We’ve seen a million of adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books. From Jeremy Brett and Robert Downey, Jr. on the big screen to Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance in the iconic BBC series Sherlock, this film, adapted from Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes YA novels, is slightly different – rather than focusing on the famous detective, this focuses on his younger sister Enola, and the result is a cool revolutionary tale about rejecting the status quo and choosing your own destiny.
The film, directed by Harry Bradbeer, follows Enola (Millie Bobby Brown), the younger sister of Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft Holmes (Sam Clafin). Enola lives at home while her brothers are out solving mysteries and working for the government, respectively. In a rather ironic turn of events, her mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) disappears without a trace, something that Enola says was destined to happen to her, because “Enola” backwards is “alone.” With her mother gone, Enola’s world is turned upside down. Mycroft, now her guardian, takes umbrage with her upbringing thus far and tries to commit her to a school to turn her into a “proper lady.” Horrified by the idea, Enola runs away, but on her quest to find her mother, gets caught up in a different mystery.
The plots Enola has to unravel are ultimately fairly simple, but it’s for the best. While this sounds like your standard mystery comedy, the true joy that comes from this film is more about the unfolding character traits and dynamics than the mystery solving. The entire cast is packed with talent and great commitment to their roles, from Enola’s former headmistress (Fiona Shaw), who feels an almost erotic enjoyment from etiquette, to Viscount Lord Tewksbury (Louis Partridge), a young noble on the run with a fondness for plants and whose apparent cluelessness seems to make him Enola’s complete opposite. Even Sherlock and Mycroft get exaggerations that work for the benefit of the film – Sherlock is much friendlier and more comedic than his previous iterations, and Mycroft is a self-hating stick in the mud who lacks his family’s smarts, something that becomes even more apparent as Enola interacts with him.
In my opinion, the performances are fantastic and their over-the-top style makes it incredibly fun. While not instantly recognizable as Sherlock, Henry Cavill is very appealing in his role. He and Millie Bobby Brown have great chemistry together, and he slowly turns into a different version of the Sherlock we all know and love, a fresh take on the character that makes him fun without going into Holmes & Watson territory of pure satire. I would watch a sequel focusing on Cavill’s Sherlock, with him solving mysteries and bringing in characters from the “Doyle-verse” like Dr. Watson and Professor Moriarty. Millie Bobby Brown, best known as Stranger Things‘ mute psychic Eleven, is finally given a chance to show off the comedic side of her star power. She has a really positive energy, balancing enthusiasm with self-awareness and fourth-wall breaks, all the while still managing to make Enola’s moments of negative feelings land convincingly. She also pulls off the film’s central romance without tripping over how suddenly it seems to be developed. Enola becomes attached to Lord Tewksbury before she knows it, and winds up compelled to figure out who’s sent a thug to kill him, and why. They have a winning rapport, which makes the most of the way Tewksbury’s interests are more stereotypically “feminine” while Enola’s are more stereotypically “masculine.”
Despite all the raves, the film falls short in its depiction of “girl power.” The overall message that Enola draws from her adventures is about how her future is in her own hands. While commendable, and honestly a good message, it is overly broad. Enola’s refusal to conform to the Victorian standards comes at the cost of belittling people who do. The few people who understand Enola, outside of Sherlock, turn out to be villains, and all of the other students at her school are mean girls. Every female character in these kinds of films, at least the nonconforming ones, have to be tomboyish, or at least know how to fight, and there is no room for anyone who would choose more feminine traits over that. Still, the message works for the broader scope of the film, and a few of its target audiences would definitely benefit from it.
Even with this flaw, Enola Holmes is great. It seems consciously designed to unleash the cast’s full talents. It should come to no surprise, especially through the ending, that Netflix has an entire film series in production (especially because there are 6 novels). The match of material and star, style and substance, works so well that the simplicity of the story isn’t too much of a stumbling block. I concur that Bradbeer did a fantastic job in shedding a new light on a classic story.
3.5/5 STARS