- Directed by Harry Bradbeer and based on a novel by Nancy Springer and characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the eponymous hero of Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) is every bit as intelligent, daring, and eccentric as her famous older brother, Sherlock (Henry Cavill). The difference, of course, is that Victorian-era men who behaved like Sherlock Holmes might be regarded as unconventional geniuses whereas young women cut from the same cloth get shipped off to finishing school. That is stodgy elder brother Mycroft's (Sam Claflin) precise plan for Enola after their mother (Helena Bonham Carter) vanishes, but Enola is determined to carve her own path through life.
- Said path quickly involves Enola desperately leaping from a train to save the life of young Viscount Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), whose own family struggles have led to his pursuit by a mysterious man (Burn Gorman) in a bowler hat. Add in Tewkesbury's family (Hattie Morahan, David Bamber, Frances de la Tour) and the dogged Inspector Lestrade (Adeel Akhtar), and it seems like everyone in London is in pursuit of the two missing youths. And let's not forget the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes himself, who is also searching for his sister out of genuine concern for her well-being. While I never would have picked the beefy, reticent Cavill to play Sherlock, I admire the determination and wry humor he brings to the part. Add in Brown's indomitable enthusiasm, and you have the most consistently entertaining onscreen representation of one Holmes or another since Jeremy Brett.
- From its frenetic pacing and whimsical editing to its positive messages about self-confidence and womanhood, everything about Enola Holmes accurately indicates that it was adapted from a young adult novel. At times, its energy and creativity are contagious, as when Enola transforms a corset into an object of women's liberation. In other instances, the film's many affectations are overwhelming, particularly when they are delivered in nattering soliloquies by Enola directly to the audience. Seriously, the film explodes the fourth wall like no other in recent memory. And speaking of explosions, there's the small matter of Enola's mother who, despite empowering her daughter in every way imaginable, also abandoned her to become a suffrage-movement terrorist. But she also taught Enola tennis and jiujitsu, so I guess we're letting that whole bomb-manufacturing thing slide? Thankfully, Enola is better at finding peaceful solutions than her mom ever was, just as her movie is better at finding creativity and fun than the average Sherlock Holmes adaptation.
