--- title: "Sheep in the Box: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/sheep-in-the-box/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/sheep-in-the-box" critics_score: 49 critics_reviews: 15 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Sheep in the Box (2026): what the critics said Critics' score 49 from 15 reviews: 3 positive, 6 mixed, 6 negative. The reviews are split down the middle, and the split is a wide one. Most critics find Kore-eda’s film about a bereaved couple leasing a robot copy of their dead son handsomely made and kindly meant; the praise gathers around the performances, with Haruka Ayase singled out, and around the direction, photography and score. Even the cooler notices grant it warmth, and several call it touching in places. The reservations are about what the film thinks. A majority find it woolly on the questions its premise raises, unwilling to say what it makes of a machine child, and so muffled rather than moving; the words sentimental and cloying recur. Some judge the quiet domestic style a poor fit for the material. The spread runs from Deadline, which calls it among Kore-eda’s purest and most dreamlike work, and The Wrap, nearly as warm, to six outright negative notices, with The Guardian finding it fails as both science fiction and grief drama. ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 16 May 2026. Festival review. The film offers a thoughtful but scattershot and overly sentimental reflection on AI and grief, with undeniable heart and charm despite its flaws. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/sheep-in-the-box-review-ai-changes-the-nature-of-grief-in-hirokazu-koreedas-scattershot-syrupy-near-future-drama/5216804.article) ## Time Out — Sophie Monks Kaufman Rating 3/5. 17 May 2026. Festival review. Koreeda's film about grieving parents adopting an AI child is shallow and flat despite some touching moments, muffling its themes. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/sheep-in-the-box-review-2026) ## Vulture Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 24 July 2026. Festival review. The critic notes the film takes place in a near future where a bereaved couple leases a robot copy of their deceased child, exploring themes from The Little Prince about projecting desires onto the imaginary. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/article/sheep-in-the-box-review-hirokazu-koreedas-ai-grief-film.html) ## The AV Club — Jacob Oller Rating C. 23 July 2026. The critic finds the film plodding and unclear in its stance on AI and grief, with domestic drama that dodders and fails to generate meaningful friction or insight despite warm aesthetics. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/sheep-in-the-box-review) ## The Hollywood Reporter — David Rooney Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 16 May 2026. Festival review. The critic finds the film beautifully made with strong direction, cinematography and performances but thematically woolly, lacking emotional payoff and feeling like a minor entry in the director's canon. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/sheep-in-the-box-review-hirokazu-koreeda-1236597517/) ## IndieWire — David Ehrlich Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 16 May 2026. Festival review. The critic views it as an emotionally stilted riff on A.I. that begs audiences not to delegate imaginations to AI but lacks feeling in its grief drama. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/sheep-in-the-box-movie-review-hirokazu-koreeda-1235194388/) ## Los Angeles Times — Tim Grierson Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 24 July 2026. The critic finds it a rare misfire from Kore-eda, with the AI premise leading to familiar but uncompelling observations that feel outdated and emotionally shallow. The drama falls into an uncanny valley, remaining artificial despite lovely scoring. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-07-24/sheep-in-box-review-ai-hirokazu-kore-eda-haruka-ayase-daigo-yamamoto) ## Sight and Sound Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 18 May 2026. Festival review. The critic finds the film cloying and obvious in its sentimental exploration of AI and grief, extending undue grace to AI characters in a dubious narrative. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/sheep-box-jarringly-sentimental-exploration-ai-grief) ## The Guardian Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 20 May 2026. Festival review. The critic finds the film a bafflingly unsatisfying muddle that fails to work as either sci-fi dystopia or parental grief drama. Kore-eda’s quiet style is ill-suited to the material about AI robot children replacing a dead son. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/20/sheep-in-the-box-review-a-bland-baffling-tale-of-ai-children-from-hirokazu-kore-eda) ## The New York Times — Brandon Yu Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 23 July 2026. The critic notes that Kore-eda's turn to android sci-fi feels like a natural extension of his themes of absence and loss, comparing the robot boy's story to A.I. Artificial Intelligence while highlighting a brief gut-punch of emotion. Everything else in the film feels artificial. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/movies/sheep-in-the-box-review.html) ## Variety — Owen Gleiberman Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 17 May 2026. Festival review. The review calls the film a sweetly wan sci-fi parable that mostly just sits there, with little structure or commitment despite its high-concept premise of an AI replacement child. It feels gauzy and noncommittal on questions of humanity and the soul. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/sheep-in-the-box-review-hirokazu-kore-eda-1236751690/) ## Deadline — Damon Wise Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 May 2026. Festival review. The critic calls it one of Kore-eda’s purest, most dreamlike films, a light yet profound study of grief that turns dystopian AI elements into a cathartic fairytale allegory of loss and rebirth. Special praise goes to the extraordinary performances, especially Haruka Ayase. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/2026/05/sheep-in-the-box-review-hirokazu-koreeda-cannes-1236907156/) ## The Wrap Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 16 May 2026. Festival review. The review describes the film as a lo-fi stunner and gentle, wistful poem that steers away from sci-fi tropes to explore how technology can both help and hinder the mourning process. It highlights Kore-eda’s humanist approach to grief, parenting, and accepting the dead’s independence. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/sheep-in-the-box-review-cannes/) ## The Playlist — Chase Hutchinson Rating B-. 17 May 2026. Festival review. The review finds tenderness and earned emotions in the story of grief, technology, and replacement but criticizes the film for remaining too reserved and not fully reckoning with its painful ideas. It notes some complex grace notes and ambiguities but ultimately deems it one of Kore-eda's slighter recent works that could have dreamed bigger. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/sheep-in-the-box-review-hirokazu-kore-eda-cannes-20260517/) ## Eye for Film — Amber Wilkinson Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 31 May 2026. Festival review. The critic praises Kore-eda for crafting a hopeful fable about unlikely families from a dystopian premise of replacing lost children with humanoids. However, the review faults an underdeveloped subplot about discarded robots and the film's over-indulged length, though nuanced performances provide some saving grace. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/sheep-in-the-box-2026-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/sheep-in-the-box.md