movie review

THE SHEEP DETECTIVES

Running time: 109 minutes. Rated PG (thematic material, some violent content and brief language). In theaters.

A word of advice on the new movie “The Sheep Detectives”: Give it a bleat. Sorry, a beat.

The family film begins rather treacly, with a shepherd named George played by Hugh Jackman waxing poetic about his extreme love for his sheep. I was simultaneously annoyed and creeped out.

Every member of his flock has a name and a distinct personality. The animal obsessive reads mysteries to them nightly. George’s narrated intro is so syrupy sweet it makes “Babe” look like “The Silence of the Lambs.”

And then . . . he gets murdered! The movie morphs into a darker but kid-friendly Miss Marple yarn with eccentric village suspects. Butterknives Out. After the good shepherd is fatally poisoned by inedible parts of a yew tree, the situation becomes much better.…