POSITIVES
The amateur detective that is the talented Enola Holmes is a delight of a character that I’m glad got a sequel. With a seemingly higher production budget, more twists in the story, more characters to play with, all that visual flourishes, and we’ve got ourselves an entertaining sequel to enjoy.
As far as the narrative goes, this one spreads its wings into multiple plot directions and lively set pieces, that it will be hard not to be invested into seeing where things are going next. This one really wants to keep you on your toes in seeing what mysteries and dangers Enola Holmes will get herself into.
While this movie has good supporting actors from Henry Cavill, Louis Partridge, David Thewlis, and Helena Bonham Carter, it really is Millie Bobby Brown that makes this movie worth watching. She easily carries this film and her character quite splendidly, plus she plays really well with the ensemble cast.
Gotta hand it to Millie Bobby Brown here, for being quite adept at the awkward humor and situational comedy that’s in this. Not to mention all that 4th wall breaking.
That ending. Didn't think that's what this movie was leading up to. It’s just one of many worthwhile themes found in this movie that gives it a bit more substance than you initially expected.
NEGATIVES
Happens a lot with sequels. The charms and discoveries of an origin story are no more. Now it gets to be super heavy on the plot and further expands the world, to the point where it stops feeling like a fresh movie experience, and more like a derivative franchise building intellectual property.
Regrettably, this is one of those detective movies where we in the audience can't participate in solving several of the clues presented, as we are just relegated to waiting for the characters to explain it to us. Part of the fun is supposed to be able to figure out the clues ourselves!
Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes unfortunately doesn’t completely work for me. It’s definitely yet another interpretation, and that’s no fault of Cavill, but I wanted a bit more from the character. For that matter, the increased integration of the Sherlock Holmes mythos also takes away a bit from Enola Holmes being her own character. It’s like it’s slowly positioning her into just being another supporting character to her Brother’s universe, and that will be a disappointing development.
The many callbacks to the previous film seems unnecessary. There’s also a particular character relationship that ate up a bit of the narrative that also seemed unnecessary.
How much of Millie Bobby Brown breaking the 4th wall like she’s Jim Halpert from The Office can you take?
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