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Young Sherlock Holmes

Young Sherlock Holmes

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $11.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: i loved it
Review: spielbergs hand is evident and exciting and a forerunner to E.T

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best overlooked movie of all time.
Review: This has to be one of the greatest movies ever made, and on of the most ignored. If you're a fan of Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes" stories or you like old-fashioned adventure a la "Indiana Jones," Then this movie is for you.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: fantasy cloaked in mystery keeps you guessing!
Review: Spielberg's concept of how the young Sherlock Holmes might have begun his career is a real thriller. Hallucinogenic-inspired fantasies, real life Victorian settings and a story that would make Sir Doyle proud all combine to create a unique whodunit.Good family entertainment? Elementary.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: EHTAR-RATHE
Review: Young Sherlock Holmes is a truly excellent film. Although the story is totally apocryphal and Holmes Purists may be upset by the story, it is certainly one of the most fun I have ever watched about the Sleuth.

The Acting is great, the story is great and the score is a classic, but the where this film truly shimes, at least for me, is the visual effects.

Since this film was made before Computer Animation was widely used, there are a number of puppetry/stop action scenes that are amazing, as well as a computer animated stained glass knight.

This movie is a must watch, all the way through the credits (which contains an excellent indulgent twist).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An underrated adventure!
Review:
A series of bizarre murders conducted by a secret Egyptian cult in London are using blowdarts with drugs in them to give people freaky hallucinations. A Young man named "Watson" is a new student who just enrolled in a boarding school where he meets a pre-teen student named "Sherlock Holmes" whom definitely wants to become a detective. Sherlock with Watson become good friends as they both are baffled by the mysterious crimes and they begin to investigate these strange murders conducted by the evil cult.

A very entertaining and imaginative adventure from executive producer Steven Spielburg and writer Chris Columbus with tons of great ideas, good special effects on the hallucinations even with the scene that has Watson being attacked by walking talking pasteries, the first CGI character on film, great acting and the music score is sooo underrated but very good. I recommend this movie to anyone who loves a good adventure, but stick around during the ending credits for a suprise.

The DVD is practically barebones with no extras, not even a trailer but has decent picture & fine sound quality.

Also recommended: Return to Oz, Making Contact ( a.k.a. Joey), Big Trouble in Little China, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, Poltergeist, The Mummy ( 1999), Van Helsing, Vampire Hunter D, The Great Mouse Detective, Ghostbusters, The Goonies, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sherlock Holmes as a teenager
Review: I am glad that this film has been released on DVD.

It is about Sherlock Holmes as a teenager still in school. Watson is the new student who is drawn to Sherlock out of curiousity. Watson tags along as others in the school test his powers of deduction.

But when people start to see things that aren't there it leads Sherlock and Watson on their first real mystery. It has the added bonus of Elizabeth, the girl who is the object of Sherlock's love.

This is a definite must for anyone who enjoys movies like Indiana Jones and The Mummy. The special effects are great and the movie is well acted and has a non-predictable ending!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An intriguing and entertaining 'what-if' fantasy adventure
Review: With Steven Spielberg in the producing chair it should come as no real susprise that 1985s YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES as a definite Indiana Jones influence to it - most specifically Spielberg's most recent entry (at that time) into the popular frnachise INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM. Nowhere is this more evident than in the ancient hidden temple setting where our young heroes uncover much of the villains evil plot.
For a Sherlockian the movie is a curious anomaly, but incredibly entertaining. We know from the books of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that Dr. Watson met Sherlock Holmes when both were in adulthood, yet this movie poses the irresistible `what-if' they had met earlier when both were in boarding school.
As one would expect with a movie from Spielberg's Amblin company, this movie is very colorful and filed with dazzling special effects - courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic. The plot essentially takes a back seat to the fun of spotting Holmesian references, watching his already developing deductive intellect solving puzzles and rooting for a bittersweet, blossoming romance between Holmes (played by Nicholas Rowe of LA FEMME MUSKETEER) and Elizabeth (Sophie Ward).
For what it's worth the central plot involves a poisoned darts, hallucinations, DaVinci inventions, a strange Egyptian religious cult and a mysterious secret several distinguished men have kept buried for years. It all makes for some very Spielbergesque style adventure entertainment that director Barry (RAIN MAN) Levinson manages to weave into an enjoyable and intriguing movie.
Sherlockian purists will likely find this premise hard to swallow, but as a diehard fan of the Great Detective, I for one had a great time with this movie.
Unquestionably the chracterization of Watson is influenced more by the Rathbone-Bruce movies of the 1930s and 1940s than Conan Doyles novels with this movie featuring Alan Cox in the part of the future doctor, a role he handles well with warmth and good humor.
Also of note in this movie is some wonderful period costumes and impressive sets.
With doses of mystery, fantasy, intrigue and adventure this movie is easy to recommend, not only for Sherlockians but for those of us who simply enjoy good, solid, fun movies.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great, Spellbinding spielberg
Review: I first saw this movie when i was but a wee young lad under 10. It captivated my interest then and still does today. The chanting songs like rammitep continue to play in my and my friends minds. I watched again recently and liked it just as much. The acting is great and the movie story is equally as good although it may or may not have much to do with sir arthur cohan doyles work deprnding upon who you are.
-Ferdinand Aberdinan Moscow, ID

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: EHTAR-RATHE
Review: Young Sherlock Holmes is a truly excellent film. Although the story is totally apocryphal and Holmes Purists may be upset by the story, it is certainly one of the most fun I have ever watched about the Sleuth.

The Acting is great, the story is great and the score is a classic, but the where this film truly shimes, at least for me, is the visual effects.

Since this film was made before Computer Animation was widely used, there are a number of puppetry/stop action scenes that are amazing, as well as a computer animated stained glass knight.

This movie is a must watch, all the way through the credits (which contains an excellent indulgent twist).

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: OK potboiler, done to a turn
Review: YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES (USA 1985): In Victorian London, the teenage Sherlock Holmes (Nicholas Rowe) and John Watson (Alan Cox) meet for the first time at school, where they become intrigued by a series of apparently unrelated 'suicides' which lead them to a murderous Egyptian cult operating in the bowels of the city...

Barry Levinson's reimagining of Holmes' teenage years is an enjoyable - though inconsequential - work which blends old-fashioned British melodrama with the demands of a US summer blockbuster (Steven Spielberg is one of the co-producers), whilst simultaneously acknowledging its debt to previous Holmes movies (note the iconic 'shadow-on-cobblestones' during the opening credits, derived from a similar image featured in the Rathbone-Bruce movies of the 1940's). The script, by future director Chris Columbus (HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCEROR'S STONE), plays fair with audience expectations by setting Holmes on the trail of a shadowy villain who leaves a series of intriguing clues in his/her wake, and the entire production is sumptuously designed (by Norman Reynolds) and photographed (by Stephen Goldblatt). Vivid set-pieces include a number of frightening hallucinations suffered by the 'suicide' victims before they die (parents of younger children, take note), and there's a major plot development at the VERY END of the film. Of the younger cast members, only Cox makes much of an impression, playing Watson as a decent, loyal friend prone to juvenile weaknesses (in particular, a fondness for custard tarts!), while Sophie Ward is unable to make much of an underwritten role as Holmes' first - and only - sweetheart. Rowe's performance as Holmes lacks the zest and dynamism that might have lifted the movie out of the ordinary, and his blank-faced, emotionless characterization is the single most disappointing aspect of the entire production, though the supporting cast of familiar British thesps (including Freddie Jones, Anthony Higgins, Susan Fleetwood and Roger Ashton-Griffiths) does much to fill the void in Rowe's wake. Look out for some interesting names in the credits, including animatronics supervisor Stephen Norrington (later the director of BLADE and THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN) and computer animation technician John Lasseter (director of TOY STORY and A BUG'S LIFE).

The print used for Paramount's DVD has a few stray speckles, and part of the image seems to 'flicker' slightly, easily spotted on larger monitors during stationary shots (cf. the shot at 00:05:30, particularly on the right hand side), but this visual blemish won't even register for most viewers. Sound quality is excellent, with extensive use of surrounds, though bass is somewhat lacking in the 5.1 version. There are no extras, not even a trailer.

108m 44s
1.85:1 / Anamorphically enhanced
DVD soundtracks: Dolby 5.1/Dolby Surround 2.0
Theatrical soundtrack: 6-track Dolby Stereo
Optional English subtitles and closed captions
Region 1


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