The Quill & The Cross

Summary

George Hardy is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night, assuming they can’t possibly understand. But when a mysterious incident disrupts life on the farm, the sheep realize they must become the detectives. As they follow the clues and investigate human suspects, they prove that even sheep can be brilliant crime-solvers.

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Emma Thompson, Nicholas Braun, Tosin Cole, Hong Chau, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brett Goldstein, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Conleth Hill

My Review

My Rating: 5/5

My Recommended Age: 9+

Things To Be Aware Of

Violence: 2/5 (A man is poisoned and found dead outside of his trailer. In a flashback, we see a ram forced to fight dogs at a carnival. Another time, we see dogs attack and bite him–intense, but not bloody. He dies from the wounds. Someone drives their car into a tree, but they aren’t injured. The butcher is viewed as a bad guy for killing sheep.)

Sexual Content: 1/5 (An older woman reads one of George’s letters and mistakenly believes the woman he’s writing to (his daughter) is his lover. The policeman obviously has a crush on the same daughter and asks if she has a boyfriend.)

Language: 1/5 (Gosh and crap are used once.)

Other Negative Content: None

My Take

Who’d have guessed that I would love a movie titled The Sheep Detectives as much as I did! It’s basically a family-friendly Knives Out, so if you’re a fan of that type of movie, you’ll definitely like this one.

The sheep are all adorable, lovable, and often incredibly clever. It also comes with an engaging group of side characters; all, at one point, suspecting of being the murderer. The goofy butcher, the rather unlikeable hotel landlady, the modernized shepherd, the ambitious journalist, the long-lost daughter; and they all bring so much fun and uniqueness to the story. The bond the shepherd had with his sheep was beautiful and the sheep, while occasionally dim-witted, are loyal and dedicated to solving the mystery.

It was a pretty much squeaky-clean family mystery, aside from the possibly intense moments surrounding the murder. All in all, it’ll pull you in the entire time and then you’ll leave the movie theater happy saying “why didn’t I see that coming?” and “can we own some sheep now?”