Enola Holmes 2
                                    
Director: Harry Bradbeer
Year: 2022
Rating: 7.5
Admittedly, this is more than a little precious and twee in the way Enola frequently speaks directly to the camera, but it is so spritely and good natured that it makes for fine family viewing. So much TV is filled with violence, perversion and sex that it must be a full-time job keeping your children on the straight and narrow. This film is for them. It is smart, clever, fun and wholesome. A chaste kiss. It is also liberal. I would guess that this will drive certain people nuts screaming out "woke" at the top of their lungs and sending death threats to people. The diversity in this film is remarkable to a guy like me born some 69 years ago. Even ten years ago all the characters would have been played by whites - now there is an Indian Lestrade, a young Chinese girl, lots of minorities in the cast and besides Lestrade, two others taking on characters that have always been reserved for white males. Their heads exploded with a black mermaid. This will send them around the bend. Snowflakes. The world is changing. Get on the train. It is also pro-union with one of the main characters being a real historical figure who led the first female strike at a factory in 1888.



This is the second in the Enola Holmes series starring the wonderfully talented Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things - I need to see season 4). I enjoyed them both. This is a bit slow starting off but catches up and has a great finish. Enola has begun her own detective agency but not surprisingly when clients come in and see that Enola is a teenage girl, they make a quick exit. Meanwhile her brother Sherlock gets hurrahs from everyone for solving cases - but he seems stymied on this last one. Government money has gone missing and the trail is circular and leads nowhere. A genius he says.



Just as Enola is about to close shop for good, a young Chinese girl (Serrana Su-Ling Bliss) asks her to find her "sister" - an older friend who works at the match-making factory with her. Little Match Girl. The friend is Sarah Chapman (Hannah Dodd) - that real historical figure. Happy to have any case, Enola digs into it and soon discovers that it is far bigger than a missing woman - you name it - a conspiracy that entails murder, blackmail. corruption at high levels. Soon Enola is on the run from the police and turns up at Sherlock's home. Sherlock as in the first film is played by Henry Cavill - who makes for an ok Sherlock - not really the look - Sherlock was never a matinee idol. But Cavill is a pleasant presence.  As the two of them work on their cases they begin to realize they are connected and begin to work together. In the cast also is Lewis Partridge as the young Lord from the first film, Helena Bonham Carter as Enola's mother, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as a mysterious figure who will certainly be back, Davis Thewlis as Inspector Grail and Adeel Akhtar as Lestrade. A third one is being planned. I look forward to it.