MILLIE BOBBY BROWN achieved stardom as a child star as Eleven in “Stranger Things”. She now plays the 16-year old title roler in the period-action flick “Enola Holmes” currently streaming on Netflix.
The story is based on the first of a series of books on Enola written by Nancy Springer, “The Case of the Missing Marquess”, so you can easily guess that if this first movie is a hit on Netflix like “Extraction”, then it’s sure to have a sequel with the other books in the series.
Enola (she points out her name is “alone” spelled backwards) is the young sister of the famous sleuth, Sherlock, who has been portrayed on screen by several actors before, like Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch.
He’s now played by Henry Cavill, who has also portrayed Superman, and he is the hunkiest, best looking Sherlock so far, but he plays a supporting role to Millie who he even gets to outwit him in solving the conspiracy behind the case of the missing marquess.
They’re actually a family here as also present is their older brother, the foppish Mycroft (played by Sam Claflin), and their mother Eudoria (played by Helene Bonham Carter, who appears mostly in flashbacks.)
Millie plays the energetic protagonist to the hilt and she even has her own motto: “My life is my own and the future is up to us!”.
Like Dora The Explorer, she’s prone to breaking the fourth wall to talk directly to the viewers, like asking us: “Do YOU have any ideas?”
One morning, she wakes up with her mom suddenly gone, leaving an assortment of gifts from where she finds clues on how to locate her.
She also finds herself under the care of Mycroft who says that growing up in the country, she now needs some refinement and turns her over to Miss Harrison, the strict governess of a finishing school (Fiona Shaw, the boss of Sandra Oh in “Killing Eve”.)
Enola rebels and runs away. On the train to London, she meets by chance the young Marquess of Basilwether, Lord Tewksbury (Louis Partridge), who is also running away from his own family.
When Enola realizes that someone is trying to kill him, she decides to help him while also looking for her mother who turns to be an activist and a suffragette.
The fabulous production design recreates the world of Victorian London in the 1880s and the story is beautifully intertwined with themes of feminism and voting rights.
Enola escapes from several dangerous encounters that get on her way, thanks to her knowledge of jujitsu and her inherent cleverness. She gets to wear both men’s clothes to disguise as a boy and also fancier outfits to act like high society ladies who are older than her real age.
We’re sure fans of Eleven would be curious how Milly would fare in her title role movie (she was earlier in “Godzilla”) and we’re happy to report that she does carry the whole film exceedingly well with infectious energy from start to finish as the smart and sassy heroine.
She is well supported by Louise Partridge as the monsieur in distress in the reversal of their gender roles. “Enola Holmes”, as directed by Harry Bradbeer, is a fast-paced female driven mystery-adventure flick for the whole family and we’re certain we haven’t seen the last of her.
