Sherlock Holmes

June 12, 2011 - Holmes and Watson come face to face with a dinosaur and other fantastic things in this 2010 video release. Ben Snyder is Holmes. Watson is played by Gareth David-Lloyd, of Torchwood and Dr. Who fame.

The movie begins with an elderly Watson recounting Sherlock Holmes' greatest adventure which, up until now, has been kept top secret by the British government. Watson's pretty, young assistant dutifully writes it all down.

Back in time we go to the 1880s. Holmes is called in to investigate when a British ship carrying tax money from the colonies is attacked and sunk. The only survivor describes the culprit as a giant octopus! The investigation later brings Holmes and Watson face-to-face with a dinosaur, a cyborg and a mechanical fire-breathing dragon! All this in Victorian England!

Overall review: ** This film was released the year after Guy Ritchie's pumped-up version of Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. While that film was billed as a blockbuster, this version is a "mockbuster," intended, I think, to be so bad that it's good. And, this one actually is. It's not great, but I found it watchable and generally entertaining. (It's produced by Asylum Home Entertainment, which is known for mockbusters) Sherlock's fast-talking logic can't overcome the totally illogical elements, but, so what? It's still interesting to watch just to see what crazy thing happens next.