In cinemas; Cert PG
The Sheep Detectives Trailer
One to file under “so oddball it just might work” is this pastoral cosy-crime caper from director Kyle Balda, in which a murder is solved by the victim’s flock of sheep, voiced by an all-star cast.
And if talking sheep wasn’t enough, we must equally suspend disbelief in a sheep farmer that looks like Hugh Jackman, whose George Hardy is found slain outside his hillside caravan.
The cast of ‘The Sheep Detectives’
A nicely cartoonish Agatha Christie pastiche introduces a host of potential suspects – a rival shepherd (Tosin Cole), the village butcher (Conleth Hill), the innkeeper (Hong Chau). Add to this the sudden arrival of George’s daughter (Molly Gordon), his lawyer (a show-stealing Emma Thompson), and a snooping reporter (Nicholas Galitzine) – and it’s a lot for the nice-but-dim local constable (Nicholas Braun).
Watching every move is the celebrity-mouthed flock (Chris O’Dowd, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Bella Ramsey), their tale here adapted from Leonie Swann’s novel (originally set in Ireland) by Craig Mazin.
With so many moving parts, it’s a credit to Mazin and Balda that it all stays intact, with the inter-species narrative a smooth and hearty one.
Four stars