Recently “Enola Holmes 3” dropped on Netflix. Quite often when you get to a third movie you can almost expect to be disappointed, or for the quality of the story or acting to start to dwindle. Thankfully that was not the case this time! Millie Bobbie Brown continues to be adorable as Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister Enola Holmes. The storyline was fairly intriguing (Sherlock is kidnapped!) and we really see Enola stepping even further into her character as a detective and growing beyond her brother’s shadow. Of course Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham Carter only enhance the film, and yet don’t take away from Brown’s role at all. Interesting to see them simply as supporting actors but it works well for the franchise. Louis Patridge’s character of Tewkesbury also continues to be wonderful, despite Enola doing some absolutely horrible things to his character that she isn’t able to explain until later. He is patient and steadfast as always, only furthering winning fans over.
It’s unclear whether they intend to continue this franchise to be more of a series following along with the books in short movie form, or if this third movie was the final installment. Especially now that Tewkesbury and Enola are married this is an easy ending spot for the franchise. There are a lot of actually poignant moments mixed into the comedy and the drama as well. It is a wonderful film to watch as an entire family as it is mainly clean as well. We were on vacation when we watched it and had family members ranging from age 6 all the way through age 58! And it was enjoyed by everyone, even the teenagers. It can be difficult to find good action and suspense movies that can be enjoyed at multiple levels by a family so this was a refreshing change.
As far as the storyline, I will say the only real flaw I found in this series was that I did not enjoy the character of Moriarty. I love that they had previously revealed her character as being female in the second movie, however in this third film she was kind of disappointing.
When compared to Andrew Scott, (the actor who played Moriarty in Benedict Cumberbatch’s series, “Sherlock”), her character development just fell flat. Yes she is just as crazy as other versions, but does not come off nearly as intelligent. In fact, it almost feels as if they beat her too easily? This does not follow in line with the true brilliance of Moriarty’s character as he/she is intended to be written. While there are many opportunities to criticize this third film for lack of being as well thought out as its predecessors, overall I still found it delightful and a great family summer time film.
