When this Steven Spielberg produced effort came out in 1985, it came and it went fairly quickly. I missed it entirely and this is a movie that normally I would have seen. It just goes to show that the name of Steven Spielberg doesn’t always mean gold at the box office although officially the film was not directed by him it was directed Barry Levinson (RAIN MAN).
When I watched YSN for the first time, I was astonished at how much it resembles the early HARRY POTTER films. This comes as no surprise as YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES was written by Chris Columbus who directed the first two Potter outings. The costumes, the photography, the settings are all strikingly similar and this has to be more than coincidence.
Fans of Sherlock Holmes should find the plot about Holmes and Watson meeting at boarding school and investigating mysterious murders there engaging while fans of Harry Potter will find marked similarities to Harry’s environment at Hogwarts. Alan Cox (son of Brian) who plays young Watson looks somewhat like Harry even down to the glasses.
While there are a number of similarities to Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES can stand on it’s own. With its fine cast and lavish production values, YSH deserves to be better known. Be sure and go all the way through the credits at the end because there is a final key scene that you can’t afford to miss.
The Capsule Critic 