Fans of Millie Bobby Brown and Louis Partridge have been anxiously waiting for “Enola Holmes 2” ever since the release of “Enola Holmes” just two years ago. 

The 2020 film “Enola Holmes” follows the infamous Sherlock Holmes’s younger sister Enola as she tries to find her missing mother, Eudoria. In the first movie she runs into Viscount Tewkesbury, a boy on the run, and has to help him escape his family while also running from her other brother, Mycroft, who wants her put in boarding school.

“Enola Holmes 2” has returning main characters Enola, Sherlock, Tewkesbury and Eudoria and follows Enola through her pursuit of becoming a female detective. After being rejected many times for her age and gender, Bessie Chapman comes to her to help find her sister Sarah. This leads Enola to a bigger case than she was expecting as she dives into the mystery that became the Matchgirls’ Strike of 1888, the first industrial action taken by women for women.

After rewatching the original, I had hoped that the storyline involving her mother would continue, but while watching the sequel it became clear that that storyline would’ve been forced. There was a weak ending to that storyline in the original, and even though I found it unsatisfying and was left full of questions, I’m still glad that they didn’t try to make an entire movie just to settle that. Enola’s mother does still appear at moments in the sequel, so we are eventually able to see a more satisfying ending and goodbye between her and Enola.

The original movie was already cast perfectly and had a lot of chemistry, from the enemies-to-lovers trope between Enola and Tewkesbury to the separate relationships between Enola and each of her brothers. The new cast was amazingly chosen. The youngest of the new main characters, Bessie Chapman (Serrana Su-Ling Bliss), perfectly portrayed the role of a scared and confused younger sister, however I wish she had more screen time. Other new main characters like Mae (Abbie Hern) and Sarah (Hannah Dodd) were only in certain parts of the movie, but they each still made the most of their screen time. It’s difficult to say much more about either character without giving anything away.

Both movies are set in Victorian England, and they do an amazing job keeping the sets, wardrobes, dialogue and props extremely authentic, which allows viewers to get that much more immersed in the story. There were one or two scenes using poorly-done special effects, but they didn’t take too much away from the general movie.

While most of my opinions on this movie are full of praise, my one large critique is that the overall plot is fairly predictable. Enola and Sherlock slowly solve the case together, but if you’re paying enough attention, you’re able to somewhat guess the “big reveal.” If you’re not someone who likes diving deep into mystery movies then you’ll have no issues with it, but if you like a lot of suspense and a plot that keeps you wondering, you may find “Enola Holmes 2” a bit too shallow.

Overall, I enjoyed watching “Enola Holmes 2.” This movie may not be for everyone, and definitely could have been improved with better plot twists, but for a sequel it complemented the first very well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of the “Enola Holmes” series in the future.

“Enola Holmes 2:” ★★★★☆