Young Sherlock Holmes – Movie Review
Young Sherlock Holmes is a fast-paced adventure involving a teenage Holmes, where the ‘master detective’ meets for the first time John Watson, the boy with aspirations in the medical field who will, in nine years’ time, become his best friend. While the fourteen year-old Holmes is intelligent and bold, both traditional and expert Sherlockians would be justified in their argument that Chris Columbus’ Holmes is perhaps too emotional, and most certainly does not sport the distaste for the ‘softer passions’ which is so essential to this character.
The movie, on the whole, is still both original and thrilling. Centring around Egyptian burial customs and following a plotline similar to that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Sign Of Four, Young Sherlock Holmes takes viewers on a heart-stopping journey through Victorian London, ending in an epic brain-and-brawn battle between Sherlock Holmes and his arch-enemy, Professor Moriarty. In the end, the day is saved, as per usual, by the unmatchable genius of the Great Detective – Sherlock Holmes.
(A brief review of the 1985 movie, Young Sherlock Holmes, with Nicholas Rowe).
