{"id":117968,"date":"2026-07-24T16:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/117968\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T16:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:55:12","slug":"sheep-in-the-box-review-ai-drama-falls-into-uncanny-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/117968\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Sheep in the Box’ review: AI drama falls into uncanny valley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Celebrated Japanese writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda specializes in gentle, sentimental films about the tiny fissures that form along the foundation of families. When he\u2019s at his best, such as with 2018\u2019s Oscar-nominated \u201cShoplifters,\u201d<\/a> his stories unspool with measured ease, their lifelike flow building slowly into something larger and more profound about the bonds that connect us \u2014 and sometimes tear us apart.<\/p>\n

But when Kore-eda\u2019s execution isn\u2019t as assured, as is the case with his latest, all that delicacy simply floats off into the ether, rarely amounting to much more than a halfhearted shrug. \u201cSheep in the Box\u201d couldn\u2019t be timelier in its speculative sci-fi depiction of an anxious age in which AI increasingly permeates our lives<\/a>, even giving grieving parents their dead children back to them, in a fashion. But after a familiar setup, the movie stubbornly refuses to go in compelling new directions or offer fresh observations. The film may be set in the future, but Kore-eda\u2019s ideas feel outdated.<\/p>\n

Haruka Ayase, who starred in Kore-eda\u2019s 2015 sibling drama \u201cOur Little Sister,\u201d<\/a> plays Otone, an architect still devastated by the loss of her young son Kakeru two years ago. She receives a strange invitation in the mail from REbirth, a company that claims to create humanoid replicas of deceased loved ones. Her husband, Kensuke (Daigo Yamamoto), expresses reservations about the service \u2014 \u201cThey\u2019re hyenas cashing in on misfortune,\u201d he insists \u2014 but Otone is resolute. In short order, an android that looks exactly like Kakeru (newcomer Rimu Kuwaki) arrives at their front door.<\/p>\n

Films ranging from \u201cPinocchio\u201d to \u201cA.I. Artificial Intelligence\u201d have touched on the dangers of trying to simulate life, while the more recent \u201cM3GAN\u201d<\/a> and \u201cCompanion\u201d<\/a> satirized AI\u2019s insidious skill at making it difficult to determine what\u2019s real and what\u2019s not. But even if \u201cSheep in the Box\u201d overlaps with these memorable movies, this story would seem an ideal opportunity for Kore-eda to revisit a favorite subject: how loss can linger. Plus, his new movie harkens to \u201cAir Doll,\u201d<\/a> his provocative 2009 film about a sex doll that develops consciousness.<\/p>\n

Yet his latest fails to magically transcend its deceptively simple premise. Part of the problem is a lack of layered characters. At first, Otone and Kensuke disagree about whether to bring this new Kakeru into their home. (At a sappy REbirth video presentation extolling the company\u2019s oh-so-noble mission, he rolls his eyes, while she\u2019s in tears.) But that conflict quickly fizzles as both parents become acquainted with this robot, whose memories only extend to the information the couple provided. Because Kakeru\u2019s death is shrouded in some degree of mystery \u2014 Otone and Kensuke obliquely refer to it as \u201cthe accident\u201d \u2014 \u201cSheep in the Box\u201d eventually becomes the father\u2019s attempt to get answers as a means of alleviating his gnawing guilt. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the underwhelming revelations don\u2019t elicit the tears Kore-eda regularly wrings. That muted response is in keeping with the film\u2019s blas\u00e9 attitude toward our tech-heavy world. A tranquil opening shot consists of a beautiful seaside view that\u2019s quickly invaded by buzzing drones carrying packages. The REbirth offices are sleek but drab. There\u2019s no wonder or dread in this future \u2014 just the resigned acceptance that nothing is remarkable, despite all the nifty gadgets everyone has. And unlike cinema\u2019s previous AI creations, Kakeru has no driving curiosity concerning whether he has a soul. When life has lost its spark, who cares if it\u2019s \u201creal\u201d or not?<\/p>\n

Composer Yuta Bandoh\u2019s lovely score hints at Otone and Kensuke\u2019s pent-up sorrow, even after Kakeru is returned to them. But because Kore-eda\u2019s subpar script is short on emotional depth, the director leans on Bandoh to sell a poignancy the audience isn\u2019t feeling. Kore-eda\u2019s films frequently focus on individuals who aren\u2019t as happy as they thought they\u2019d be. \u201cSheep in the Box\u201d suggests that, not long from now, these psychic wounds may be poked anew. But the movie doesn\u2019t closely enough resemble the heart-and-soul complexity of life itself, falling into an uncanny valley in which the drama is decidedly artificial.<\/p>\n

‘Sheep in the Box’<\/p>\n

In Japanese, with subtitles<\/p>\n

Rated: PG, for thematic material, some language, smoking and a brief bloody image<\/p>\n

Running time: 2 hours, 6 minutes<\/p>\n

Playing: Opens Friday, July 24, in limited release<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celebrated Japanese writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda specializes in gentle, sentimental films about the tiny fissures that form along the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,59829,25,22168,532,59826,59828,59824,6445,16656,6539,59825,29,59830,59823,59827,54898],"class_list":["post-117968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-ai-drama","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-box","tag-company","tag-kakeru","tag-kensuke","tag-kore-eda","tag-life","tag-loss","tag-movie","tag-otone","tag-parent","tag-rebirth","tag-sentimental-film","tag-sheep","tag-uncanny-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}