart opens up.
