Enola Holmes

image for Enola Holmes

Short takes

Not suitable under 13; parental guidance to 15 (violence and scary scenes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Enola Holmes
  • a review of Enola Holmes completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 4 March 2021.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 13 Not suitable due to violence and scary scenes.
Children aged 13–15 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and scary scenes.
Children aged 16 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Enola Holmes
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Violence
Length: 124 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown), the younger sister of Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft Holmes (Sam Claflin), finds herself on a journey in search of her mother (Helena Bonham Carter) who has disappeared to continue her fight for women’s suffrage. As Enola follows clues to her mother’s location, obstacles get in her way, including a strict teacher (Fiona Shaw) who wants to force her into a finishing school for girls, and a young viscount (Louis Partridge) who is on the run from his greedy family. Enola’s adventure takes her beyond just finding her mother, and toward understanding herself and how she can change the world for the better.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Separation from a parent; Death of a parent; Body shaming; Children as victims.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Enola is slapped hard across the face by Mrs Harrison for talking back to her.
  • Enola hits a man on the back of the head with a walking cane to stop him from throwing someone off a train.
  • Women participate in a martial arts class in which they hit, kick, and throw each other.
  • Enola’s head is repeatedly forced underwater by a man trying to get information from her.
  • Enola headbutts a man causing his nose to bleed.
  • Enola is stabbed by a man but is unhurt.
  • Enola hits Detective Lestrade in the face with a hot kettle.
  • A man stalks Enola and Viscount Tewksbury in an attempt to shoot them dead.
  • A man attempts to strangle Viscount Tewksbury with a metal wire.
  • A man hits his head on a doorknob and dies – blood is visible.
  • Viscount Tewksbury is shot in the chest by his grandmother and appears to lie dead on the floor – he survives.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Mycroft Holmes screams at Enola and makes her cry – this is loud and abrupt and may distress young children.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Enola’s knees are shown covered in blood after a fist fight – this may distress young children.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • A man holds another person outside a train in an attempt to kill them.
  • Enola participates in a fist fight with an adult man in which he tries to attack her with a crowbar and throws her against a wall and the ground.
  • Enola is stabbed in the stomach but is unhurt due to her protective corset.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Nothing further of concern.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Adult characters are seen drinking alcohol.
  • Adult characters smoke pipes.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Hell
  • Damn
  • Bloody.

In a nutshell

Enola Holmes is a period comedy with feel-good friendships, themes of female empowerment, and an engaging plot of mystery and intrigue. Due to violence and scary sequences, this film is best suited for children aged 13 and older, with parental guidance to 15.

The main messages from this movie are that women deserve the right to independence and autonomy over their lives; and that friends and family should help each other in times of need.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Gender equality and women’s right to education, to vote, and to be treated with respect.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Cutting hair with a knife and the dangers associated with this.
  • Eating mushrooms from the wild if you don’t know what they are.
  • Commenting on women’s bodies and telling them to lose weight and the effect this has on self-esteem.