Enola Holmes

A playful and a smart-mouthed mixture of a child's (or girl's, if you want) adventure/emancipation in the world of grown-ups and basic Holmes proprieties all in one package for the whole family. And everyone involved is obviously enjoying it. Enola's character sometimes flirts with too much “Mary Sue style", but never to the point of being annoying and definitely no more than Sherlock did himself in his time. So at least it stays in the family. It does not reach the quality of Young Sherlock Holmes, but it is cut from the same cloth. The most detrimental thing is the unnecessarily long running time, during which the three main storylines will never be connected. And so the first, second and third are resolved independently. However, not together, but at the expense of the other storylines. Overall, however, this treat is so tasty that there should be more of it in the future. I will at least taste it again. (09/23/2020)

Millie’s awesome in this one. I truly mean that. The only virtues of this spectacle are the spontaneity of her acting together with Henry Cavill’s pleasantly subdued, charming Sherlock  and the cinematography, which is unusually lavish for a Netflix production. As for the rest of it, however, stay away from this in-your-face politically correct fable which tries hard to be woke. I certainly don’t have any qualms about the feminist movement, but this is too much “out of joint”; I always find it rather daft and removed from contemporary reality whenever female characters set in the 19th century fight like men or want to fight like men. The net result is merely a political statement by today’s Hollywood studios, of the kind that has become fashionable these days. (09/23/2020)

A film that could have become a truly outstanding Netflix production, the kind that would be talked about in social circles for a long time. Unfortunately, it ended up being just a light snack, though a reasonably digestible one. I understand the casting of Millie Bobby Brown in the lead role (she played it quite well, but by the end, her ridiculously fast monologues to the camera started to genuinely annoy me), and the child-friendly Guy Ritchie style, but I might not have been the ideal target audience (if I were 10 years younger, it might have been fine). The dialogues could have been more thought-out; the expensive production was impressive (the film truly looks like a significant budget was poured into it), and the costumes were good. However, I honestly don’t quite understand the entire storyline. It was supposed to be about the disappearance of Enola’s mother, but we didn’t really learn why she left :D The action was disappointing, and it was a bit of a letdown that Henry Cavill and Sam Claflin had so little screen time because their performances were quite entertaining. Another disposable entry from this streaming service. 5.5/10 (08/29/2021)

Where exactly did Enola come from? I almost feel like it is some kind of a weapon of contemporary feminists and a statement that every Sherlock has his own Enola. It nicely reacts to one episode of Red Dwarf in which William Shakespeare was made into Wilma Shakespeare. And that joke is more than 20 years old. Moreover it is a pity that this movie isn’t at least funny. Millie is surely great and she enjoys her role a lot. That shouldn’t come as a surprise given that she financed it herself as probably the youngest Hollywood producer of today at the age of 16. But she should have left out the sarcastic comments addressed directly to the camera. After watching the movie I couldn’t figure out what it was all about. So at the end of the day my expectation wasn’t fulfilled and Netflix disappoints me once again. (09/27/2020)

Cute family entertainment where I initially predicted a max of 50% and lo and behold Netflix has another positively received film. Millie Bobby Brown is a great young actress who has already shown her talent in Stranger Things and she only confirms it here. There's not much action here, it's more of a drama with nice production design and a nice period London. Enjoyed it, but it's targeted more for a younger audience. Story***, Action**, Humor**, Violence>No, Entertainment****, Music***, Visual****, Atmosphere***, Suspense**. 6/10. (09/24/2020)