English shepherd George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) has a simple but idyllic life. He lives in an Airstream trailer on his 300 acres with a flock of loving creatures – his sheep. After a full day of tending to the flock, including treating any suffering from the disease “Orf,” George reads to the flock. His favorites, and apparently theirs, are mysteries, especially murder mysteries.
To George this is just an evening pastime that he figures the sheep enjoy but do not understand. That is not true. When alone the sheep talk among themselves and discuss the current book, trying to figure out who the killer is. In addition, there are very distinct personalities among the flock, such as Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Sebastian (Bryan Cranston), Sir Ritchfield (Patrick Stewart), Ronnie (Brett Goldstein), Mopple (Chris O’Dowd) and more. Not only do they have distinct personalities, they are of many different breeds – evidently George favors a flock of many colors.
Then, one morning, the sheep find George dead on the ground outside his trailer home. Since their only experience of death comes from the stories he read them, they quickly decide he must have been murdered. But “who done it”?
Based on the novel “Three Bags Full” by Leonie Swann, this clever mixture of live action and very realistic CGI amuses viewers at every turn. While much of it is child-targeted, there is enough subtle humor and clever repartee between the sheep to keep the adult interest. Plenty of play on the characteristics of sheep as well for the teenagers (for example, the butcher falls asleep while counting the sheep he hopes to purchase and slaughter).
There are some problems with the film. The pacing is slow at the beginning, enough so that it appeared to be the “snooze” of a flick that I feared going in. However, as the story moved forward, it picked up speed and gamboled at a nice clip until the exciting ending.
The other problem, and this would be one more for the adults than kids, is the ending itself. Agatha Christie this is not. Not even her woolen shawl. There are so many (moth) holes in the plot, and the ending is so contrived, that, well, you’d have to be dumb as a sheep to not notice. However, in between it is a heart-warmer with a couple scenes that tug at the heartstrings. I even sheepishly teared up a couple times.
Runtime: One hour, 49 minutes
Availability: In theaters
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