Young Sherlock Holmes Blu-ray Review

Although finally available on Blu-ray, Paramount’s decision to recycle the already rather poor transfer created for the movie’s 2003 DVD release is a bad one.

The Production: 4/5

What if a young John Watson met a young Sherlock Holmes at a boys boarding school in 1870? That’s the idea behind director Barry Levinson’s 1985 venture into the Young Adult fantasy genre, Young Sherlock Holmes. Someone is causing a group of wealthy gentlemen to hallucinate, leading to an untimely death. When Sherlock’s (Nicholas Rowe) favorite retired professor Rupert Waxflatter (Nigel Stock), uncle to his lady love Elizabeth (Sophie Ward), dies suddenly of the same mysterious circumstances, the young sleuth and Watson (Alan Cox) begin following the clues, much to the chagrin of Scotland Yard’s Detective Sergeant Lestrade (Roger Ashton-Griffiths). Their investigation leads them to a secret society that sacrifices young girls as part of an Egyptian ceremony in a pyramid constructed inside an old abandoned warehouse, reminiscent of a movie that was released just 18 months prior (and directed by this film’s Executive Producer Steven Spielberg), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. That was one of the complaints some critics had about Young Sherlock Holmes, in addition to Levinson’s rather flat direction (this has been his one solo effort in this genre). Despite all that, I have always found this movie rather enjoyable, especially the visual effects (which received an Oscar nomination that year), including the very first use of a computer generated character created by Pixar (which was still a division of ILM at the time), and I always found Watson’s pastry hallucinations rather hilarious.

Video: 1.5/5

3D Rating: NA

It seems to be hit and miss with Paramount these days on catalog releases, both Blu-ray and 4K. Young Sherlock Holmes is yet another major disappointment of a long-awaited Blu-ray debut of a catalog title. The first two title cards that appear after the Paramount logo as the movie begins are a clue that this is NOT a recent transfer, as there is very noticeable back and forth weave. The viewing experience goes all downhill from there. While the 1080p image does show a slight increase in color fidelity (moving from Rec. 601 to Rec. 709), the overall transfer is nearly unwatchable with the rather obvious use of DNR (digital noise reduction) and edge enhancement that may have been baked in to the older transfer being used here. Faces often smear across the screen as they move, backgrounds lose all detail, and even heavy snow disappears in the far background of extremely wide shots. Film grain is also a smeary mess, causing the image to appear overly soft as well. Black levels yield very poor shadow detail, with darker sequences (such as the exploration of the warehouse) a murky mess. The transfer has also been opened up to 1.78:1 rather than the theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Why a new transfer could not have been commissioned for this release, considering how many fans (especially here on HTF) have been requesting this title on Blu-ray for over fifteen years – when HTF visited Paramount during their Hollywood meets in 2008, 2012, and 2015 Young Sherlock Holmes was always one of the top requested titles members wanted to see on Blu-ray. That makes this release even more of a letdown.

I should note that this disc was viewed on a Sony UBP-X800M2 UHD Blu-ray disc player and a 55″ LG C1 OLED display in Filmmaker Mode.

Audio: 4/5

This is essentially the same 5.1 mix used on the 2003 DVD release, upgraded to lossless Dolby TrueHD. It is a pretty solid affair, a good representation of the 70mm multi-channel mix created for its theatrical release in 1985. The front is relatively wide, with good stereo separation. Surrounds are used sparingly, mostly as ambience and to extend Bruce Boughton’s wonderful score, but some discrete effects are used where needed. Dialogue is clear and understandable throughout. The film’s original stereo matrixed surround track, which was included on the 2003 DVD release, has not been ported over (which is odd, considering there was plenty of room left on the BD50 disc).

Special Features: 0.5/5

Other than an attractive steelbook case that replicates the original theatrical poster and a digital copy (redeemable on either Apple TV or Vudu), this is yet another barebones release. Not even a trailer has been included.

Overall: 2/5

The Blu-ray debut of Young Sherlock Holmes is a major disappointment in the video department, one of the worst-looking catalog releases on Blu-ray by a major studio in some time. Buyer beware.

Now retrieving an image set.

Young Sherlock Holmes Limited Edition Steelbook

(1537)

$21.98 (as of March 30, 2023 10:42 GMT -07:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)

 

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