Young Sherlock Holmes

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on

Movie Information

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Young Sherlock Holmes at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community (behind Epic Cinemas), 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.
Score:

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Mystery
Director: Barry Levinson
Starring: Nicholas Rowe, Alan Cox, Sophie Ward, Anthony Higgins, Susan Fleetwood, Freddie Jones
Rated: PG-13

Considering its pedigree—a Chris Columbus screenplay, Steven Spielberg producing, Barry Levinson directing—Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) is surprisingly not awful. In fact, if you can go with the rethinking of Holmes and Watson meeting during a stint at school in their teenage years and having adventures then (I know Holmes purists who can’t), it’s a pleasant enough couple of hours. Yes, it’s overproduced. It’s from Spielberg, how could it not be? And, yes, it plays a little like I Was a Teenage Sherlock Holmes and the Temple of Doom, but that only keeps it from being a nice diversion if you take this stuff too seriously.

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About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."
View all posts by Ken Hanke →

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3 thoughts on “Young Sherlock Holmes”

  1. Jeremy Dylan

    Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) is surprisingly not awful.
    I disagree. I find it predictably terrible. It reeks of everything I dislike about Disney, despite not being a Disney product. Watching this feels like being told to have fun by irritating elementary school teacher for 109 minutes.

  2. Ken Hanke

    It reeks of everything I dislike about Disney, despite not being a Disney product.

    Interesting, if not entirely rational sounding. I could as easily say it reeks of everything I dislike about Spielberg.

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