This may not be your grandmother's Nancy Drew. But the latest screen incarnation of the popular book series penned under the pseudonym Caroline Keene works acceptably on its own terms, at least for its targeted female Tween audience.
Formulaic yet reasonably involving, Nancy Drew (Warner Bros.) begins with the plucky titular teenage detective (Emma Roberts) coolly nabbing a couple of thieves in her fictional small town of River Heights, to the admiration of the local police and townspeople, who take the 16-year-old's latest triumph in stride.
Her widowed lawyer father, Carson (Tate Donovan), is about to accept a new job in Los Angeles, though before they leave home he admonishes her to stop "sleuthing" when they move to the big city of Los Angeles with its attendant dangers. Nancy, of course, has already finagled their living in the mansion once owned by Hollywood legend Dehlia Draycott, who died under mysterious circumstances years ago. Though she tries to keep her word, she can't resist investigating.
Among the biggest of her revelations: Dehlia had an illegitimate child, Jane (Rachael Leigh Cook), now a single mom living in modest circumstances.
She's aided in her quest by a 12-year-old admirer, Corky (Josh Flitter), and her shy boyfriend from back home, Ned Nickerson (Max Thieriot), who comes to deliver her blue roadster, and views Corky as a rival. Meanwhile, she holds her own with the bratty girls in high school — Inga (Daniella Monet) and Trish (Kelly Vitz) who disparage her geeky ways and uncool fashion sense. (It's a plus for young viewers that Nancy cares more for the details of the important case than what the superficial girls think of her.)
Drew aficionados may decry the contemporary spin director and co-writer Andrew Fleming has given their enduring heroine (created in 1930), and his occasional use of zoom shots and slow motion sometimes give the film a cheesy made-for-TV feel. But despite Nancy's aforementioned secretive snooping, and a few other elements which follow, Fleming and Tiffany Paulsen's script retains Nancy's overall innocent — if savvy — do-gooder spirit.
Less acceptable is Carson's tolerance of the wild party Nancy inadvertently hosts at the mansion, and we'll have to trust that viewing the emergency tracheotomy Nancy performs on an unconscious guest with a pen and a knife won't inspire young viewers to try the same. But these are minor blemishes in a film that, from a moral standpoint, tries to hit the right points.
Roberts, the niece of Julia, is acceptable, but there's more interesting work from Barry Bostwick, Marshall Bell, Caroline Aaron and Pat Carroll in supporting roles.
The film contains a character presumably born out of wedlock, light violence, mild innuendo and mild disobedience of parental authority. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
