If there’s one country in the world that sheep can call home it’s Australia. With a population of over sixty million, and a ratio of three sheep for every person, the land down under has one of the largest sheep populations on the planet.

With this fondness for the woolly mammal, it’s surprising that more films aren’t made with more of the bovidae family involved. Even this film isn’t original, as it’s a remake of Grímur Hákonarson 2015 Icelandic feature of the same name. So, is this the film to put Aussie sheep on the very vast map?

Living in a valley in Western Australia is sheep breeder Colin (Sam Neill). Breeding sheep is in Colin’s DNA, as his brother Les (Michael Caton) is also a sheep breeder. This can be awkward when it comes to competitions, where both show their prize sheep, but no more so than living on the same land as they do. To make things less awkward they don’t talk to one another, and haven’t for many years.

Their lives are thrown into disarray however, when one of their sheep is discovered to have OJD, a rare and highly infectious disease, which leads to not only their sheep, but all those in the vicinity, being destroyed, by order of the government.

With their livelihood affected for at least two years, the brothers are forced to make some difficult decisions, which could have repercussions for them and those around them.

With the pairing of Sam Neill and dinosaurs being so successful, it makes sense to team him up with sheep in Australia; after all, there’s no need for expensive CGI when there are so many of the bloody things still roaming around.

But unfortunately for director Jeremy Sims, there’s just no on-screen personality between the two. That’s no fault of Neill’s or his sheep co-stars, with most of the blame falling to Sims’ loose direction. Although consummate professional Neill is on board, there are some woolly performances from his human co-stars; there’s a noticeable static nature to their delivery, as if this is their first acting gig for many. The result makes the daily goings-on in Ramsey Street positively Oscar-worthy.

The film also ties itself in knots with its script too; at one point Colin makes a decision that could potentially have a devastating effect on sheep breeding in the area, and yet his conduct is almost deemed as heroic, which seems curiously irresponsible. His actions seem so utterly black and white that there’s no conflict whatsoever for an audience to back, even if it is the charming Sam Neill, as his character is being both selfish and negligent.

And much like Australia itself, there’s just too much space in this film. It has a running time of nearly two hours, which is completely unnecessary, as every story is drawn out to almost painful levels. It’s obviously made worse by the film’s main protagonists not on talking terms.

Even the involvement of the sheep is disappointing. Sure they look cute and cuddly, but as far as their acting chops are concerned, they don’t have much range. Even when Neill is keen to tell them how beautiful they are, they don’t respond, making them not much more than woolly blankets on legs.

Perhaps the film’s biggest issue is its lack of personality and warmth. The majority of the characters are two dimensional, the love interest that sees the appearance of Miranda Richardson isn’t really explored, and none of the relationships feel real. And then there are those really dull sheep.

There was an opportunity to make a sweet, boutique, indie film that was both playful and endearing, but this remake misses every beat it attempts to make, with the result being about as much fun as a day out at an abattoir.