... it's a perfectly agreeable family entertainment, a craftsmanlike fantasia on Conan Doyle.

There is something about Holmes's elegant, haunting, and whisperingly melancholic distance, his analytical remove from the world, that inspires a desire for glimpses of the baroque corridors of labyrinthine interiors.

If these story elements seem typical of Conan Doyle, there is also a lot in this movie that can be traced directly to the work of Steven Spielberg, the executive producer.

The action, when it comes, is not shot in a suspenseful for engaging manner. Levinson has much strength as both writer and director; action and suspense are not among his stronger skills.