The Sheep Detectives

Hugh Jackman may take top billing here, but the real plaudits have to go to some animatronic sheep and to Nicholas Braun's hapless detective "Tim". He is completely out of his depth when a body is discovered in a field. He just assumes that "George" (Jackman) has had an heart attack - but the sheep, well thanks to the observations of the hitherto shunned winter lamb, they start to put two and two together and conclude something altogether more sinister is a-hoof. Those suspicions are only increased when his lawyer (Dame Emma Thompson) arrives for the will reading and declares that he had left an unexpected fortune to his daughter "Rebecca" (Molly Gordon) whom nobody even knew existed until that fateful day. The challenge for the sheep is, though: how can they convey their thoughts to the constable and has he the wherewithal to assemble the clues? Someone described this is as a sort of "Thursday Murder Club" meets "Babe" and that's about the height of it. There are plenty of engaging woolly characters who manage successfully to avoid dipping us in too much sentiment; Braun does the nice-but-dim engagingly and Dame Emma brings a well-dressed imperiousness to the proceedings as the red herrings gradually accumulate and "Cloud", "Mopple" and the grumpy ram "Sebastian" slowly realise that they too might be destined for the inside of a tin can too, if they can't thwart some cunning scheming from their two-legged neighbours. On a marginally more serious note, it also serves to dispel the notion that sheep are all a bit thick as they take quite a few risks - even crossing the road - to get to the truth. This is a family film in that there is plenty for the kids, but there is also enough of a mystery and some comedy for the grown ups too, and if you're in the mood for something light, fluffy and entirely devoid of crooning then this ought to do the trick.

Shepherd dies. It’s the result of murder most foul! Unpropitiously for the manslayer there is a most important factor that they have not accounted for. Unbeknownst to the assassin, the deceased herdsman had been training a crack team of detectives. (If, at this point, you can’t tell who those detectives are from the title of the film, then perhaps murder mysteries are not for you?) What I thought: meh, it was OK. I wanted it to be funnier, maybe a little cuter. I don’t think they are unreasonable expectations going into a kids movie, right? The village is charming and the characters have some chemistry. For me it suffered from severe miscasting. Hugh Jackman couldn’t make this material work through little fault of his own. To make that character work it really needed a gruff, older curmudgeon who showed us his soft, tender, underbelly at the end. I think this movie would have fared better by setting my expectations lower. I see that Jackman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Emma Thompson are in a flick together and I’m expecting something special. But the comedy didn’t really work for me. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s an OK movie. But I wouldn’t watch it again.