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\u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d<\/u><\/a> feels like a fake movie.<\/p>\n The absurd concept based on Leonie Swann\u2019s book, \u201cThree Bags Full,\u201d<\/u><\/a> features an all-star cast of talking sheep solving the mystery of their shepherd\u2019s (Hugh Jackman<\/u><\/a>) murder. On the surface, it seemed to be your run-of-the-mill family film with five seconds of fame before fading into obscurity; that couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been in a borderline unhealthy relationship with this film for the past few months. In a state of bemusement regarding what it would end up looking like, my initial intrigue in \u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d was completely ironic. For anyone else who first saw the trailer<\/u><\/a> earlier this year, that\u2019s likely to be the case.<\/p>\n Yet, now that I\u2019ve seen it, I\u2019m delighted to say that \u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d is one of the most innovative and poignant family films of the past decade. The film didn\u2019t just win me over with its whimsy, it stole my heart and wrapped it in a warm wool blanket.\u00a0<\/p>\n Treating its audience seriously and not talking down to them, the film has something to offer for all ages, all while, of course, being a ridiculously fun murder mystery featuring talking sheep. When most children\u2019s media today is filled with pandering themes and what feels like AI slop<\/u><\/a>, a film as emotionally intelligent and reflective as \u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d is refreshing.<\/p>\n With a stellar cast, the central murder mystery was genuinely surprising. Through several twists and turns, \u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d went beyond the predictable plot I had feared it might have. For a family movie, this lack of predictability or familiarity is essential to fostering critical thinking. While sheep are so often used to denote those that can\u2019t think for themselves, this is a film that ushers in an embrace of originality.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not always groundbreaking for the genre, but everything is approached with such levity that the film feels uniquely alive in a way that\u2019s hard to come by in Hollywood\u2019s modern landscape.<\/p>\n Yet, perhaps the biggest wonder of \u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d comes from the masterful tonal balancing act in Craig Mazin\u2019s<\/u><\/a> script. From the writer behind \u201cChernobyl\u201d<\/u><\/a> and \u201cThe Last of Us,\u201d<\/u><\/a> a story like this initially feels like a peculiar choice. Yet, through every moment and beat of \u201cThe Sheep Detectives,\u201d Mazin\u2019s same sense of care in stories of nuclear fallout and zombie apocalypses has been applied to a sheep murder mystery.<\/p>\n Even through its absurdities and talking sheep, I was filled with a deep sense of empathy throughout \u201cThe Sheep Detectives,\u201d most notably in the film\u2019s approach to grief.<\/p>\n Without getting into spoilers, a key plot point involves the sheep purposefully repressing the memory of sheep who have died. While death is typically a taboo topic to approach in family media, \u201cThe Sheep Detectives\u201d isn\u2019t afraid to show a dead body on screen or confront head-on the tumultuous ups and downs of processing grief.\u00a0<\/p>\n Themes like this are undeniably important for younger audiences, but I feel there\u2019s a lot for adults to take away as well. In my screening, while the theater was filled with children giggling at the sheep\u2019s shenanigans, by the end, there wasn\u2019t a dry eye among the adults in the audience.<\/p>\n One of the most charming aspects was the character of the Winter Lamb (Tommy Birchall<\/u><\/a>). Approaching the ostracization of this lamb within the sheep community, there are powerful messages of inclusivity wrapped in all of this. While a lot of this seems trivial on paper, I truly can\u2019t emphasize enough how delicately these important themes were approached.<\/p>\n