When I was a child, my mother instilled a love of reading in my first by reading to me a lot and then by getting me books that I could read on my own. She decided to get me a Nancy Drew book one day and I was quickly hooked on the books. I ended up getting many more of the books and I enjoyed all of them. It has been years since I last read one of those books, but I do have fond memories of them. That was a big reason why I wanted to see Nancy Drew.

Teenager Nancy Drew was known for solving mysteries around her hometown of River Heights even though she was only sixteen. Carson, her lawyer father, was concerned about Nancy’s safety and made her promise not to do any investigating when they went to Los Angeles for a few months for a case he was working on. Nancy had already picked out a house for them to rent that had a mystery connected to a famous actress. Ned Nickerson was worried that Nancy would forget about him while she was away.

Once in Los Angeles, Nancy started working on solving the mystery even though she’d promised her dad she wouldn’t do any investigating and would be a normal teenager. She really didn’t fit in at school and two snobby girls, Inga and Trish, enjoyed making fun of her. Inga’s younger brother Corky had a crush on Nancy and started hanging out with her to help with the investigation. Nancy started to receive threats but she kept working on the mystery while keeping what she was really up to from her father.

The plot for Nancy Drew wasn’t that complicated. Enough was going on to keep things interesting for the most part. There were a few scenes that dragged a little bit, but it wasn’t so much that it made the movie boring. I did figure out a few things before Nancy did. There were one or two other little things that I didn’t figure out so there were a couple of small surprises. Certain things that happened were rather predictable but that didn’t make the movie less entertaining for me.

The main focus of the movie was Nancy’s investigation related to former actress Dehlia Draycott after she and her father arrived in Los Angeles. The only reason she was even digging into what had happened to Dehlia was because her dad was in Los Angeles for a few months to work on a case. I didn’t feel like there was enough explanation for why he - a lawyer from a small town - would be going to Los Angeles to handle a big case. The mystery was interesting and it worked fairly well. It did seem a bit arrogant on Nancy’s part for her to think that she could figure out what happened when the mystery had remained unsolved for more than twenty years. She was use to solving things at home in River Heights before the police, which made her more confident in her abilities to solve mysteries and crimes. Nancy did several things that were unbelievable throughout the movie.

The Nancy Drew books have been around for a long time now. I honestly don’t know when the first of the books were published. I have only read a few of the older hardback books. The majority of the Nancy Drew books that I’ve read were from the 1980's and it was clear that Nancy was in modern times and had some modern sensibilities. The movie seemed to be having Nancy act and dress like she had in the older books while being set in modern times. That did seem a little odd at times. The movie also made Nancy a bit of a goody-goody who did everything perfect. I never felt that Nancy was that way in the books, so I think that could have been handled a little differently. I also thought it was kind of different to have Nancy going off to Los Angeles and working on an investigation instead of doing that around River Heights. I don’t remember Nancy ever being as deceitful as she was with her father. I also thought that the way Carson was reacting regarding her investigating didn’t seem to fit the character I remember from the books.

Bess and George were Nancy’s best friends in the books and had fairly large parts. I think they were around, at least briefly, in every one of the books I’ve read. In most of them, Bess and George had fairly significant parts and they frequently helped Nancy on her cases. They were only shown once very early in the movie and that was it. Nancy didn’t even call them or send them e-mail while she was in Los Angeles. Instead of having her friends help her, Nancy was stuck with two snobby, rude, stuck up girls and Corky. It just seemed wrong to me that Bess and George were basically missing. Hannah, the housekeeper, was also only shown once very briefly. Ned, Nancy’s boyfriend in the books, was around a bit more though their relationship hadn’t progressed to dating. Nancy and Ned were younger than how I had imagined them when I read the books. If I remember right, they were eighteen and Ned was in college.

Nancy was obviously the main character. She was a fairly well adjusted teenager that did get obsessed with mysteries. She had a talent for solving cases and getting out of dangerous situations. She was smart though she didn’t always think things through before acting. I thought that Emma Roberts did a good job with the part. Carson wasn’t around as much because he was busy working, so Tate Donovan didn’t have that much to do. Leshing was the caretaker for the house Nancy and her dad were staying in.

Ned and Nancy had known each other for years. Ned was feeling insecure with their relationship since they weren’t really dating but it was clear he was interested in that. Max Thieroit was fine in the part. Inga and Trish were two girls in Los Angeles who enjoyed picking on Nancy. The two girls, especially Inga, were very irritating. Inga’s younger brother Corky ended up becoming Nancy’s friend and he helped her with the investigation. Josh Flitter was fine in the part. Rachael Leigh Cook turned up in a few scenes as a young woman Nancy met during her investigation. Barry Bostwick was a powerful agent who showed up a couple of times. Chris Kattan and Bruce Willis each had small uncredited roles.

Main Cast

Marshall Bell - Leshing
Barry Bostwick - Dashiel Biedermeyer
Amy Bruckner - Bess
Rachel Leigh Cook - Jane Brighton
Tate Donovan - Carson Drew
Josh Flitter - Corky
Laura Harring - Dehlia Draycott
Daniella Monet - Inga
Kay Panabaker - George
Monica Parker - Hannah
Emma Roberts - Nancy Drew
Max Thieroit - Ned Nickerson
Kelly Vitz - Trish

Andrew Fleming - Director

Nancy Drew had a few problems but I still enjoyed the movie overall. It took me back to my childhood when I read so many of the books. This is a family friendly movie that will probably appeal more to girls than boys.

This review is part of elvisdo’s 2007 Canadiania Write-off. Todd Cherniawsky, who did the art direction for the movie, is originally from Alberta Canada. Gregory King, the supervising sound editor, is originally from Quebec. Don White, a foley recording mixer who worked on the movie, is from Ontario.


Recommended: Yes