65
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyNot only the best movie to feature an Egyptian blowgun in several years, but also one of the few really stylish and entertaining American movies of 1985.
- 89Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenThe more one knows about Holmes lore, the more the film's foreshadowings of future cases will be evident. Set in a boys boarding school, the film's imaginings about the life of the young detective are quite entertaining.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe elaborate special effects also seem a little out of place in a Sherlock Holmes movie, although I'm willing to forgive them because they were fun.
- 70Time OutTime OutWhile lacking the clarity and breathtaking speed which Spielberg brings to this type of material, it's agreeable enough entertainment.
- 63Chicago TribuneGene SiskelChicago TribuneGene SiskelThe production is first-rate in all technical ways imaginable, but the villain that Holmes and Watson chase is not worth their intellect or time or ours.
- 60EmpireOlly RichardsEmpireOlly RichardsThe young cast, which resembles a collection of Gerald Scarfe illustrations, acquits itself reasonably well, but is too ordinary to be heroic. And, once action is introduced into the mix, Barry Levinson's direction falters.
- 60IGNIGNBe sure to watch the film all the way through the end credits for a clever post-credit cookie (a rarity for this era).
- 60TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineWhereas the first half of the movie concentrates nicely on the developing friendship between the young Holmes and Watson, the storm of roller-coaster thrills and Industrial Light and Magic special effects soon takes over, blowing the nicely drawn characters away.
- 50Slant MagazineSlant MagazineAs a work of fictional imagination, Holmes is simply fascinating, and Young Sherlock Holmes attempts to unlock the source of that fascination. The film re-imagines the first encounter between Holmes and Watson from within the dusty honeycombs of a boarding school buried deep within the folds of Victorian London. What one finds there are fascinatingly incomplete portraits.
- 40Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrThis is Middle-aged Sherlock Holmes in schoolboy drag, and the audience is expected to chuckle appreciatively as the old material is trotted out.