A little worried that Sir Ian McKellen had to match the likes of Robert Downey Jr and Benedict Cumberbatch as the super sleuth Sherlock Holmes? Well, you really shouldn't have. As with the Guy Ritchie's films and the acclaimed BBC series, Bill Condon's Mr Holmes is a fresh new take on the character and so far, the critics are loving it.

Mr HolmesSir Ian McKellen plays an aging Sherlock in Bill Condon's Mr Holmes

Grappling with the diminishing powers of his mind, Mr Holmes follows an aging Sherlock who returns from a journey to Japan where, in search of a rare plant with restorative qualities, witnessed the devastation of nuclear warfare. Now residing in a remote seaside farmhouse, content with tending to his bees, Holmes revisits the circumstances of his only unsolved case.

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"Granted, the unhurried pace will frustrate some, while those looking for a really brain-teasing mystery will also be disappointed. But if you like the idea of a meditative, melancholic Holmes, this is for you," said James Mottram of The List.

"What makes it progressively more moving is a complex, multi-layered script and the performance from Sir Ian, which is reminiscent of Victor Sjöström in Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries as another old man looking back on his life," said Geoffrey Macnab of the Independent.

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"This is easily the best Sherlock story that Conan Doyle never wrote. A film more about retirement and regret than questions and answers, it sees McKellen gently, brilliantly expose the frailties of an immortal character," said Paul Bradshaw of Total Film.

"Condon does a fine job humanising an otherwise mythical figure, catching up with him as an elderly gentleman, and exploring the vulnerability and physical restraints that come with that," said Stefan Pape of HeyUGuys.

Mr Holmes will be released in the UK on June 19 before heading to the States on July 17, 2015.

Watch the trailer for Mr Holmes: