{"id":474956,"date":"2026-05-08T15:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474956\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:23:13","slug":"the-sheep-detectives-review-the-farmyard-hasnt-been-this-disarming-since-babe-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474956\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sheep Detectives review: The farmyard hasn\u2019t been this disarming since Babe \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sheep Detectives<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d7<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Director:<\/strong> Kyle Balda<\/p>\n

Cert:<\/strong> PG<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Family<\/p>\n

Starring:<\/strong> Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O\u2019Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Brett Goldstein, Hong Chau, Emma Thompson <\/p>\n

Running Time:<\/strong> 1 hr 50 mins<\/p>\n

The Sheep Detectives, a family-friendly whodunit that marries pastoral whimsy with unexpectedly weighty themes, is a rare, woolly beast. <\/p>\n

Adapted from Leonie Swann\u2019s detective novel Three Bags Full and directed by Kyle Balda, the film functions as a cosy murder mystery, a witty genre deconstruction and a meditation on loss, all fluffed up as a talking-animal caper. The farmyard hasn\u2019t been this disarming since Babe.<\/p>\n

A gentle, vegetarian shepherd, played with easy warmth by Hugh Jackman<\/a>, entertains his flock with nightly detective stories until, one morning, the flock cannot rouse him. (Yes, they kill off Hugh Jackman.) News of his murder swiftly animates the supposedly sleepy village where he lived.<\/p>\n

His sheep, who can\u2019t communicate with humans but fully understand them, decide to solve the crime themselves. After all, they can\u2019t do worse than the bumbling local bobby played by Nicholas Braun<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Leading the charge is Lily, voiced with comic authority by Julia Louis-Dreyfus<\/a>, whose knack for fictional deduction proves somewhat shakier in the real world. And then there\u2019s a bigger obstacle: how can they let the humans know who the killer is? <\/p>\n

The film\u2019s bleating heart lies with the CG sheep. Their dawning comprehension of death, previously believed to mean turning into clouds, gives the story a poignant Watership Down<\/a> sensitivity without traumatising younger viewers. A revealing visit to a farm from whence animals do not return compounds the reality check.<\/p>\n

Bryan Cranston<\/a> lends gravitas to a brooding outsider ram, while Chris O\u2019Dowd<\/a>\u2019s memory-burdened merino, Mopple, brings a lilting melancholy and rumination on the cost of forgetting and communal mythmaking.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The Super Mario Galaxy Movie: A breathless, galaxy-spanning scramble. At least it\u2019s shortOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Ironically, the human characters, including Emma Thompson<\/a>\u2019s acid-tongued lawyer, are more broadly drawn than their animal counterparts. That tomfoolery provides an important counterweight in an affecting children\u2019s film as unafraid to confront mortality as it is to revel in the sight of a plump sheep stuck in a tyre swing. <\/p>\n

In cinemas from Friday, May 8th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sheep Detectives \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d7 Director: Kyle Balda Cert: PG Genre: Family Starring: Hugh Jackman,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[41903,198130,18,53241,117,21636,19,17,40260,126365],"class_list":{"0":"post-474956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bryan-cranston","9":"tag-chris-o-dowd","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-emma-thompson","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-hugh-jackman","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-julia-louis-dreyfus","17":"tag-nicholas-braun"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116539648185681195","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}