Director Kyle Balda’s newest animal movie has emerged as a black sheep among modern detective-comedy films. “The Sheep Detectives” started development in 2024 and was released on Friday, May 8. Though its box office is underperforming at $64 million against a $75 million budget, that mostly speaks to how underrated it is. 

“The Sheep Detectives” follows a flock of sheep as they attempt to solve the mystery of their shepherd George’s murder. The movie owes its concept to the 2005 novel “Three Bags Full” by Leonie Swann, but the sheep truly come to life on the big screen. Movies starring lifelike animals have had their fair share of uncanny animatronics and sloppy CGI, but this film dodges this — instead, the fluffy sheep are adorably animated. Even when they’re not stealing hearts onscreen, the sheep often lurk in the background of human-led scenes, adding a cute and whimsical twist to every conversation.

The film quickly introduces us to the main trio of sheep — Lily, Sebastian and Mopple — who each have their own unique characteristics. Lily is the smart and charming favorite, Sebastian is the wise but tormented loner and Mopple is unfortunately blessed with the curse of memory. As the plot develops after George’s death, the human characters are also revealed in classic whodunnit fashion. George’s daughter, Rebecca, who conveniently inherits a will worth upwards of $30 million, is only one of the many town inhabitants who benefit from her father’s death. As the three sheep tackle the task of finding the killer, they are simultaneously challenged with internal reflections about acceptance and death. 

“The Sheep Detective” successfully pulls wool over the viewers’ eyes as the main twist of the plot unravels. For a silly movie with nonstop sheep jokes, the big reveal of the true murderer is impressively done. Unlike other comedy mysteries, there is no moment in the film when the audience can confidently predict the killer or the plot twist. Part of this, however, is due to the underdevelopment of many human characters. For all of the evil that the town priest and butcher ooze, they really don’t do much other than look evil. The best moments in “The Sheep Detective” come when there is, unsurprisingly, a sheep on screen.

The movie consistently delights audiences with fast-paced gags, like a cutaway joke in which a butcher counts up George’s sheep in preparation to buy them, only to end up asleep in his van. There’s a sequence shown from the point of view of Wool-Eye — a sheep with overgrown wool — as he bumbles around in George’s trailer, allowing the audience to understand why he’s named that. Not only does the smooth editing create a sense of humor and irony, but it also immerses viewers in both the sheep and human worlds by seamlessly transitioning between them. 

Even with the movie’s tight focus on the mystery and excitement, it finds time to grapple with deeper themes. “The Sheep Detectives” juggles a number of motifs, and although they’re each relatively straightforward, they make for some of the film’s most affecting scenes. For example, the flock rejects a lamb from the community because it was born in winter, following a superstition they have about “winter lambs.” But the lamb proves instrumental in communicating with the humans, and Lily eventually accepts him into the flock and gives him a name: George, after the late shepherd.

Other persistent themes include the value of painful memories and how to deal with mortality. The movie’s core is bleaker than the fluffy premise lets on, but its outlook is surprisingly tender, and it has the sense to slow the slapstick when things get serious. One can easily imagine a version of “The Sheep Detectives” that spends too long ruminating on any one of these ideas, but this thoughtful balance makes it a meaningful watch for children and adults alike. 

“The Sheep Detectives” is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, given how the film successfully disguises its surprisingly heartfelt message about empathy for others under the guise of a silly movie about talking sheep. For what seems to be a family comedy to put in the background, it is an incredible story that is equal parts funny, emotional and un-baaa-lievably hard to forget. 

RATING: 4/5