Le Secret de la pyramide

Am a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes and get a lot of enjoyment out of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. Also love Basil Rathbone's and especially Jeremy Brett's interpretations to death. So would naturally see any Sherlock Holmes adaptation that comes my way, regardless of its reception.

Moreover, interest in seeing early films based on Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and wanting to see as many adaptations of any Sherlock Holmes stories as possible sparked my interest in seeing 'Young Sherlock Holmes'. Thought that with such great talent on board in front of and behind the camera that it couldn't fail.

Fail 'Young Sherlock Holmes' does not. It is not perfect and is not quite great, but it is hugely entertaining and hard to dislike. It is not one of the all-time Holmes adaptations or one of the worst (nothing's worse than Peter Cook's/Dudley Moore's 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'), and of the Sherlock Holmes films seen recently it is along with 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes' the best. It may not be Conan Doyle, and how Holmes and Watson meet here is contradictory to 'A Study in Scarlet', but as a standalone it delivers on the entertainment value.

'Young Sherlock Holmes' can get pretty silly at times, with the last act being over-the-top nonsense and in a way that is not in keeping with the rest of the story, which took a fun and light-hearted approach often but never to extremes. There are times where it does feel like it was trying to do too much.

Also found a few cast members to be on the hammy side, Freddie Jones goes overboard a bit.

Otherwise there is not an awful lot to dislike about 'Young Sherlock Holmes'. It still holds up as a great looking film, it is beautifully and atmospherically shot but the stars are the set design for Baker Street and the imaginative special effects (the knight is a standout). The direction is efficient and at ease with the material on the most part.

Bruce Broughton's music score is like a character of its own and adds so much character to the film. The writing is playful and witty while also intelligent and thought-provoking. The story throughout goes at a lively pace and is so much fun to watch, with a mystery that intrigues hugely. There are even some wonderfully strange moments, Watson's hallucination is one of the most bizarre on film but it's great fun to watch and imaginatively handled.

Nicholas Rowe displays much charisma as Holmes, with even in youth shades of the detective's iconic character traits. Alan Cox is a loyal and amusing Watson and the chemistry between them is charming. Sophie Ward exudes charm and class and Anthony Higgins has a whale of a time.

In summary, not great or perfect but a huge amount of fun. 7/10 Bethany Cox

My son turned 12 in August. We purchased this movie at a drugstore while on vacation because I remembered watching it a loving it when I was younger. My son has a love of mysteries and "spies", so I thought that this would be a good movie for him to enjoy. He watched it twice the first day and has seen it several times over the last couple of weeks. It really appeals to younger mystery fans, even though it is rated PG-13, for violence. I would recommend any parent see this movie before they let their kids see it. Some of the violence is hallucinatory, and therefore quite "scary". I think the way it begins Holmes's and Watson's friendship is fun and creative. I think the script and characterizations are well done (especially in light of more current movies, which are just to draw viewers to the theater and have no substance.) The casting was inspired, and I don't see how they could have improved upon it. The cinematography was great and the special effects very good for the time of this movie. Some people might find Holmes's character a bit smug, but that is accurate to the stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I recommend this movie to mystery fans, fans of Sherlock Holmes (but NOT "perfectionist" fans), and anyone who enjoys a young fellow showing up his elders.

Three teenagers, two boys and a girl, based at a fusty old English boarding school in the dead of winter, solve mysteries and fight supernatural forces. The leader of the three has a keen intelligence as well as a native ingenuity to get him and his pals out of the tightest of tight spots and even has a snotty rival in class, determined to bring him down. Their real protagonist though is one of the school masters while elsewhere there's a proliferation of eccentric older characters who interact with the youngsters. Sound familiar...?

But Holy Hogwarts, this isn't the long-lost prequel to the Harry Potter blockbuster series, or maybe it is...

What it is instead, is an imagined first adventure of the young Holmes and Watson, who we see meeting as schoolmates at Brompton Public School where Holmes's credentials as a young smart-aleck and Watson as his plodding but not always dumb sidekick are established.almost immediately. Add in the pretty young female niece of an eccentric old science teacher who sidelines by creating flying contraptions, mix in some murders caused by a hallucinogenic drug administered by the blow-dart of a cloaked female figure, top off with a ritualistic sect determined to sacrifice the young girl and you have an enjoyable and exciting boys-own family-entertainment sumptuously created by Spielberg's Amblin Productions, as written by Christopher Columbus and directed by Barry Levinson.

Cleverly inserting most of the familiar tropes we associate with the adult Holmes and Watson, including sayings, clothing and mannerisms, it's a rollicking ride from start to finish notably including an early example of the potential of Pixar productions in one of the animated sequences. There are cinematic nods to great uncle Steven with scenes highly reminiscent of "E. T" and "Raiders Of The Lost Ark".

Nicely acted by the no-doubt carefully cast youngsters, with good adult support too, backed by a suitably florid John Williams orchestral soundtrack, the whole film is easy on the eye and ear. I remember watching it on first release and being disappointed, then as now, that it wasn't successful enough at the box-office to generate the obviously anticipated and indeed epilogued sequel.

All it seems that was missing from the winning formula was a little magic...

Intriguing story, not based on a Doyle idea, about the meeting of Sherlock Holmes and his good friend Watson. Even as youngsters, they unravel mysteries together and find themselves in constant mayhem and peril. Rowe is an outstanding young Sherlock, while Cox is an exceptional younger Watson. Barry Levinson directed this fun look at the master detective in his younger years.

What if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created a story where Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson met as adolescents? What if he made it a very suspenseful mystery that explanied may of the great sleuth's character traits and stylistic characterisics? What if...well, he did not, but screenwriter Chris Columbus, director Barry Levinson, and producer Steven Spielberg do bring us a fine film that does these things called Young Sherlock Holmes. Young Sherlock Holmes is the meeting of fantasy film and classic literature, and it is a meeting that coexists very nicely. The great detective meets his future colleague and friend Dr. Watson in a London prep school amidst the mystery of what six men did many years ago in Egypt. Several of the men begin to die in horrible, inexplicable ways, and the young Holmes suspects mischief. The film is a veritable treasure trove of Sherlock Holmes allusions. The film is fast-paced, fun, fantastical, and creates insights into why Holmes developed emotionally the way he did. Nicholas Rowe does a superb job playing Holmes, bringing to the role intelligence as well as compassion. Alan Cox does an equally good job playing his young sidekick and doctor to be. The special effects are first-rate, yet in no way detract from the Victorian world of Doyle and Holmes and Watson. Start watching and it will not be long before you'll be saying, "The game is afoot!"