Title – The Sheep Detectives (2026)

Director – Kyle Balda (Despicable Me 3)

Cast – Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Molly Gordon, (voices of) Bryan Cranston, Julie Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Stewart, Chris O’Dowd

Plot – When their beloved shepherd George (Jackman) is murdered, a group of loyal sheep led by Lily (Louis-Dreyfus), Mopple (O’Dowd) and Sebastian (Cranston) take it upon themselves to help crack the case.

“A new breed of mystery”

Review by Eddie on 21/05/2026

If someone were to have told you at the start of 2026 that one of the year’s most surprisingly wholesome and fun films was going to be one about a bunch of sheep solving a murder, starring Wolverine in a production overseen by the director of multiple Despicable Me films and writer behind hit TV series The Last of Us and Chernobyl, you would have been right to have laughed off such a silly statement.

Low and behold however, proving once more that life is full of surprises both on and off screen, The Sheep Detectives is a surprisingly lovely little tale that is full of sappy sentiment and schmaltz only Hollywood could produce, with director Kyle Balda and writer Craig Mazin successfully adapting Leonie Swann’s book Three Bags Full into a family friendly affair that is destined to become a streaming hit over the rest of 2026.

A significantly budgeted affair, costing Amazon in the vicinity of $75 million to produce, there’s a fair amount of prestige that has gone into this original offering, from the films extensive CGI sheep, star power that includes a loaded voice cast such as Bryan Cranston, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Patrick Stewart to help out on screen performers like Jackman, Emma Thompson and Succession breakout star Nicholas Braun, with Detectives striking mostly the right balance between its tones and messaging to culminate in a feature that would be incredibly hard to remain stony hearted about.

Based around Jackman’s kindly shepherd George, who loves nothing more than tending to his flock of beloved sheep, which happens to include reading them nightly murder mystery stories, only to find himself the victim of a murder himself, there’s a lot of familiar narrative angles and movements in Detectives but there’s never been a whodunit quite like this thanks to George’s ingenious woolly friends who get their hooves dirty attempting to help out unskilled local law enforcement find George’s killer/s.

Not on screen for a great deal of time, but doing his nice guy schtick as well as his ever done, Jackman is an important part of the Detectives puzzle but really at the end of the day Balda and Mazin’s film wins out thanks to its 4-legged stars with the capable voice cast bring them to life with heart, energy and creativity and while there’s nothing to write home about when it comes to the stories messaging or structure, Detectives is engaging from start to finish and likely to induce equal amounts of laughter as it does tears from those that connect with it.

Showcasing that there’s always fresh and inventive ways to tell age old stories, Detectives is a delightfully breezy and kindly natured film that is sure to find a place in many a family’s favourites list over the coming years, even if it won’t be confused with any form of minor masterpiece.

Final Say –

With a winning cast of humans and hooved creations, The Sheep Detectives is a pleasant and fun murder mystery comedy with a difference, proving that even the most implausible of ideas can work with the right amount of heart and soul.

3 1/2 aptly named butchers out of 5