Enola Holmes

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. (23/09/2020)

A long-haired Eleven, a safe(?) Bellatrix and a no-nonsense Geralt in a film about the Holmes family, which neglects the figure of the famous detective and puts to the fore his "lonely" sister Enola, who is as fluent in the art of deduction as her big brother. In addition to the excellent cast, I was impressed by the unconventional way of narration, in which the main character directly addressed the audience, which gave the story a humorous edge. On the other hand, though, I have to say that I was probably expecting something more. I felt that its potential was not fully exploited. At times the film was perhaps a little too overtly feminist, but it was still an enjoyable two hours. (25/09/2020)

Tedious, self-aware/feminist hogwash mixed with a nice kids’ detective storyline that's slightly reminiscent of Harry Potter. Enola Holmes is blessed with a pleasant cast, but unfortunately the directing makes it difficult to find your bearings in the plot, occasionally leading the viewer up blind alleys where they run up against a brick wall, wondering if they missed something. Otherwise, it's a tasty TV snack whose most interesting aspect is Cavil’s Sherlock. (23/09/2020)

A formally interestingly conceived blend between a naive fairytale about a girl running away from the dominant male order of the Victorian era and a coming-of-age crime drama where the heroine is forced to exploit her innate talent in a Young Sherlock Holmes style. The playful self-aware approach is very entertaining and original at times, while the detective line effectively applies Doyle’s narrative intuition, leading the attention through the deciphering of hidden meanings. What it’s clearly lacking, however, is more balance and zest – the formal tricks soon become predictable and, despite everything, the established format lacks a moment of surprise. It’s also missing the charisma of Sherlock himself, I liked Cavill’s portrayal a lot and it’s a shame that he becomes such a passive character. Millie is of course lovely and carries everything on her shoulders with a cuteness that best characterises the concept as a whole. It’s not as smoothly written and doesn’t have the adult humour of 1980s Spielberg, but it’s nice and contagious in its own way. So, 70%. (23/09/2020)

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. (27/09/2020)