Writers are struggling to pull Nancy Drew into the 21st century without unintentionally stripping a bit of the young sleuth's signature charm...
This year I've grown quite interested in the world of Nancy Drew to the point where I have spent a lot of my time during COVID-19 researching and reading the books, looking into the "HeR Interactive" computer game series, and even watching what I felt to be the not-so-great series on the CW. (which you can watch my YouTube review of here) And earlier this year, I decided to check out her latest big-screen adaptation for the first time.
Maybe it was the anticipation for Halloween but I've been in the mood for a good mystery and decided to revisit a film that I watched a couple of months ago for free on the Roku channel, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase.
I still remember going to the movie theater with my mom to see the 2007 Nancy Drew film starring Emma Roberts. I had to have been around eleven and I absolutely loved that movie at the time. I may have to revisit that one in the near future as well.
But after watching the 2019 version of the popular sleuth once more, I found that my thoughts on it hadn't changed too terribly much. So shall we begin our investigation?
The Positive
Directed by Katt Shea and based on the popular Carolyn Keene mystery novel first published in 1930, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase follows our favorite teen detective, this time portrayed by "IT" and "I Am Not Okay With This" star Sophia Lillis, as she and the local mean girl, Helen Corning (Laura Slade Wiggins) team up to investigate the haunting of Twin Elms in order to put Helen's aunt, Flora (played by Linda Lavin) at ease after she begins to experience some paranormal activity in her home.
Sporting a new short haircut, flannel shirts, ripped jeans, and vans while riding around on a skateboard for the majority of the movie, Nancy Drew and The Hidden Staircase features a slightly different take on this legendary character; but don't let the skater-girl attitude fool you, Nancy is still bright, outgoing, curious, and sometimes just a little bit mischievous.
The casting of 18-year-old Sophia Lillis as the iconic Nancy Drew was probably the highlight of this movie for me. In addition to the refreshing new look for the famous detective, she also brought a certain amount of energy and spunk to the character. Sophia Lillis was enjoyable enough as Nancy Drew, and should there be more movies in the future, I'd be fine with her coming back to reprise her role.
The film features several encouraging messages of female empowerment, friendship, and morality. Nancy sees it as her civic duty to bring forth justice, therefore with every action that she takes, even if it's getting revenge on a bully, it's always done for selfless reasons.
Throughout my viewing, I couldn't help but think about how this movie felt like a mix between a Disney Channel production with a slight American Girl vibe, anyone remember Kit Kittredge: An American Girl? I think I make that connection since that also had a bit of a mystery involved. But Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase comes with the tiniest bit of an edge to it in comparison; I'm aware of how comparing this film to those may not sound like very much, but I enjoyed those movies back in the day and I think it works for the target audience.
The Negative
As far as our negatives go, I'll just cut to the chase and start out with what is admittedly my most nit-picky issue. As I touched on before, Nancy's personality in this film did work pretty well for me, however...I just can't say the same when it comes to her new wardrobe.
I've been dying to see Nancy Drew in a slightly more vintage style. Something more toned down from the old Emma Roberts movie, but still channeling that time period the character was first created in; I could totally see a modern-day teen detective being intrigued by the 1930s fashion and incorporating thrifted items from that time period into her wardrobe, couldn't you?
But the film didn't do that and instead opted for the whole skater-girl style, which, unfortunately, seemed a bit forced and came off as a rather weak attempt to modernize the character, it just didn't work for me. I think instead of trying to fit the character into modern times, writers should allow Nancy herself to be a sweet little nod to the past.
Now switching gears to what I consider to be a more reasonable criticism, I don't think the writers did a very good job introducing the characters in this movie. It felt as if it took ages to learn the names of certain characters such as Helen who ends up being Nancy's sidekick throughout the entire movie, and George, one of her very best friends.
From having the bit of Nancy Drew knowledge that I have, I was able to put the pieces together and figure out who these people were supposed to be, but I'd imagine it would have been frustrating had you not known of these characters beforehand.
And lastly, I felt that this movie could have been better had they focused on the haunting of Twin Elms a little more, but they definitely went off track for a bit. To be fair, everything did connect to the main story but I personally, would have preferred if they had spent more time at the house rather than Nancy spending so much time investigating the mystery outside of it; things really started to drag after a while.
Conclusion
Admittedly I did go into this movie with relatively low expectations; I hadn't heard too many good things about it from critics when it first came out but I think lowering my expectations allowed me to enjoy the film a little bit more than I would have, had I went in more hopeful.
The ending was predictable and still didn't give me the Nancy Drew that I've been clamoring for but in the end, I didn't find myself walking away from the movie feeling that it was a huge waste of my time either. For the most part, it did keep me entertained for about an hour and a half and that's what it was meant to do.
This wasn't a bad depiction of Nancy Drew by any means but I do think that the writers struggled to pull the character into the 21st century without unintentionally stripping a bit of the young sleuth's signature charm...
I've given Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase what I consider to be a high three out of five stars. I was real close to giving it four when I thought about the target audience but ultimately gave it three when thinking of how much I enjoyed it myself. It wasn't great but I wouldn't feel comfortable calling it bad, either, it was just...Fair.
Have you seen Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase? If so, let me know what you thought of it over on twitter @RR_Everything! That's where I talk about all kinds of shows and movies and also give updates on future reviews and YouTube videos! Be sure to follow me if you're interested. I can't wait to hear from you!
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