I have known Millie Bobby Brown since she starred in Stranger Things. Although I didn’t watch her there, I did watch her in Enola Holmes. I had never actually watched or read the Sherlock Holmes series, though I’ve been wanting to. Sherlock Holmes just seemed like a big commitment, being such a long series in books and shows, that Enola Holmes seemed more intriguing. Enola Holmes was a Netflix movie series starring Millie Bobby Brown as the protagonist. There are currently two movies out so I’ll talk about both of them in this. 

Enola Holmes is about Sherlock’s younger sister who does her best to make a name for herself without the reputation or help of her older brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft. In the first movie, she begins her journey in search of her mother who went missing, trying to avoid her brothers in order to prove her independence. Here she meets a recurring character named Tewkesbury, whom she helps throughout the movie, multitasking in helping Tewkesbury and discovering clues left by her mother. She finds clues relating to women’s rights but does not find her mother. While she may not have completed her first goal, she does end up gaining the support from Tewkesbury, who proves to be important to Enola’s future endeavors.

In the second movie, Enola takes on her first real request as an established detective. She is asked to help find another missing person relating to the real story of the Matchgirls Strike. In the end she teams up with Sherlock and Tewkesbury to solve the mystery. Here she also gains a new interaction with her mother in fighting for women’s rights alongside other women in the film. As the films go along, they grow in intensity and the danger becomes even larger. 

I really enjoyed the Enola Holmes films. I ended up watching them both in one sitting, wanting to see what other adventures were left in store. As obvious as this may sound, I was very fond of the mystery aspect. The name Holmes is often related to mysteries and such, but because I’ve been so out of tune with mysteries, this was a nice dip into the pool of the genre. Whether or not this kind of problem solving would be accurate, I’m unsure, but it was fun to watch anyways. I liked the use of word problems and scrabble. I probably would have never figured it out but it was great to watch the clues come together. 

From the first film, I really liked the focus on problem solving and escaping danger throughout the movie. I liked to see the establishment of Enola’s character; a young girl who is independent but still naive to the real dangers of the world. I liked seeing her figure things out by herself, growing as a person but still keeping her cheeky and clever personality. In the second film, I really liked the further establishment of Enola’s relationships, with both Tewkesbury and Sherlock. The first film focused more on Enola and who she is and her own power, but the second shows how it’s okay to accept help and that it’s okay to need help. I was happy to see more characters developed in the second film in relation to Enola and I also liked the connection the film had to the historically accurate Matchgirls Strike. In both films, I liked to see the actual mysteries and the action that came with them. They induced a fun amount of suspense that had me reacting in my seat. But I especially loved the problem solving portions of them. I always enjoy a nice challenge, and while I couldn’t keep up with the wit of the Holmes’ siblings, it was entertaining to see it all come together. 

I found the Enola Holmes movies really enjoyable. All the aspects ranging from the plot, to the characters, to the action, and to the problem solving were enjoyable to see come to life. There is actually a book series for Enola Holmes that the films are inspired by. Since this is a multi book series, I hope that there will be future movies. I look forward to the creation of a third film (or more) and definitely recommend these movies to start with! 

-Nicole R.