109 minutes, opens on May 7

★★★★☆

The story: Every night, good shepherd George (Hugh Jackman) reads mystery novels aloud to his beloved flock, pretending his sheep can understand. They can, actually, and with their criminology literacy, they go sleuthing upon discovering a murder on their English countryside farm.

Who you calling a muttonhead?

The ovine stars of the British all-ages family comedy The Sheep Detectives – each a digital creation – have lovable personalities with the celebrity voices of Bryan Cranston and Patrick Stewart that baa to humans and speak English among themselves. They also boast deductive intellect.

The smartest is the Shetland ewe Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who emboldens her meek barnyard brethren to venture into the village and investigate since the local constable (Nicholas Braun) is a bumbling oaf.

Already circling their half-dozen suspects – from a long-lost daughter (Molly Gordon) to the butcher (Conleth Hill) to the innkeeper (Hong Chau) – is a big-city reporter (Nicholas Galitzine).

Emma Thompson drops by in a scene-stealing cameo as the victim’s peremptory lawyer. Shocking secrets are revealed in her will reading.

There is intrigue indeed in German author Leonie Swann’s 2005 children’s book Three Bags Full, which American director Kyle Balda (Despicable Me 3, 2017; and Minions: The Rise Of Gru, 2022) has adapted for his live-action debut.

But it is not just the whodunnit that gets pondered. The adventure is witty, cute and, at the same time, almost existentially profound, as “the kindest creatures on earth” are introduced to human’s cru...