Enola Holmes: Movie Review

"Enola Holmes" was quite a charming and entertaining film experience. At the helm was its all-star talented cast that did not disappoint at all. But the achilles heel for the film was its unconvincingly simple plot and mystery that even non-sleuths could have deciphered handily. 

 

On the morning of her 16th birthday, Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) discovers that her mother (Helena Bonham Carter) is missing - without any clear reason why. Worried, her two older brothers, Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin) decide to go home and take care of Enola. Mycroft, having Enola under his wings, sends her away to a finishing school for proper young ladies. But the free-spirited Enola refuses to follow and escapes to search for her mother in London. But on her way to London, she finds herself having a chance encounter with a young man (Louis Partridge) who also ran away from home. Soon Enola unravels a conspiracy that's connected with the young man that threatens to set back the course of history. She decides to investigate, to help the young man, and to stop whoever is behind the conspiracy.

With the care-free, fourth wall breaking character of Enola Holmes, the film had us entertained from start to finish. In fact, it had all the basics in tow. There's the central mystery of her missing mother, some basic sleuthing, a major twist, and even well-choreographed fight scenes to boot that made this surprisingly action-packed on some level. Central to this was the versatile acting of Millie Bobby Brown. This is the first-time we've seen her work on a project that's actually upbeat that demanded different ranges of emotions from innocent, to charming to ferocious to even dramatic and she was able to convey each of her scenes naturally and easily. The supporting cast was also great. Louis Partridge as Viscount Tewksbury provided the perfect partner-in-crime for Enola Holmes. Henry Cavill and Sam Claflin had limited screen time but made sure they performed marvelously with what they had. The biggest disappointment for "Enola Holmes" was its overall mystery and how it eventually develops. For us, the narrative structure was actually great and the way it handled the issue of feminism was never forced and well-integrated but the actual mysteries and the sleuthing involved within the narrative was quite simple and straight-forward. It definitely did not surprise us - at least not as much we hoped for a Holmes experience - and left us quite dissatisfied. The film also felt like its planning to have sequels involved in the future, which we think is a welcome development if ever that happens, but in exchange the mystery regarding her missing mother was never really fully unveiled. Overall, "Enola Holmes" did enough to be a great first salvo. It will entertain you most of the way and sets up a universe that we found ourselves excited to experience more of in the near future.

Rating: 4 reels

Why you should watch it:
- outstanding acting from its cast
- has everything to make itself extremely entertaining from end to end

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the actual mysteries were simple and left us disappointed