NANCY DREW

REVIEWED BY RISSI C.

Our rating: 5 out of 5

Rated:

From the 20's to the 90's, teenage sleuth Nancy Drew has been a popular choice for young girls. With a series of films made in the 40's, a TV show in the 70's and even a Disney TV film, these classic stories are still a great bet. And “Carolyn Keene” is still writing these, with a newer series called Nancy Drew: Girl Detective. After more then seventy-five years, this mystery solving girl is still the most popular small town girl around. Mystery just seems to follow her wherever she goes; no matter how hard she tries she can’t be a “normal” teenager. 

After River Heights recent string of burglaries, who better to solve the case than Nancy Drew (Emma Roberts)? But when she becomes a hostage in the situation, her father Carson Drew (Tate Donovan) tells her that while they are on his business trip to Hollywood, California, there will be no sleuthing. She has to do “normal” teenager stuff; shopping, parties, school, and making new friends. Nancy finds her father's new rule a little hard to cope with, especially after he purchases a house with a mystery attached, but somehow, Nancy is determined to follow along with her father’s wishes. Her latest case involves a very famous movie star, Dehila Draycott. Putting lots of effort into her research of Dehila, she has gathered an abundance of facts concerning the actresses’ life. Dehila was at the height of her fame when she disappeared for five months. Shortly after her return, she was found dead in her pool. Nancy’s new home belonged to Dehila, and she is excited to have yet another mystery to solve. 

Just when Nancy determines to give up her detective ways, strange things start to happen. After all, it’s not technically sleuthing if the mystery finds you, right? And when you find a letter written by Dehila that implies she intended to change her will, that has to be an important but overlooked detail in the circumstances surrounding her death. During their stay in Hollywood, Nancy gains a new sidekick in the incorrigible Corky (Josh Flitter) who happens to have a crush on Nancy. Seeing that his daughter has been so good about his new rule and with her birthday coming up, Carson Drew decides to surprise her by arranging for her car to be brought out by her friend Ned Nickerson (Max Thieriot). During Ned’s stay, he gets involved in Nancy’s new mystery and together Nancy, Corky and Ned piece together what happened to Dehila, and encounter more than one surprise along the way! 

My main motivation in seeing this film was familiarity with Nancy Drew after purchasing many books for Christmas and birthday gifts. This is a adorable movie to take your younger sisters to see. There is some mild content, but nothing so offensive to keep girls from helping Nancy in solving her newest case! A car attempts to run two kids over, but they escape unharmed. Nancy is kidnapped a couple of times, never resulting in any injuries. I heard one use of h*ll. Twice Nancy must use CPR, once it being a joke, the other in a real situation. A boy says he and a girl were “making out." Ned and Nancy kiss once. At Nancy’s party, the crowd begins to get a little out of hand when some kids start ripping down decorations. The most mature theme is conversation about a woman having a child out of wedlock. It wasn’t excessive or extreme and was well done. Another character is a single mother and we never know whether she was ever married or not. There is some inappropriate clothing worn by the high school girls. Nancy wears shorter skirts with her 50’s style wardrobe.  A boy remarks that he thinks his sister may “actually be the devil."

The mysterious things that happen are well done with it not be overly frightening or so simple that you will board stiff. There are a few scenes that may frighten small children. One has Nancy’s light going out while in a tunnel and when she regains it, there is a figure in front of her. While it isn’t anywhere close to the thriller genre with the dramatic music playing and suddenness of it, you can see where it may be startling for youngsters. This is not without a few cheesy moments, but they didn’t ruin the enjoyment of a nice family film. Emma Roberts was perfection. Her prim and proper 50’s style clothing was lovely. And her portrayal of the teen detective was fantastic; she has the potential to be just as great as her father, Eric, and Aunt Julia. I just hope she continues to star in good films such as Nancy Drew and Aquamarine. This role was very appropriate for her. Josh Flitter was hilarious and almost made up for Bess and George missing in most of the script. 

Carson Drew has made it clear that he no longer wants Nancy to sleuth, but we all know she does otherwise, or we wouldn’t have a story. Despite my dislike of films that portray children doing things behind their parents back, Nancy never actually promised her father when he asked, as they were interrupted by a phone call. She was also never disrespectful towards him and you can tell she loves him. Nancy does what she feels is right and in the end, her father is proud of the decisions she made. Still some of Nancy’s escapades land her in situations where she could have been seriously injured and just proves that dad does know best. I found this fun, cute and intriguing enough that you won’t be glancing at your watch every five minutes during the hour and half run time. With the end of this story comes the promise of another mystery to solve, along with the return of Nancy Drew and friends. Since the mystery is solved by the end of this story the only puzzle at the conclusion of this is…what will Nancy get into next?