Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Young Sherlock Holmes Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 18, 2023

“A deductive mind never rests,” Holmes tells Watson soon after their meeting in Young Sherlock Holmes, Director Barry Levinson's (The Natural, Rain Man) take on the famous Arthur Conan Doyle detective who has been portrayed through the years in films of various styles and approaches, but never quite like this. Blend something of an origins story with a truly bizarre case that leads the dynamic sleuthing duo to some unexpected finds and places and villains and this might be one of the more unique, but also one of the more satisfying, adaptations in the character's long and storied history on the screen.

A teenage Sherlock Holmes (Nicholas Rowe) meets and befriends his future sidekick, the bemused and bespectacled John Watson (Alan Cox). During their first semester of boarding school, a series of deaths occur on campus. Intrigued by the crime, Holmes looks into it and soon comes to suspect a poisonous hallucinogen. And then, in the midst of their investigation, Holmes and Watson stumble on a bizarre cult with a penchant for human sacrifice -- after which they must struggle to escape.

There are several components that make for a good Sherlock Holmes tale, and all are well accounted for here. First is the detective work and the deductive reasoning, the analysis of clues, and the assembly of the various parts towards the truth behind a crime or a criminal. The film works these core elements to satisfaction, offering a solid story with twisty narrative elements that keep Holmes on his toes, but never stumped. He's forced to push himself beyond his limits, and that the story engages him personally, not just professionally, further advances the drama and the story's depth. The script wisely reveals Holmes' human side through all of this, particularly as the film draws to a close, and one can see how the events in the film will shape the protagonist going forward.

A good Holmes story also demands fine interplay between the protagonists. That is delivered here. Despite their youth and relative inexperience compared to what will come in the core Conan Doyle tales, this origins story shows the building of a relationship that will come to define the detective genre and lead the characters through any number of their famous ventures in and around London in the years to come. Fans will appreciate little winks and nods that foreshadow the relationship established in the original book materials while also enjoying new insights and fresh content appropriate to their ages and experience levels. The actors play well against one another, too, demonstrating fine chemistry that will carry them through future endeavors. The film does acknowledge that it takes liberties with the source in a closing text block, but the film has embellished with care and concern for the characters and the source.

Young Sherlock Holmes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Clearly, Paramount has not done any work to bring new life to Young Sherlock Holmes, which has clearly been dropped onto Blu-ray with an old transfer. The image shows various signs of this. For one, the odd splotch and speckle are in evidence. Second, various examples of edge enhancement are evident throughout. Neither of these issues reach the level of "egregious," but the filtering, grain tampering, and murky black levels abound. The picture is very weak, with less than naturally occurring grain, a soft look, and some compression issues in play. The picture lacks razor crisp detail, offering instead flat, uninteresting textures, which is a shame given the opportunities for rich definition in the various old London locales, and some of the more elaborate set pieces that are found in the third act. The film is fairly dim, with flat colors and earthen tones dominating. There's very little life or vibrance to be found, part of which may be attributed to the film's tonally bland style but also the transfer's failure to really grab a hold of any sense of life or brilliance. As noted, black levels are also problematic, appearing murky and overly dense (look at about the 34:40 and 1:10:31 marks). Skin tones are pasty and uninteresting. This remains watchable, but it's also a very depressed and disappointing release from Paramount.

Young Sherlock Holmes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Young Sherlock Holmes' sound design does not lend itself to a Blu-ray audio bonanza, but the presentation here is very respectable within the film's natural audio confines. The track is comfortably spacious and clear, though certainly not fully enveloping or transparently lifelike. The lossless encode does allow for boosted clarity and definition with satisfying width and engagement in both core audio elements and environmental specifics. Dialogue is clear, for one thing, with fine front-center grounding and realistic portrayal of actor vocals and inflections. It is also well prioritized. Music enjoys satisfying front stretch and solid fidelity. including various sounds inside a workshop at the 17-minute mark playing with pleasing front side spacing and engagement, followed by a nicely defined general din in a dining hall a few minutes later. Sounds inside a workshop at the 17-minute mark play with pleasing front side spacing and engagement, followed by a nicely defined general din in a dining hall a few minutes later. All in all, this is a solid track, not one to stretch sound systems but one that delivers the inherent audio characteristics for this film with as much enjoyable engagement and detail as can be mustered.

Young Sherlock Holmes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Young Sherlock Holmes contains no supplemental content. It does ship in exclusive SteelBook packaging which is attractive. The glossy front panel depicts classic artwork within a red border box top center and middle. Predominant within it is Holmes peering through a magnifying glass with his teenage face enlarged in it. Other characters and odds and ends from the film are present as well. The film's title appears bottom center in red. The rear panel features another collage, this one much lighter with various character portraits scattered about, as well as locations and objects from the film. Prominent is a floating head image of Holmes, top, and a full body portrait of the title character standing on a chandelier, center, holding a torch. The spine is black with the film's title in red, center, and red Paramount and Blu-ray logos at the top and bottom, respectively. Inside, the digital copy code is tucked underneath the left-hand-side tabs. The lone Blu-ray disc is situated on the right on a central hub. The inner print is a two-panel spread that features the text "the game is afoot!" at the top with both panels featuring a bronze/sepia tinted character and location collage.

Young Sherlock Holmes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Young Sherlock Holmes finds a way to be faithful to the core of Sir Arthur Conan Doyl's famed sleuth while also reinventing his history with faithful ambition. The result is a fun little film that may be lacking in narrative creativity but that does do a splendid job of entertaining its audiences with the time, place, and purpose for which the character was created. Paramount's Blu-ray is lazy. The video is poor and no extras are included. Good audio and exclusive SteelBook packaging add some value, but the presentation misses where fans care the most.