If imitation is the highest form of flattery then Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling must have really liked Barry Levinson's Young Sherlock Holmes. If you think this theory isn't quite elementary, then let's take a look at the facts. Here are 10 reasons where the worlds of Holmes and Potter collide. The game is afoot! 1.[b] Both Holmes and Potter have not one, but two sidekicks. [/b]While most Sherlocks have their Watson, the young Holmes (Nicholas Rowe) gets another one in the form of his girlfriend Elizabeth (Sophie Ward.) Harry, of course, has Ron and Hermione, but in both cases, the girls are prissy, the male sidekick is a scaredy-cat, and the hero is virtually fearless. And you tell me if you don't think that Elizabeth's bushy mane is somewhat similar to that of the younger Hermione. 2.[b] Both characters' adventures largely take place in their schools.[/b] By now, even non-Harry Potter fans have heard of Hogwart's School of Wizardry where much of the eight-part film series takes place. In YSM, the action predominately takes place in an ominous, late 19th century, London boarding school where Holmes first meets Watson. 4. [b]Holmes' sidekicks and fellow students wear striped scarves in the winter and eat at long candlelit tables. [/b]Though YSM is a period piece and Harry Potter takes place in a fantasy version of modern England, both films features shadowy cobblestone streets and wintry cityscapes. They also feature students bedecked in scarves while dining in warm candlelit dining halls. Even young Watson's spectacles are positively Potter-esque. These are the moments where one thinks that scenes from any given Potter film could be spliced into YSM, and vice versa, without anyone, Muggle or otherwise, ever knowing the difference. 10. [b]The devil is in the opening credits.[/b] While watching the opening credits, you might discover one name that is quite familiar who isn't Steven Spielberg: Chris Columbus, the filmmaker who not only wrote Gremlins, The Goonies, and Young Sherlock Holmes but also directed the first two Harry Potter films! If that doesn't cast a Confundo curse on you, I don't know what will. [b]Conclusion[/b]: Did J.K. Rowling actually plagiarize the filmmakers behind Young Sherlock Holmes? [b]You can decide for yourself[/b], but I at least like to think that given the author's extraordinary depth of talent, she could never really be accused of wholesale theft of other storytellers' ideas. As the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun, and in the world of creative arts, some things just tend to float in the ether, waiting for someone to give it life either on a page or on a stage. Had YSM been a box office blockbuster that is still embraced by audiences today (and it really should be) there might be something to all these coincidences. Perhaps Ms. Rowling saw YSM once upon a time and its gorgeous imaginings of a Holmesian universe stayed nestled inside the creative side of her brain until that fateful day she finally set pen to paper. Or maybe she's really Moriarty in disguise. Case reopened... I only posted 4 out of 10 so [url=http://www.examiner.com/review/did-harry-potter-plagiarize-young-sherlock-holmes]for further reading click this[/url]