Shirley Li

The Sheep Detectives

2026 · The Atlantic · May 2026

The result may just be the most tonally surprising feature of the year so far, a rare, unabashedly earnest PG-rated film that has enchanted audiences with the deceptively simple power of well-deployed tropes. In The Sheep Detectives, such devotion to emotional satisfaction makes even the most overused clichés seem fresh and affecting.