Review: Netflix's 'Enola Holmes' is a Discovery

There are two things that the new Netflix release "Enola Holmes" does very well. One, it proves that there is still life and originality in the Sherlock Holmes franchise; and, two, it cements the fact that Millie Bobby Brown is a bona fide star.

Based on the Nancy Springer's YA novels, "Enola Holmes" imagines that Sherlock Holmes was raised by an intellectual feminist daredevil who eschews female Victorian stereotypes and passes them onto her young daughter, Enola. Meanwhile, Sherlock (a buttoned-up and charming Henry Cavill) and his cynical brother Mycroft (Sam Claflin) have already moved on in the world, solving crimes and succeeding in the business world, respectively.

Enola is raised alone with her mother (played as expected by Helena Bonham Carter), and loves the attention and knowledge she attains because of it. She is taught puzzles, sword-play, science, and botany, and, as she tells it, has read every book in the Holmes library.

One morning she awakens to find her mother gone. Is she missing? Dead? Kidnapped? No one knows, but Enola is determined to get to the bottom of it. Her brothers come home to see what is up, and while Sherlock is curious about his mother's whereabouts, he also feels like this is something she would do and they shouldn't worry so much. Mycroft can't be bothered, but because he is named as Enola's guardian, he intends on sending her away to a private school to become a proper lady.

Enola isn't going to have any of that, so she sneaks onto a train and begins the adventure of finding out where her mother is, and why. Of course things can't be that simple, and she ends up running into a Lord her age named Tewksbury (Louis Partridge). Feeling bad for the chap, she helps him escape. (She does this also because he has now inadvertently put her in danger.) The two team up for a while and then part ways, but as Enola picks up more clues about her mother's potential whereabouts, she gets drawn back into Lord Tewksbury's dilemma, and changes course to save him.

Suffice it to say that "Enola Holmes" is wholesome (but not stiflingly so) and completely captivating and adventurous in a spirit we haven't seen in a while. It's a little bit Spielberg and a little bit Robert Zemeckis, and that's a good thing.

At just over two hours, there are moments where the adventure feels a bit drawn out, but the absolute charm of Brown carries you through. She is so incredibly talented and watchable that you forget she was ever the bleeding nose telekinetic kid from "Stranger Things," and now all you want is her to literally be in every movie ever made. She's that good.

Director Harry Bradbeer ("Fleabag" and "Dickensian") keeps things colorful and whimsical, and allows Enola to keep breaking the fourth wall and speaking to the audience. While this means there is a lot of voiceover giving you the facts of her life and her plans, Brown's brief asides to the camera in the middle of scenes are brilliantly cheeky.

Cavill plays a small role here, but he does so in a quieter, smirking way than in his earlier his blockbusters. Claflin is a great foil to him, and Partridge as Enola's new friend that needs rescuing is winning, too.

Written by Jack Thorne (writer/creator of "His Dark Materials" on HBO and the recent "The Secret Garden" adaptation), the script has clever, punchy dialogue, and a fanciful air, which makes it dazzling to the eyes and ears.

There truly isn't anything bad to say about this completely enchanting and enjoyable movie. If it is received as well as I expect, I deduce we just might see more adventures with Enola in our future. It's elementary.