If anyone needs me, I'll be reading. Please don't need me.

If anyone needs me, I'll be reading. Please don't need me.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Okay family film


The conceit of Nancy Drew, a 2007 update/reboot of the Nancy Drew franchise (which over the decades has included books, movies, TV shows, and probably other offerings I'm unaware of) is that everything in Nancy's world has been updated except Nancy herself. Nancy as seen here prefers to dress like a young girl from the 1940's and 50's ("I like old-fashioned things," she tells her friends) and she has the polite manners of that era, too, which will likely make older viewers sigh with nostalgia.

With her retro ways and her sometimes over-the-top crimefighting skills (Nancy actually carries a grappling hook to descend from roofs), initially one wonders if we should be laughing at Nancy along with her teen peers. But, no, like those other characters, we soon fall into the we should respect others even if they're a little different vibe that the movie enthusiastically gives off before too long.

Once we're used to her eccentricities, Nancy comes off as a charming, likable character, and one we care about as she takes on a somewhat dangerous mystery. Things never get too scary, though. In fact, the operative adjective to describe the movie is nice. It's a cute, fun, nice little movie that will show you a pleasant time for an hour and thirty-five minutes. Whether one should point out that Nancy Drew might have done better at the box office if it had slightly bigger ambitions than simply being nice (and thus maybe generated a sequel) is another question, of course.

The standard DVD of Nancy Drew looks and sounds great, and there are a variety of mostly kid-oriented special features to round out the proceedings.

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