My local theater has closed back down due to pandemic issues,
so I am back to watching movies on various streaming services. Enola Holmes was originally a Warner Brothers
Theatrical release but sold to Netflix thanks to the ‘rona.
At this point, you’re familiar with Sherlock Holmes, master detective. There have been several incarnations, most recently with Robert Downey Jr. playing him in a series of Guy Ritchie period pieces and Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller playing various modern-day incarnations. The original Sherlock was a 1887 literary character by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who had various consulting detective adventures over the course of several books. Enola Holmes is Sherlock and his older brother Mycroft’s much younger sister who debuted in a series of young adult books in 2006.
In this movie, Enola is enjoying her upbringing with her eccentric mother, Eudoria. She is enjoying a very non-traditional Victorian upbringing as Eudoria teachers her everything, chess, jujitsu, drawing, reading, philosophy, etc. On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Enola finds her mother has disappeared. After her brothers visit, Mycroft wants to send her to a finishing school and Sherlock refrains from an opinion. Enola, determined to find her mother, escapes and encounters a young runaway lord. Their two capers become intertwined as Enola searches for answers.
The movie was directed by Harry Bradbeer and is very entertaining. This is another interesting case where I wonder if I would have loved it as much if I saw it in the theater. Streaming on Netflix, it was incredibly enjoyable. The story is interesting as Enola tracks her mother through suffragette movements and policy changes in Victorian London. The action set pieces are fun and intense as she dodges hitmen and school headmistresses. I also appreciate that Enola remains the lead, with Sherlock and Mycroft being supporting characters.
Millie Bobby Brown feels incredibly natural as Enola Holmes.
Charming and plucky, she is more than capable of carrying the movie without
being overwhelmed by larger ‘names’ in supporting roles. I enjoyed that Enola
was determined to see her quest through, regardless of those trying to stop
her. Also, while I wasn’t sure about the fourth-wall breaking when Enola talks
directly to the audience, by the end I found it very fun and engaging – it directly
invites the audience into the movie.
Henry Cavill plays Sherlock, and while that is not who I would have cast (seriously, why is this not RDJ? There are too many Sherlocks running around now and due to the period piece setting, I do wish this was in the same realm, just wishful thinking…), he does a good job of seeing the potential in Enola as a detective and keeps his performance subtle and encouraging. Sam Claflin as Mycroft gets to play a little bigger as the overbearing and stodgy brother determined to turn Enola into a ‘proper’ lady. Claflin and Cavill seem to have a good time together and I am a little curious about their outtakes.
Helena Bonham Carter is the perfect choice for Eudoria and almost seems to no be acting, simply existing as a progressive Victorian woman working towards equality. I really appreciated the eventual understanding she and Enola come to when Enola realizes her mother is almost more focused on her cause than on her daughter.
Louis Partridge plays the young lord Tewkesbury who literally bumps into Enola when she is on the run and together they set off to each escape their own personal traps. Burn Gorman is the hitman on the trail of one of them or perhaps both of them.
Susan Wokoma plays Edith, a contact of Eudoria and one of Enola’s former teachers. Fiona Shaw plays Miss Harrison, the leader of the finishing school.
Overall, the movie is a family-friendly entertaining flick that works for an evening in with your popcorn.
8 out of 10 – I would happily watch another one of these. Now, can we just get Cavill cast as Bond and get
that franchise to move on?
