The greatest animated detective

When I think about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s, Sherlock Holmes mystery stories, the actors, Basil Rathbone or Jeremy Brett come to mind. Heck, even the new Sherlock Holmes movie I saw early tonight, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law has not passed by without notice. But interestingly enough, I discovered a Russian animated cartoon (directed byAlexander Bubnoff in 2006), depicting our favorite detective and his trusting side kick, Dr. John Watson (see picture of our favorite duo below), a few days ago. While the animation may appear to be simple and not quite, as polish as other animation styles (i.e. anime or CGI), Bubnoff nonetheless made a really good short animated film that is both humorous and interesting.

The animated short, Bubnoff directed is entitled, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The Murder of Lord Waterbrook (2006), which involves our favorite duo investigating, you guest it, a murder of a local lord (Waterbrook) in his home. Bubnoff’s animated short is somewhat a parody of a typical Sherlock Holmes murder mystery because the corpses of both Lord Waterbrook and his butler both make comments to Holmes and the others, even though, they are both suppose to be dead. Bubnoff also seems to like using exaggeration is his animation because he gives the maid an extremely large bust and makes Holmes tall with a thin neck and thick middle. The most absurd or humorous part of the short comes towards the end, when the dead lord decides to kill himself again (that’s right, Waterbrook actually killed himself, though the cook tried to do him in) when he finds out that his wife was having relations with his driver (who turned out to be his illegitimate brother in disguise), thinking it was him.

Overall, Bubnoff’s animated short, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The Murder of Lord Waterbrook, is a humorous and entertaining animation that effectively utilizes the art of parody and exaggeration really well. While the animation appears to be simple and not quite, as polish as other animation styles (i.e. anime or CGI), Bubnoff’s animated short is still a delightful little piece of work. In the end, Bubnoff’s animated short is a humorous cartoon that Sherlock Holmes fans should see.