Film Review: ENOLA HOLMES (2020): Harry Bradbeer’s Movie is a Big Letdown For Mystery Fans

Enola Holmes Review

Enola Holmes (2020) Film Review, a movie directed by Harry Bradbeer and starring Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Helena Bonham Carter, and Louis Partridge.

Enola Holmes is pretty disappointing for anyone who knows anything about Sherlock Holmes stories, as the film abandons all the things that make those stories interesting and instead gives us milquetoast YA-targeted dribble. The plot follows Enola — the youngest Holmes sibling — who is determined to find her mother after her mysterious disappearance. On her way, she befriends the young Viscount Tewksberry and becomes determined to find out who is trying to kill him. Along the way, she encounters the regressive attitudes of her contemporaries that expect her to keep to her proper place as a woman of standing and not involve herself in the traditionally male dominated field of detective work. Though following the example of her mother, Enola perseveres solving both mysteries and making a powerful statement about the role of women in our society. Though as much I love strong female leads in genre fiction, this depiction fell flat on its face, as Enola — played by Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things acclaim — is a fairly bland and unrelatable character, who solves mysteries whose conclusions are fairly obvious from the start.

This movie feels like it’s made for kids who don’t know anything about Sherlock Holmes, because instead of the antisocial bohemian reptiloid, rich in eccentric personality, we’re given a vanilla pretty-boy Sherlock played by Hollowood beefcake Henry Cavill, who gives us absolutely nothing compelling as a character. I was even more disappointed in the not-so-colorful reimagining of his elder brother Mycroft Holmes, who in the stories is a fat layabout, running the British Civil Service from his armchair. Here, he is nothing more than a uptight foil to the pluckly independent Enola demanding that she act like a proper lady. This rendition of Mycroft feels like nothing more than a caricature of the narrow-minded, older disciplinarian archetype that’s a mainstay of childrens’ media. In fact I had a good chuckle when Enola draws an exaggerated cartoon of her priggish older brother, and Sherlock exclaims, “Ah.. a caricature!” My thoughts exactly.

Enola herself is acceptable as a protagonist for a childrens’ story I suppose; but I really got nothing interesting out of her in terms of characterization or mystery. In fact both of the mysteries she solves were entirely transparent from the get go, unlike most Sherlock Holmes stories, which challenge the reader to think carefully about the details of the case. It was made abundantly clear from the first act why Enola’s mother disappeared from the family estate and why someone would want to kill the young Viscount Tewksberry.

What made previous adaptations of the original stories more successful is that they recognized that the Holmeses are a bunch of weirdos whose idiosyncrasies are fascinating to most readers, unlike these portrayals who are exceedingly one-dimensional people, who just aren’t fun to watch. Sherlock and Mycroft really just feel like a couple of nondescript English gentlemen, and Enola comes across as much the same. That is precisely what makes this movie boring. The authors either failed to understand the basic appeal of the Holmesean mystery story or were strongarmed by the studio into making something targeted to know-nothing children. So I suppose you could argue that Enola Holmes works as basic childrens’ entertainment; but I would counter that the best childrens’ movies manage to appeal to both children and adults simultaneously as do most classic Disney movies like Aladdin and The Lion King. No, this movie fails on both accounts, and I don’t think I would bother showing it to my kids if I had any. To be honest, I would not recommend this movie to anyone.

Rating: 3/10

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