{"id":736600,"date":"2026-07-01T09:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T09:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/736600\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T09:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T09:14:10","slug":"enola-holmes-3-review-millie-bobby-brown-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/736600\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Enola Holmes 3’ Review: Millie Bobby Brown Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIt\u2019s been a decent summer so far for plucky British gumshoes. After the cozily pastoral charms of the delightful whodunit \u201cSheep Detectives\u201d and its unusual crime-stoppers, we get the winsome \u201cEnola Holmes 3<\/a>,\u201d the latest installment of the Netflix mystery franchise that follows the sleuthing escapades of Sherlock\u2019s little sister. Enola is no longer a wide-eyed, inexperienced heroine \u2014 she\u2019s made a good enough name for herself as an insightful, observant detective who can look at any inconspicuous scene for a brief moment and promptly spot at least half a dozen fishy peculiarities. <\/p>\n

\n\tNor is she alone, regardless of her purposely liberated name might suggest when read backwards. Once again endearingly portrayed by \u201cStranger Things\u201d star Millie Bobby Brown<\/a>, Enola enters the film in a lavish bridal gown on top of a picturesque Maltese hill, about to get married to the love of her life: Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), who\u2019s been her partner in crime and adventure since they were fellow runaways in the first movie.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGreat stories begin with a wedding,\u201d Enola muses in her peppy voiceover, a signature ingredient of the franchise that has come to define much of its upbeat tone, and also exemplifies the Nancy Springer book series that the movies are based on. Picking up directing duties from Harry Bradbeer and working with a script by returning writer Jack Thorne, \u201cAdolescence\u201d maestro Philip Barantini<\/a> smartly preserves the previous films\u2019 fast-paced, feather-light qualities with witty visual effects and zippy editing where things sharply snap into place like tangible puzzle pieces. <\/p>\n

\n\tBut he also infuses the new machinations with sophisticated camera moves, including the long takes that famously powered much of \u201cAdolescence.\u201d The result is a chapter that splits the difference between something grown-up and playfully youthful, signaling a series thoughtfully maturing alongside its core audience: young viewers who have been looking up to Brown\u2019s Enola since 2020.<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, let\u2019s get back to the wedding, shall we? Sadly, the ceremony proves to be a short-lived one: Enola realizes that her nuptials will have to wait until she solves another crime that she has no choice but shoulder. It\u2019s undoubtedly the most personal one yet, since it involves the abduction of her hard-nosed brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill). Suspicious of the environs throughout the wedding and unsure of his sister\u2019s choices to conform to matrimonial tradition, Sherlock is already displeased before he abruptly disappears, with Enola\u2019s future mother-in-law. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn truth, it\u2019s a far-fetched scenario for someone as experienced as Sherlock to fall victim to a kidnapping just like that, no matter how dedicatedly the movie tries to sell that probability. But when Enola confidently swans around the crime scene, uncovers Morse-coded fingerprints on a mirror in front of a dumbfounded Dr. Watson (Himesh Patel), and hops from one hidden clue to the next in several satisfying scenes, you forgive the script\u2019s overarching shortcomings, especially with the gorgeous Malta and its sparkly blue waters as a backdrop.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen again, some of the timely real-world references (like the suffrage movement and the fight for workers\u2019 rights) that made the last two films feel so vital are missed here. Plotlines including Maltese freedom fighters and Dr. Watson\u2019s past in the Anglo-Afghan Wars feel like polite afterthoughts behind Enola\u2019s personal and familial reconciliation, especially when her headstrong mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter, fantastic as usual) reemerges with her cynical witticisms. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn the end, the story is more about Enola\u2019s own future and her emotional journey, as she unwittingly finds a late opportunity to deal with those pre-wedding jitters. Is she doing the right thing, marrying the right person, choosing the kind of future she wants for herself? The mystery that surrounds these existential queries feels meager in comparison: What could possibly compete with the idealistic headspace of a young woman, dressed with authoritative flair like a Victorian Annie Hall, contemplating the unknown path in front of her?<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, \u201cEnola Holmes 3\u201d makes it worth our while, especially when fiery villain Moriarty (a terrific Sharon Duncan-Brewster) returns in earnest in a punishing scheme, the details of which would be unfair to spoil. In physically and emotionally demanding fight and chase sequences, Duncan-Brewster and Brown flex their muscles and spirits, playing two evenly matched opponents for the ages, with real stakes and wounds, across well-choreographed action sequences. Elsewhere, \u201cEnola Holmes\u201d presents its grandest act of rebellion by refusing to succumb to empty \u201cyou-go-girl\u201d feminism, where strong heroines are often defined only by their physical strength. Needless to say Enola Holmes, Sherlock\u2019s absolute intellectual equal, has plenty of that. But she has a proudly romantic heart too, one she knows she doesn\u2019t have to compromise to become anything she wants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a decent summer so far for plucky British gumshoes. After the cozily pastoral charms of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[312577,88,55726,316893],"class_list":["post-736600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-enola-holmes-3","tag-entertainment","tag-millie-bobby-brown","tag-philip-barantini"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}