Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
. The film is directed by
Harry Bradbeer
Harry Bradbeer is a British director, producer, and writer. He is known for his work on the television series ''Fleabag'' and ''Killing Eve'', and the films '' Enola Holmes'' and ''Enola Holmes 2''.
Early life and education
Bradbeer was brought u ...
from a screenplay by Jack Thorne that adapts the first novel in ''
The Enola Holmes Mysteries
''The Enola Holmes Mysteries'' is a young adult fiction series of detective novels by American author Nancy Springer, starring Enola Holmes as the 14-year-old sister of an already famous Sherlock Holmes, twenty years her senior. There are seven ...
'' series by Nancy Springer. In the film, Enola travels to London to find her missing mother but ends up on a thrilling adventure, pairing up with a runaway lord as they attempt to solve a mystery that threatens the entire country. In addition to Brown, the film also stars Sam Claflin, Henry Cavill, and Helena Bonham Carter.
Filming began in July 2019. Originally planned for a theatrical release by
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of liv ...
, the distribution rights to the film were picked up by
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. ''Enola Holmes'' was released on September 23, 2020. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised Brown's performance. It became one of the most-watched original Netflix film releases, with an estimated 76 million households watching the film over its first four weeks. A sequel, ''
Enola Holmes 2
''Enola Holmes 2'' is a 2022 mystery film and the sequel to the 2020 film '' Enola Holmes'', both of which star Millie Bobby Brown as the title character, the teenage sister of the already-famous Victorian-era detective Sherlock Holmes. The fil ...
'', was released on Netflix on November 4, 2022.
Plot
Enola Holmes is the youngest sibling in the Holmes family. She is extremely intelligent, observant, and insightful, defying the social norms for women of the time. Her mother, Eudoria, has taught her everything from
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
to jujitsu and encouraged her to be strong-willed and independent.
On her sixteenth birthday, Enola wakes to find that her mother has disappeared, leaving behind only some gifts. A week later, she meets her brothers Mycroft and Sherlock. Sherlock finds her intelligent, whereas Mycroft finds her troublesome, and as her
legal guardian
A legal guardian is a person who has been appointed by a court or otherwise has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to make decisions relevant to the personal and property interests of another person who is deemed incompetent, call ...
intends to send her away to a
finishing school
A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, wit ...
run by the stern Miss Harrison.
The flower cards left by her mother reveal secret messages and lead to hidden money, which Enola uses to escape disguised as a boy. On the train, she finds the young Viscount Tewkesbury hidden in a travel bag. She thinks he is a
nincompoop
Slurs related to low intelligence
{{Short pages monitor
Lawsuit
The
Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
Estate filed a lawsuit against
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
over the film, claiming it violated copyright by depicting Sherlock Holmes as having emotions. They argued this aspect of the character did not fall under the public domain as he was only described as having emotions in stories published between 1923 and 1927, and the copyright for the stories published in that period still had not expired under
copyright law in the United States
The copyright law of the United States grants monopoly protection for "original works of authorship". With the stated purpose to promote art and culture, copyright law assigns a set of exclusive rights to authors: to make and sell copies of thei ...
.
Cavill said that his portrayal of Sherlock was "a lot more emotional to begin with, so we pared it back, and we said, 'Alright, let's not make it too emotional'." On the lawsuit he said, "It's a character from a page which we worked out from the screenplay. The legal stuff is above my pay grade."
On October 30, 2020, lawyers for the defendants filed a motion to dismiss, saying the estate was unfairly attempting to prevent the fair use of characters that are "undeniably in the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
". On December 18, 2020, the lawsuit was
dismissed with prejudice
Prejudice is a legal term with different meanings, which depend on whether it is used in criminal, civil, or common law. In legal context, "prejudice" differs from the more common use of the word and so the term has specific technical meanings.
...
by stipulation of all parties. In 2023 the final Sherlock Holmes stories entered the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
as the US copyrights for ''
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
''The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes'' is the final set of twelve (out of a total of fifty-six) Sherlock Holmes short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle first published in the ''Strand Magazine'' between October 1921 and April 1927.
Ti ...
'' expired.
Music
In July 2019, Daniel Pemberton was announced as composer of the film's score. The soundtrack was released on September 23, 2020. Pemberton described it as "unashamedly melodic and emotional orchestral music" with some "messy quirky oddness thrown in as well".
Release
Originally intended to be a theatrical release by
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of liv ...
, in April 2020, Netflix picked up the worldwide distribution rights to the film due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, except for in China. It was digitally released on September 23, 2020.
To promote the film in the United Kingdom, Netflix installed a series of statues of famous sisters next to existing statues of their famous brothers. They also released a free play at home adventure game in collaboration with Escape Hunt UK called ''An Enola Holmes Adventure''.
Reception
Audience viewership
In its debut weekend ''Enola Holmes'' was the second most-watched item on Netflix, behind the television series '' Ratched''. Over its first five days it was the most watched film on Netflix, as the film went on to become the biggest first day opening Netflix title in 2020 as well as dominating the largest number of Netflix's monitored countries. In October 2020, Netflix reported the film was on-track to have 76 million households watch the film over its first four weeks of release. In November, '' Variety'' reported that according to data by ScreenEngine/ASI the film was the 13th most watched straight-to-streaming title of 2020 up to that date. The film was the seventh most searched film globally on
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
in 2020.
In January 2021, ''Enola Holmes'' ranked 7th on
Business Insider
''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...
's Biggest Netflix Original Movies of All Time with 78 million viewership.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "''Enola Holmes'' brings a breath of fresh air to Baker Street – and leaves plenty of room for Millie Bobby Brown to put her effervescent stamp on a franchise in waiting." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, it has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Peter Debruge of '' Variety'' called the film an "entertaining franchise starter" and praised Brown's performance, stating that " eracting style recalls the effusive spontaneity Keira Knightley brought to ''
Pride and Prejudice
''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...
'', shattering the straitlaced propriety of so many
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
adaptations before it." Debruge found the film "more tasteful in its high-energy storytelling than Guy Ritchie's recent ''Sherlock Holmes'' movies, and considerably more fun than
019
Nineteen or 19 may refer to:
* 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20
* one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019
Films
* ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film
* ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film
Music ...
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' gave the film a positive review and wrote: "It successfully imagines a place for its heroine in Holmes' world, then convinces young viewers that Enola needn't be constrained by that world's borders." Ann Hornaday of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' wrote: "''Enola Holmes'' offers brisk and exuberant escape from the heaviness of modern times, with its leading actress lending her own appealing touches to the journey. When the game is afoot, she's more than capable, not just of keeping up, but winning the day."
Ella Kemp of ''
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' magazine wrote: "Well-intentioned if sometimes lacking in subtlety, ''Enola Holmes'' offers a fine, spirited reminder that a traditional story can always be retold – although it might need more refined teachings on feminism next time." Peter Bradshaw of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' gave a mixed review, saying: "It all rattles along amiably enough. ''Enola Holmes'' is the kind of all-star production that might once have been made by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
" but had some criticism for the mystery elements of the story "there should have been more specifically ingenious deducting and solving from Enola – codebreaking isn't the same thing."
In a negative review, Mick LaSalle of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' wrote: "A bright young actress, a movie-star actor and a potentially interesting concept gets smothered in 128 minutes of colorful, empty nonsense."
Accolades
Sequel
In September 2020, Brown and Bradbeer acknowledged their intentions to develop a sequel. Brown said she thought only about making the first film until she was on set, then she loved playing the character and said it would be a dream to do it again.
On May 13, 2021, ''Enola Holmes 2'' was officially announced, with writer Jack Thorne and director Harry Bradbeer returning while Brown and Cavill would reprise their roles. In September 2021, it was announced that Partridge and Bonham Carter would reprise their roles.
Production and filming began in Autumn 2021 and wrapped in January 2022. The film was released on Netflix, except for in China, like with the first film.
CourtListener
Free Law Project is a United States federal 501(c)(3) an Oakland-based nonprofit that provides free access to primary legal materials, develops legal research tools, and supports academic research on legal corpora. Free Law Project has several i ...