Nancy Drew was worth the wait. When I saw this in the theater, I enjoyed it and so did my 10-year old niece. I thought it was great how they kept the essentials of Nancy’s character while plopping her down into a modern, Hollywood, setting where she couldn’t come across as anything but either retro (if you were feeling charitable) or impossibly square (the reaction of most of her high school classmates). My niece loved it for the mystery and the familiar characters. Gotta appreciate a film that works across generations.
Director Andrew Fleming had clearly done his Nancy homework. Emma Roberts’ casting as the girl detective is letter-perfect. She looks like you’d expect Nancy to look, she behaves how you’d expect Nancy to behave. Emma’s Nancy is almost perfect, but just flawed enough that you can’t hate her.
Nancy leaves her home in River Heights pretty quickly in the film (after she single-handedly breaks up a robbery ring), so we only get a fast glimpse of Hannah, George and Beth. But Nancy’s dad is along for the ride; actually, he’s the reason for it since he has a long-term job in L.A. Tate Donovan is fine as Carson Drew, but he was a little less supportive of Nancy’s sleuthing than I remembered (as in, he forbids it). And, beau Ned (Max Thieriot) also comes out to visit; again, he’s a little geekier than I’d pictured Ned being, but he grows on you.
Out in la-la land, Nancy picks up a new sidekick, Corky (Josh Flitter), and she, Corky and Ned set out to solve a mystery involving the mysterious disappearance and then murder of a 1970s movie star. Seems Nancy’s done her homework, too, and arranged to move into the star’s former home. The details of the mystery aren’t really critical, but it’s an interesting enough story and gives Nancy plenty of chances to irritate bad guys and get herself in to peril.
If you’ve read any of the Nancy Drew books, you’ll recognize plenty of the plot elements, but they don’t come off as trite, just as familiar and welcoming. This really is a fun little ride, and if you happen to watch it with a younger girl who’s just getting started with the books, it’s a great way to get a conversation going.
The special features are definitely geared for the younger set. You get to meet the main cast members (besides Roberts, Thieriot and Flitter, that includes Daniella Monet and Kelly Vitz) in a behind-the-scenes featurette and hear what’s on each of their iPods. There’s a gag reel that pretty much consists of Flitter cracking up repeatedly, and a music video. All cute, but not particularly deep or revealing.
The audio is Dolby Surround 5.1 with English, French and Spanish options. Subtitles are optional in those same languages. The disc includes both widescreen and full-screen versions and close captioning. I had a lot of fun reconnecting with Nancy, and it would be great if this was just the first in a series of Nancy Drew films. The strawberry-blonde girl in the little blue coupe triumphs again!
