Enola Holmes is a Netflix film centered around Sherlock and Mycroft’s little sister, Enola (which, when backwards, spells Alone) and her journey to find their lost mother. Directed by Henry Bradbeer, it has a famous cast : Millie Bobby Brown as Enola, Henry Cavill as Sherlock and Helena Bonham Carter as their mysterious mother. Enola Holmes tells the story of Sherlock and Mycroft’s often overlooked little sister, Enola. One day, her mother goes missing and Enola decides to run away from home to find her. On her way she meets the young Viscount of Tewkesbery and discovers more about her mother than she anticipated.
Genre : Crime/Adventure
Age : 12+
My Rating : 6/10
Summary : Enola Holmes is the youngest sibling in the famous Holmes family. She is clever and observant and her mother, Eudoria, teaches her a myriad of useful, albeit unlady like skills, like archery, self defense, and chess, and encourages her to pursue her passions and not let other people control her destiny.
On the day of her sixteenth birthday, Enola awakens to find that her mother is gone. All that is left is her flower themed birthday gift. A week later, she meets Mycroft and Sherlock at the train station. Sherlock is amused by Enola’s intelligence but Mycroft is disgusted at her wild upbringing and un-ladylike ness. Mycroft decides to send Enola away to a finishing school run by the stern Miss Harrison. Enola discovers the flower cards left by her mother reveal secret messages and lead to hidden money, which she uses to escape disguised as a boy. On the train, she finds the young Viscount Tewkesbury hidden in a travel bag. She notices someone in a bowler hat following him and tells the Viscount. The bowler hat man tries to kill Tewkesbury so they jump off the train to escape. Enola admits that she’s not a real boy and cuts Tewkesbury’s hair to disguise him. They travel together to London where they part ways.
Enola continues to search for Eudoria and leaves cryptic messages in the newspaper personal advertisements, knowing only her mother would be able to solve them. She later finds pamphlets and a safehouse containing explosives and learns that Eudoria is part of a radical group of suffragettes. She is attacked by Bowler Hat, who tries to drown her for about Tewkesbury. They fight, but Enola ignites the explosives and escapes. Enola decides to pause the search for her mother and instead find Tewkesbury again to save him because he is not capable of defending himself. Enola visits the Tewkesbury estate at Basilwether Hall to learn more. Meanwhile, Mycroft has Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard search for Enola.
Enola finds Tewkesbury selling flowers and warns him. She helps him escape but is caught by Lestrade and sent to Miss Harrison’s finishing school by Mycroft. Tewkesbury sneaks into the school, and they escape using Miss Harrison’s motor car. They reach a fork in the road and, rather than returning to London, Enola decides they must go to Basilwether Hall and face Tewkesbury’s uncle, who she has deduced was trying to kill him. The estate looks deserted, but Bowler Hat ambushes them. Enola trips him using a jujitsu move, causing a fatal head injury. Tewkesbury’s grandmother is revealed as the real villain; a traditionalist, she did not want him to take his father’s place in the House of Lords and vote for the Reform Bill. She shoots Tewkesbury in the chest, but he survives thanks to a plate of armor he had hidden under his clothes.
Enola shares a tearful goodbye with Tewkesbury. She finds and deciphers a message in a newspaper but deduces that it was not sent by her mother, instead by her brothers. She goes anyway to the meeting point. At the meeting point, Sherlock and Mycroft discuss Enola, and Sherlock suggests becoming her guardian. They decide to leave, and Sherlock notices a clue, but chooses not to look for Enola. All the while Enola has been watching disguised as a newsboy. Returning to her hotel, Enola finds her mother waiting there. They embrace, and Eudoria explains why she had to leave, and why she must leave again, but she is impressed by what Enola has become.
My Thoughts : I rate this movie a 6/10, for one reason only. They tried to juggle two plots and it just didn’t work. The whole premise of the film is that Enola is searching for her mother but suddenly halfway through she ditches that and decides to look for Tewkesbury? It felt so random and rushed. And when Enola and Eudoria reunite at the end, Eudoria gives no reason for randomly leaving. She just says she’s proud of Enola but she can’t stay with her, and Enola just agrees, which goes against what we know about her. Her mother isn’t even exactly clear about what it is she’s doing. And after saving Tewkesbury, Enola ditches him too. The two plots were not handled well at all. Either focus it on Tewkesbury and leave Eudoria alone to leave room for a sequel, or vice versa. By handling two plots, there isn’t really a need for a sequel at all and it feels jarring and not well thought through at all.
Secondly, from the very beginning Enola is shown as a firebrand and independent, but by giving her a love interest, it dampens that image. There was really no need for that. And if Tewkesbury was supposed to be Enola’s “Watson”, it was unclear — he doesn’t even help her at all with finding her mother. Instead, she babysits him the whole film. His character, honestly, wasn’t even necessary and was poorly written. Overall, Enola Holmes wasn’t a bad movie, just let down by the plot.
