As someone who found all but the 3rd Indiana Jones film a bit of a yawn ("Indiana was the dog."), this was a breath of fresh air. Jolly good mystery set in pea soup London, mix in a bit of Boarding School rivalry, a mad professor, a tragic love interest and a big dollop of Egyptian spectacle. It doesn't get much better.<br /><br />Yes, there were some adventurous special effects that fell a bit flat (early days for ILM).<br /><br />Yes, Holmes is a less than sympathetic character, but I thought, very much in keeping with a teenage version of the well known, adult Holmes (who had a few weaknesses himself, as I recall).<br /><br />Yes, there's some Harry Potter here, but I think Harry was a couple of years after and Cinderella (for that matter) was a couple of years before, if you're going to get into who ripped off whom.<br /><br />However, the characters are delicious, the mystery excellent and the spectacle completely over the top - frankly, if you like your adventure films with more brains than brawn, this is the one for you!