Watson joins Holmes at the school he is attending in London, with cots next to each other. Holmes is already a known eccentric and solver of mysteries: the school high-class bully challenges him to a game of deduction, which he solves cleverly. The school also features an eccentric old inventor, a professor-emeritus who keeps trying to fly an ornithopter. He has a niece, played by Sophie Ward, who Holmes is sweet on. She is the only actor in this I think we've seen before, in The Hunger.
Meanwhile, there as been a rash of deaths around London - apparent suicides. But we know that a mysterious cloaked figure has been shooting them with drug darts, which cause frightening hallucinations. Holmes thinks these are murders and goes to the police. A certain Lestrade, not yet inspector, doesn't believe him - of course.
This is more of an Indiana Jones with Victorian kids than a mystery of deduction. There's even a Temple of Doom - Pyramid actually. In fact, it's all very 80's kids' adventure. It even has the Spielbergian obsession with explaining how every bit of the mythos came to be: We see the origin of the calabash pipe, the Inverness cape, the deerstalker hat, and even a bit of the violin. Not the coke habit, though.
I found this to be fun, because I like this type of adventure movie. But it certainly isn't a classic - although it does have some nice hallucinations, including an early CGI stained-glass knight come to life. But if you are a true Baker Street Irregular, you might have trouble with the idea of Holmes with a girlfriend, or of Holmes and Watson meeting before Watson goes to Afghanistan. They actually included disclaimers before and after the film asking forgiveness for this departure from canon.
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