“Now, where to begin.”
That’s how Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) starts off Netflix’s new original film of the same name.
Based on the book “The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery” by Nancy Springer, this movie follows Enola, the younger sister of the better-known Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, in her coming-of-age story. When her mother goes missing, and Mycroft decides to send her to a finishing school against her will, Enola decides to run away to solve the mystery of her missing mother. Instead, she finds out more than she bargained for, and begins to learn what she values and who she is without her previously ever-present mother.
The Netflix Original also has a strong cast of actors, including Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) as Enola Holmes, Henry Cavil (DC’s Superman, The Witcher) as Sherlock Holmes, Sam Claflin (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Hunger Games) as Mycroft Holmes, Helena Bonham Carter (Harry Potter, Les Misérables, The Crown) as Eudoria Holmes, and Louis Partridge (Paddington 2) as Viscount Tewkesbury.
Regardless of the fact that the character Enola Holmes is not a part of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes canon, I thought this movie was a great story. There is enough suspense to keep you watching, without leaving you in the dust as Enola explains her findings to the audience. It had a lot of clever wordplay, and just an overall fun story. Most importantly, it was something NEW to watch, and it takes you completely out of the mess we’re currently living in.
It is rated PG-13 due to some violence, so keep that in mind when I say I thought it was a good family movie. My brother, parents and I have a hard time agreeing on a movie to watch together, and if we do find one we agree on, a lot of the time at least one of us doesn’t watch the whole movie. Enola Holmes defied those odds – all four of us made it through the whole thing, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
“Enola Holmes” has done fairly well among both the general public and the critics, with a 91% Rotten Tomatoes rating, and a 68% Metacritic rating.
So, next time you need a movie to watch, or more specifically, a mystery, give “Enola Holmes” a try.