As fans of the
books know, Nancy Drew is the greatest sleuth to ever live in the small town of
River Heights.
However, Dad (Tate Donovan) is getting worried that her sleuthing is
putting his young teen daughter in too many dangerous situations. Since they will be relocating to Los Angeles
for a short time, while Dad works on big court case, Nancy promises to give up
sleuthing and be a regular teen, but that’s not going to happen (because you
wouldn’t have a movie then would you?). Nancy picked the house
where they will be living, and did so because it is the home of a famous
murdered starlet, and our teen sleuth wants to get to the bottom of the
unsolved case.
Will Nancy Drew
discover why Dehlia Draycott disappeared, and who murdered her upon her return
to Hollywood? Will Dad find out Nancy is up to her sleuthing ways? How many times can I write, “sleuthing”?
Nancy Drew is a
refreshing movie, especially for parents worried their daughters’ only role
models are Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton. It’s not going to be an Oscar contender, or
change the way you view movies, but Nancy Drew is a cute, fun adventure with
flaws none of the pre-teen kids in the audience will ever notice, and most parents
can forgive. The story does put Nancy in some perilous
situations, which will be too much for the youngest of kids to handle, but
co-writer/director Andrew Fleming and co-writer Tiffany Paulsen provide a
simple story more focused on the main character than the somewhat obvious mystery. It’s a smart move once you realize it’s Emma
Roberts who makes the movie worth watching.
While she always
is referred to as Julia Roberts’s niece, Nancy Drew gives Emma a chance to
emerge from her Aunt’s shadow, and show she is a very charming and talented
young actress in her own right. She
grabs onto the idea of Nancy
being a girl out of time like she stepped out of a 1950’s Ozzie and Harriett
episode to be confronted with the wildness of 2007, armed only with her
sleuthing kit and a tasty baked good treat (sounds like a dream girl to me). However, Roberts is smart enough never to let
Nancy be the butt of the joke, or let anyone in the audience think she should
be mocked for her wholesome ways or reliance on her brain over slutty clothes. She’s a hero on her own terms, and a lady who
knows how to be true to herself, no matter what anyone else thinks.
Fleming and
Paulsen don’t win any points for their stereotypically portraying of all adults
in the movie as complete doofuses, or how Nancy’s
Dad always seems to be wrong. They fill Nancy Drew with plenty of montages to kill time when the story runs thin, but the
overall movie is entertaining, has some fun cameos and could be the start of a
good series of sequels.
2
½ Waffles (Out of 4)
Nancy Drew is
rated PG for mild violence, thematic elements and brief language.
Copyright
2007 - WaffleMovies.com