I hated it. The movie made wandered away from the book so much, it was almost painful to see it. <br /><br />First of all Dr. Mortimer was a young man and his age was the key in the opening sequence of the novel. By making him an old large man destroyed the very beginning of the story. <br /><br />Then, the main characters - In one scene Holmes is using violence to get his way, which he NEVER did unless the situation was life-threatening. If we was beating people up to get answers then he would be a pretty dumb detective. Besides that, this Holmes is arrogant and a big snob. I am not so fond of the original character, but he was better than this. And Watson is so undeveloped. He is like a enclosure to Holmes, just sitting there and doing nothing, while Holmes is babbling on and on (he never babbled, he was a man of silent action). <br /><br />And the plot was changes so much, I don't know where to start pointing out the wrongs. I will only say, that Barrymore was flashing the lights for the runaway murderer who just happened to be his wife's brother. Why did he do it - the spouses were feeding him, while his was hiding before moving to South America (he never had the chance).