It’s always nice to be surprised by a movie.

Take 2020’s Netflix offering “Enola Holmes.” Based on the first in a series of YA novels by Nancy Springer, the film follows the titular girl – sister to the famed detective Sherlock Holmes – as she finds herself embroiled in a mystery she herself must solve. I went in expecting something passable, and instead was served a charming and wholesome cinematic treat. And I wasn’t alone in feeling that way – the film was well-received by critics and audiences alike.

So of course we were going to get a sequel.

“Enola Holmes 2” sees Millie Bobbie Brown return as the titular girl detective. Harry Bradbeer is back to direct, while Jack Thorne has returned to write the screenplay (though it should be noted that this new film is not a direct adaptation of any of the Springer novels). And while out heroine is a little older and a little wiser, the sense of fun that marked the pervious installment is still very much present.

Mixed in with that fun, however, is a nod to some of the very real circumstances of the time and place in which the film takes place. Now, this is a fairly glossy treatment of the bleakness endured by the lower socioeconomic classes in late 19th century London, but it does draw on real events as the core of the story it tells. A story told rather successfully, I might add.