Sheep in the Box

Verdict

A subdued near-future family drama that aims for Kore-eda-style tenderness but, by most accounts, lands as emotionally muted and undercooked. The premise is rich, but the film seems to skim the ethical and existential questions of AI in favor of a gentler domestic allegory.

Best for

• Viewers curious about Kore-eda’s quieter, more experimental work
• Fans of contemplative sci-fi family dramas
• Audiences interested in grief, parenthood, and artificial companionship
• People who prefer mood and restraint over high-concept plotting

Skip if

• You want a moving or cathartic tearjerker
• You expect rigorous AI ethics or sharper sci-fi ideas
• You’re looking for a tense, plot-driven futuristic thriller
• You’re impatient with slow, emotionally detached domestic drama

Overview

Sheep in the Box has the kind of premise that immediately suggests a devastating, humane sci-fi fable: a couple in the near future welcomes a humanoid robot into their home as their son. In theory, that’s fertile ground for grief, attachment, and the uneasy boundaries of family. In practice, the film appears to keep those emotions at arm’s length, favoring a cool, controlled register that many viewers found frustratingly inert.

Worth noting

That restraint may be intentional, but it also seems to blunt the material’s impact. Rather than opening up the moral and social implications of artificial children, the film reportedly settles into a familiar domestic drama shape, with the AI element functioning more as a metaphor than a fully interrogated idea. For some, that will feel elegant and understated; for others, it will feel like a missed opportunity.

Bottom line

As a Kore-eda project, expectations are inevitably high, and this one seems to divide on whether its softness reads as nuance or emptiness. If you’re drawn to his interest in family structures, absence, and the fragile bonds that make a household feel real, there is still something here. But if you want the emotional precision and quiet devastation of his best work, this is likely to feel like a lesser, thinner variation on familiar themes.

Top Letterboxd reviews

Joe A · 264 likes

Unfortunately the second best sheep titled movie to come out this year, not sure if it’s even close either.

davidehrlich (3★) · 221 likes

A master sentimentalist like Hirokazu Koreeda riffing on a movie as soul-obliterating as Steven Spielberg’s “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” sounds like a surefire recipe for the tear-jerker of the year, so I was surprised to discover that “Sheep in the Box” is one of the most emotionally stunted dramas the “Monster” auteur has ever made. To some extent, that’s by design, as the original script’s two major human characters — a fortysomething married couple in sunny near-future Kamakura — start to… more

Amanda the Jedi · 159 likes

This didn’t make me cry one time which Kore-eda is usually fantastic at making me do. So emotionally stunted for a movie involving a couple trying to replace their dead kid with a robot. I get that some of that is intentional but, it just felt fake inauthentic at times? I didn’t dislike the viewing experience but by the end it felt too shallow in how it explored themes. Just made me want to watch After Yang again, maybe I’m just depressed.

Jomari Bashin (1.5★) · 101 likes

‎Been too busy with my orchestral debut, recitals, concerts, and events left and right that I stopped reviewing movies for a while… and this is what I came back to. I’m sorry I can’t fully express my emotions about this movie right now, but I’ll describe it in the best way I can. I just left the theatre and I am so disappointed in how bad this movie turned out to be. To me it was like biting into a… more

Regelegorila (2★) · 96 likes

De loin le pire Kore-Eda que j'ai vu et l'un des pires films de Cannes, Sheep in the Box donne plus l'impression d'être devant un épisode cheap et interminable de Black Mirror. En général il gère bien l'enfance et l'innocence mais là il tombe dans tous les travers et clichés possibles pour parler d'IA et de chagrin. C'est fou à quel point il n'y a pas d'idées vu quand même toutes les possibilités qui s'offraient à lui. Dommage car il… more

Themes

grief, parenthood, artificial family, identity, replacement, emotional distance, domestic drama, near-future science fiction

Topics

science fiction drama, family melodrama, AI, grief, near future, emotional restraint, domestic realism, ethical ambiguity, Japanese cinema, slow burn