Movie Review : Enola Holmes

 Enola Holmes

(2020 Netflix, based on the books by Nancy Springer)

Starring: Millie Bobby Brown as Enola, Louis Partridge as Viscount Twekesbury,

Henry Cavill (aka Superman) as Sherlock Holmes, Sam Clafin as Mycroft; cameos by Helena Bonham Carter as Eudoria Holmes and a host of famous British actors

Enola Holmes, a spunky 16-year-old-girl was not raised like other girls in 1884. With her father dead and her older brothers living adult lives (her second brother is the famous detective), it was just Enola and her mother. Enola was educated in unconventional subjects. She's read every book in the Ferndell library, practiced archery, tennis and Jiu Jitsu and learned to solve word games. When her mother disappears on her 16th birthday, Enola is devastated. She asks her brothers to come home to help her find her mother but instead of helping, her guardian, Mycroft, tries to send her to a strict boarding school for young ladies (run by Harry Potter's Aunt Petunia). Enola is aghast and devastated at the loss of her freedom and determined not to put up with it so she escapes in Sherlock's old clothes and heads off to find her mother. Her adventure brings her into contact with the young Marquess of Twekesbury. He, too, is running away from home. They disappear in London separately, but when it becomes clear someone is trying to kill Twekesbury, Enola must put her skills to the test if she's going to save herself and her friend. 

This is such a fun movie! While there are numerous historical and logistical errors, I watched the movie to evaluate it from the perspective of an aunt of tween girls. Would they love the story about a gutsy, plucky, smart, brave teenage girl- excuse me, lady detective. I would have absolutely adored this story when I was much younger. I hope they do too.

The plot is ridiculous. It apparently centers around the Reform Bill of 1884 with a side order of women's suffrage. The mystery seems fairly easy to figure out, until the twist. The villain is a real villain with no shades of gray and definitely not a Disney-fied villain turned hero. The mystery is more of a subplot to the real story of a young woman's coming of age and coming into her own. Those are the stories I always loved reading as a girl. The end of the movie suddenly gets very, very dark and intense. I didn't like that and was surprised at how intense it was for a movie aimed at 12/13-year-olds. My mom HATED the reveal! I do love the wordplay games in the story and how Enola uses wordplay to send a coded message to her mother. That's very clever and ensures no one else can intercept the message.

Enola is a great heroine in the tradition of lady detectives like Miss Fisher and Amelia Peabody but for tween girls. Enola is 14 in the books and 16 in the movie. Enola isn't a perfect person. She's young and often makes mistakes. Enola runs away from home, which you should totally not do- unless your sexist brother tries to put you in a strict reform school for unconventional girls who try to defy gender norms, of course. (See also, madhouse). She has to decide between doing the right thing vs. doing what she wants. I couldn't help but like this character though. She had the incredible unconventional upbringing I would dream of if I were a Victorian girl. It's difficult for her though being a smart woman in a man's world. Her brothers don't understand her, not even Sherlock. 

Tweens and teens can relate to feeling like their families don't understand them. In Enola's case though, they really don't. Mycroft is a sexist bully and a prig who can't even be bothered to offer any comfort to his little sister who is confused and upset. She may be 16 but she's still a child. So Enola must take matters into her own hands. She's gutsy and her unconventional knowledge helps save her life. 

Tweksbury is less appealing, probably on purpose. To be fair, he was raised in the lap of luxury, spoiled and allowed to study the natural world with his father. He even has his own treehouse with a library! Why should he know someone is trying to kill him and how to save his own life? He's rather whiny and ungrateful at the beginning of the movie but later on he comes through for Enola and I liked him better. 

The adults all appear as secondary to the teens. The adults are there to thwart the teens or to lightly help them on their journey. Particularly memorable is Lestrade, a detective friend of Sherlock's, or is he? Then there's Miss Harrison, the boarding school headmistress. She strongly resembles Harry Potter's Aunt Petunia Dursley or even Dolores Umbridge. She's about punishment and correction. She forces Enola to fit the prescribed feminine mold, turning the students into mini Victorian Stepford wives. Miss Harrison also seems motived because she has a crush on Mycroft, who we have established is a sexist prig. One adult is an actual assassin the teenage heroine must fight off. A helpful adult would have been nice but this movie is for and about young girls from the perspective of a young girl. The generation of girls raised with the attitude that girls can do anything will appreciate this aspect of the story better than adults.

Tweksbury's family is pretty conventional. A Marquess would never be sent off to India to the army. He would take his seat in the House of Lords. However, this Marquess is under age so that plot doesn't make sense. Ignoring that, it seems obvious his uncle wants to kill him and inherit the lot. Sherlock isn't all that sensitive to Enola's drama. He's properly analytical and detached from most of his emotions. I think he does care for his little sister but doesn't want to get involved in his brother's business. I don't know much about Sherlock Holmes so I can't comment whether his character is true to what Conan Doyle intended. Mrs. Lane, the Holmes family housekeeper, is the only one who loves Enola and is concerned for her welfare. Edith, the tea shop owner and secret Jiu Jitsu expert, is both a help and not much help for Enola. She evaluates Enola's readiness for self-defense and clues Enola in as to why her mother disappeared. I found it especially interesting that this woman is a woman of color in 19th-century London. It seems plausible but I'm not sure how accurate it would be for her to be a tea shop owner and suffragette. 

The acting in this production is not super great. I recognize most of the adults from other period dramas and they're all great as usual. The children are less so. I think Millie Bobby Brown overacted a bit, especially when breaking the 4th wall and addressing the audience. However, she's energetic and perky, making Enola a fun character. She does an incredible job with the physical challenges of playing this character. Louis Partridge played his part satisfactorily but I can't rave about his performance. 

The costumes are not super accurate for 1884 but give an idea of the stuffy, fussy dresses women were forced to wear. Enola even asks for a whalebone corset, indicating the torture women had to put up with in the 1880s. (It should be steel bone. Steel boning was more common in the 1880s AND the boning can be used as a weapon or the boning channels to hide a knife.) The dress Enola chooses looks more like something an actress or less respectable woman would wear. I think that's the point. She's hiding from her brother and he would never think to look for a lady attired in such a dress.

I need to watch this again with my nieces to really get a true idea of how this is reaching the target audience! Update: Niece #2 (age 10 1/2) recommend this to ME! She said I would really like it because of the suffragette plot. I told her I saw it and loved it! From the perspective of a tween girl, this movie is really amazing. Enola is an intelligent sleuth and an action hero for tween girls. If she serves as a role model for my nieces and they learn a little something about history, even if the timeline is off by decades, I'm good with that. My inner 12-year-old loved it anyway.

Watch on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81277950

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