What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that perils in this young-adult Sherlock Holmes dramainclude threats of the heroine being sacrificially turned into anEgyptian-style mummy, and kids being strangled and run through with swords. There's some potential nightmare imagery for young viewers -- scenes of demonic entitiesand rotting zombies; it's made clear that these are only hallucinations, butthe chills are still vividly rendered. Young Watson tries tobacco smoking.
- Families can talk about the idea of Sherlock Holmes as a boy. How well is itdone here? This movie suggests that Holmes' intellect and penchant forcrime-solving backfired -- when he busted his own father for some unspecifiedoffense. Is being this brilliant a help or a hindrance for a kid? You mightcompare Young Sherlock Holmes to other stories that portray youthfulmystery-solvers, including the "Encyclopedia Brown" series, and Eye of the Crow, Death in the Air, and other recent YA novels byShane Peacock that try to depict (in far more depth than this film) thetroubled childhood of Conan Doyle's great sleuth.