Film Review: ‘The Sheep Detectives’ is a woolly whodunit with superstars and surprising charm

Two unrelated events came together this week to remind us of the wonder of all creatures great and small. One was the centenary of the great naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. The other was the reminder in The Sheep Detectives of what humans can learn from animals, in this case sheep. This plea for sheep to be considered more intelligent comes in the form of an enjoyable comedy with enthusiastic, clever animals, voiced by actors of the calibre of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Stewart (lead actor Hugh Jackman’s X-Men co-star) and Bryan Cranston.

The premise is simple: Jackman plays a good shepherd who raises sheep for their wool, not their meat, and reads detective stories to them. When he dies, the case is left to police officer Tim (Nicholas Braun) who is as ineffectual as the sheep are intelligent. There are amusing goings-on, worthy of Agatha Christie, involving two wills, suspicious relatives, an unfulfilled love affair, and the lawyer Lydia (Emma Thompson). The ability of stars such as Jackman to move effortlessly from big studio spectacles to sweet comedies to serious theatre work is something Indian actors should think of emulating.