“Enola Holmes” Netflix Series Review by Josh Davis
October 4, 2020 10:17 am |
Originally slated for a theatrical release, “Enola Holmes” was sold by Legendary Entertainment to Netflix in April, because of the uncertainty of movie theater reopenings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was fitting, however, because the film’s lead, Millie Bobby Brown, was already a bright star on Netflix, as Eleven in the hugely popular show “Stranger Things.”
As Enola, Brown is the 16-year-old younger sister to Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill, also a Netflix company man as the star of “The Witcher”). The movie is based on “The Enola Holmes Mysteries” series of young adult books by Nancy Springer, and Springer co-wrote the screenplay with Jack Thorne (“His Dark Materials”).
In the film’s opening, Enola tells us that her name is “alone” spelled backwards, given to her because her mother “is rather a fan of word games.” The scene foreshadows a key plot point later on.
Eudoria Holmes (Helena Bonham Carter of the “Harry Potter” series and every Tim Burton movie ever) doted on her daughter Enola and kept her out of school, instead raising her on books, bizarre science projects, shared adventures and, curiously, combat training.
Right away, we’re introduced to a whimsical, wondrous world of adventure, with Brown often breaking the fourth wall to wink at the camera and push the plot forward.
Director Harry Bradbeer, who helmed nearly a dozen episodes of the critically acclaimed series “Fleabag,” is expert at breaking the fourth wall without feeling too forced.
Bradbeer is also great at letting a smart, strong female actor carry a property, and he lets Brown shine here, not unlike the great Phoebe Waller-Bridge in “Fleabag.”
In “Stranger Things,” Brown was often called on to do more with less as a barely speaking superhuman gifted with great and terrible powers. In “Enola Holmes,” she rarely stops talking or performing any number of difficult tasks with relative ease, but she’s instantly believable and thoroughly charming.
When Enola’s mother goes missing, she must go out into the busy, bustling world of 19th century London to unravel the mystery of her disappearance.
Enola’s two other brothers, Sherlock and the domineering Mycroft (Sam Claflin, “Peaky Blinders” and “The Hunger Games” series), are initially skeptical. Mycroft, in particular, wants to put Enola in a boarding school but, instead, she sneaks away and starts the search for her mother.
While riding on a train to London disguised as a boy, Enola meets Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge from TV series “Medici”), a boy her own age who also happens to be on the run, and the pair must team up to escape a bowler-hat wearing thug.
Enola and Tewkesbury cross paths again on and off throughout the film; she continues the search for her mother and he continues to hide from his wealthy family.
Apparently a master of disguise and gifted at passing through high or low social classes, Enola finds lodging in London and sets about to unravel the mystery of her mother’s disappearance. She starts by looking for clues in newspapers and magazines, hoping her mother has left her wordplay breadcrumbs, like the games they used to play when she was growing up.
If all that seems like a lot of plot, it’s expertly handled by Bradbeer and the writers. The pacing is fun and breezy, and the costumes and sets are rich and vivid enough to get lost in.
We also get a good amount of Cavill in a supporting role, and he’s well cast as a young Sherlock, already famous but not quite yet the legend he will become. Sherlock, about 20 years older than Enola, left home when she was still very young and didn’t get to know her well, but he grows more and more fond of Enola and is clearly intrigued by her own prodigious skill as a detective.
If Brown was a highlight of “Stranger Things,” she’s a breakout here, clearly carrying the picture and having a blast as a cunning, fearless and inventive young woman coming into her own.
“Enola Holmes” ought to attract a wide audience. It’s lighter than your average BBC prestige costume drama and probably more sophisticated than most young adult fare, but still has enough to satisfy fans of both genres, and many more in between.
At times, the movie is light, funny and accessible, but it’s also visually stunning, well written and acted, and expertly directed. It’s also set up for a million sequels, judging by the ending and the breadth of extra material to draw on from the book series.
If it’s a hit, as it should be, audiences will be seeing a lot of “Enola Holmes” mysteries on the small screen for many years to come. It’s Legendary’s loss and Netflix’s gain.
PCL Rating: Tupperware
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
Tags: Enola Holmes Millie Bobby Brown Henry Cavill, Enola Holmes Netflix 2020, movie review, pop culture leftovers
Categorised in: Movie Reviews
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