{"id":2409149,"date":"2026-05-09T15:23:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T15:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2409149"},"modified":"2026-05-09T15:23:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T15:23:43","slug":"is-the-sheep-detectives-movie-ok-for-kids-what-parents-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/is-the-sheep-detectives-movie-ok-for-kids-what-parents-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Is ‘The Sheep Detectives’ movie OK for kids? What parents need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Spoiler alert! We’re discussing plot details about \u201cThe Sheep Detectives<\/a>\u201d (in theaters now<\/a>). Stop reading if you haven\u2019t seen the movie yet and don\u2019t want to know what it\u2019s about.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t pull the wool over their eyes.<\/p>\n

In the wonderfully peculiar new movie \u201cThe Sheep Detectives,\u201d an inquisitive group of livestock search for clues in their shepherd\u2019s untimely demise. The live-action comedy features a starry flock of celebrities voicing computer-generated sheep, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus<\/a>, Bryan Cranston, Chris O\u2019Dowd, Patrick Stewart, Regina Hall and Bella Ramsey.<\/p>\n

Directed by Kyle Balda (\u201cMinions\u201d), \u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d is much darker yet more emotional than you\u2019d expect for a family film about talking farm animals. Before you take your youngest tykes to see it, here’s what you need to know:<\/p>\n

Join our Watch Party! <\/strong>Sign up to receive USA TODAY’s movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

What is \u2018The Sheep Detectives\u2019 about?<\/h2>\n
\"Cloud<\/span><\/div>\n

Cloud (voiced by Regina Hall, left), Mopple (Chris O’Dowd) and Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) are some of the four-legged stars of “The Sheep Detectives.”<\/p>\n

Set in the English countryside, \u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d follows a kindly farmer named George (Hugh Jackman) who lives a quiet life with his flock. In his downtime, he enjoys reading mystery novels to the sheep \u2212 not knowing that they actually talk among themselves and fiercely debate the fictional crime stories.<\/p>\n

But when George turns up dead one day, the pragmatic ewe Lily (Louis-Dreyfus) takes charge in investigating his suspicious death. She sneakily aids an inept police detective (Nicholas Braun) as he probes local business owners, lawyers and George\u2019s family members (played by Conleth Hill, Emma Thompson and Molly Gordon, to name a few).<\/p>\n

What is \u2018The Sheep Detectives\u2019 rated?<\/h2>\n
\"George<\/span><\/div>\n

George (Hugh Jackman) takes care of the Winter Lamb (voiced by Tommy Birchall), a misfit in his flock.<\/p>\n

The film is rated PG for thematic material, some violent content and brief language.<\/p>\n

What is the runtime of \u2018The Sheep Detectives?\u2019<\/h2>\n
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\u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d is 1 hour and 49 minutes long. The plot is easy to follow and the culprit isn\u2019t revealed until the last 10 minutes of the film. So if your kids need a bathroom break during the movie, just about any time is fine to do so.<\/p>\n

What age is \u2018The Sheep Detectives\u2019 appropriate for?<\/h2>\n
\"Mopple<\/span><\/div>\n

Mopple (voiced by Chris O\u2019Dowd, left) and Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) nervously venture beyond their farm to search for answers.<\/p>\n

The film is recommended for kids ages 8 and older. There is some occasional rude language, but nothing worse than \u201cdamn,\u201d \u201cidiot,\u201d \u201ccrap\u201d and \u201cshut up.\u201d George has a bottle of whiskey in his trailer home, and some characters are shown drinking wine. A woman named Beth (Hong Chau) longs for George and steals his mail from an apparent lover. But this is a kids\u2019 movie, after all, and the brief romantic subplot is entirely chaste.<\/p>\n

Like \u201cBambi,\u201d \u201cThe Lion King\u201d and any assortment of Pixar movies, \u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d deals frankly with death. Lily struggles to understand the loss of George and another member of her flock, and the movie sensitively addresses how we can still hold onto our loved ones\u2019 memories long after they\u2019re gone. Grief is a poignant through line in the otherwise comedic film, and it may invite further conversation with your children afterward. <\/p>\n

Is \u2018The Sheep Detectives\u2019 violent?<\/h2>\n
\"Lydia<\/span><\/div>\n

Lydia Harbottle (Emma Thompson) manages the late shepherd’s estate \u2013 and becomes a suspect herself.<\/p>\n

Despite being a murder mystery, there is very little mayhem to speak of. Lily and the other sheep encounter some scary dogs one night, and there are a few tussles between both human and animal characters. There is a flashback to the stormy evening when George is murdered, although you see nothing more than a shadowy figure on his farm.<\/p>\n

There are moments when Lily feels lost and anxious, and another scene where a panicked sheep knocks over furniture, although that is played for laughs.<\/p>\n

Potentially traumatic for young kids is a short scene where Lily discovers George\u2019s dead body, and another where Lily\u2019s sheep friend dies. There is brief discussion of poison, and at one point, a fearsome butcher holds a knife. But ultimately, there is no visible blood or gore in the film.<\/p>\n

What is the release date for \u2018The Sheep Detectives?\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u2018The Sheep Detectives\u2019 will be released in theaters nationwide May 8. There is no streaming date yet.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is ‘Sheep Detectives’ a kids movie? Our guide for parents<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spoiler alert! We’re discussing plot details about \u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d (in theaters now). Stop reading if you haven\u2019t seen the movie yet and don\u2019t want to know what it\u2019s about.\u00a0 You can\u2019t pull the wool over their eyes. In the wonderfully peculiar new movie \u201cThe Sheep Detectives,\u201d an inquisitive group of livestock search for clues […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2409150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[316808,333013,426561],"class_list":["post-2409149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-bryan-cranston","tag-patrick-stewart","tag-the-sheep-detectives"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Is-The-Sheep-Detectives-movie-OK-for-kids-What-parents.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2409149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2409151,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409149\/revisions\/2409151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2409150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2409149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2409149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2409149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}