Enola Holmes
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): September 23, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
95
Film ThreatBobby LePireSep 28, 2020
Enola Holmes is an engaging, exciting mystery that the entire family will enjoy. The direction is spot on, the acting is brilliant, the plot is intriguing, and the cinematography is fantastic. But the ending is a letdown, not trusting audiences to be content with Enola’s arc. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyMaureen Lee LenkerSep 23, 2020
While the mystery might be elementary (my dear, notably absent, Watson), the storytelling is winkingly subversive, proclaiming that a new and welcome game is afoot. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 8, 2020
While Enola Holmes empowering feminist message might feel a little on the nose at times, the film, is nevertheless, a witty and endearing little bauble with terrific elan. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredAsher LubertoMay 26, 2021
The film plays with form the way Enola plays with words: dazzlingly, whimsically and sarcastically. It's a breezy escape from a world that seems to be getting darker by the day. Read full review
80
ABC NewsPeter TraversSep 25, 2020
Playing the kid sister of Henry Cavill’s Sherlock Holmes, Millie Bobby Brown, just 16, shines her talent on its highest beams and creates a totally irresistible family entertainment. Read full review
80
PolygonKaren HanSep 24, 2020
The match of material and star works so well that the story’s relative simplicity and undercooked quality aren’t too much of a stumbling block. It’s a perfect next step for Brown, and hopefully a sign of greater things to come. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin CrustSep 22, 2020
Enola provides a richly fanciful, fresh perspective on the well-worn family name. Read full review
80
Total FilmJames MottramSep 8, 2020
Enola Holmes falls into the ‘something for everyone’ category. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 24, 2020
As the title character, Millie Bobbie Brown shines in a way she hasn’t in her non-"Stranger Things" appearances. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadaySep 23, 2020
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. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireSep 23, 2020
This may be the start of a most welcome girl-powered franchise. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 23, 2020
Brown is the marvel-in-motion who powers this machine. She lets this showcase make the case for a post-child-actress career, showing off pluck, comfort with stunts and something her chilly TV series rarely allows her — charm. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittSep 22, 2020
It’s rather elementary: Young women yearning for an action heroine of their own get one with Enola Holmes, a problem-solving youngster we all could use more of in our streaming lives. Read full review
75
CNNBrian LowrySep 22, 2020
Permutations on Sherlock Holmes have a long and spotty cinematic history, which makes Enola Holmes -- a vehicle for "Stranger Things'" Millie Bobby Brown, who doubled as its producer -- such a pleasant surprise. Adapted from the young-adult books, it's a lovely production that reinforces the sense Brown, if there were any doubts, is a major star in the making. Read full review
75
ConsequenceJenn AdamsSep 21, 2020
Millie Bobby Brown is captivating as the quirky Enola, a confident, young woman raised outside the patriarchy by her feminist mother. Brown dives headfirst into the role, and her bubbly charisma is a dynamic change from the quiet strength of Stranger Things’ Eleven. Read full review
75
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 7, 2020
Enola Holmes doesn’t just use its heroine as a cute way to nod at progressive thinking; it fully embraces a story that is, at its heart, deeply feminist. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriSep 25, 2020
Bonham-Carter is somehow both perfect for the part of Mother Holmes and, unfortunately, wasted. Perhaps we’re merely being set up for future adventures, in which these characters will presumably play greater parts. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternSep 24, 2020
She’s (Brown) the bright, sustaining spirit of a film that surrounds her with a fine cast and lovely trappings in a pleasantly twisty detective story that’s elevated by the exuberance of Enola’s detecting. Read full review
70
The New York TimesLovia GyarkyeSep 22, 2020
The film is successful in balancing these broad themes with our heroine’s adventures, and that is due in large part to the work of Brown, whose energetic performance breathes new life into the Holmes creative world. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeSep 7, 2020
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. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 7, 2020
The movie has contemporary issues of gender equality on the mind — and an endearingly radical protagonist in Enola. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzSep 22, 2020
Executed with more energy than either of Guy Ritchie’s recent blockbusters, and with Henry Cavill acting as a more suave Sherlock than Robert Downey Jr., director Harry Bradbeer’s adventure is a perfectly fine piece of Holmes-ian content, if not a work of actual, you know, cinema. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineDan RubinsSep 12, 2020
Even when the plot occasionally falters, Enola’s continuous invitations to complicity renew the film’s momentum. Read full review
63
ObserverBrandon KatzSep 9, 2020
Enola Holmes isn’t a revolution or revelation that is going to forever alter the course of cinema, but it is enough of a charming and cheerful change to give Netflix a new franchise. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneDavid FearOct 8, 2020
Brown has such a natural wit and compelling screen presence, such an ability to shift from curious youngster to screwball comic to charismatic action hero on a dime, that it’s hard not to view Enola Holmes as a coming-out party of sorts. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 22, 2020
It all rattles along amiably enough. Read full review
60
Screen RantMolly FreemanSep 22, 2020
Enola Holmes is a little overwrought, but Millie Bobby Brown's charming heroine and Henry Cavill's fun Sherlock pull off all the twists and turns. Read full review
60
IGNKristy PuchkoSep 8, 2020
Enola Holmes, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill, is a toothless Fleabag with Sherlock coating. Read full review
60
EmpireElla KempSep 7, 2020
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. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerSep 21, 2020
Without much of a mystery to solve, this young Holmes comes across more like a junior-level Wonder Woman: intelligent and highly trained yet puzzled by this unfamiliar, unfair world of men. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSep 18, 2020
A bright young actress, a movie-star actor and a potentially interesting concept gets smothered in 128 minutes of colorful, empty nonsense. Read full review
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