| | | Small Town Girl. Big Time Adventure.
Features: DVD, Pan and Scan (TV Format), Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.40:1, English, Spanish, French, Subtitled
With her magnifying glass and fingerprint powder in hand, Nancy Drew leaves River Heights for La-La-Land...but not to meet that guy on Smallville, as her boyfriend Ned fears. No, she's out to solve one of the greatest mysteries ever: the death of movie star Dehlia Draycott. But the bigger mystery is how our perky, plaid-clad sleuth will fit in with the text-messaging teen queens of mean she meets at Hollywood High.
"A very clever update of the 16-year-old heroine..." Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
"A delightful adventure with charming performances!" Jeffrey Lyons, NBC's Reel Talk
Editor's Note
Legendary teenage sleuth Nancy Drew enters the 21st century in this feature film from director Andrew Fleming (NIXON, THE CRAFT). In Nancy's (Emma Roberts) latest mystery, she and her father (Tate Donovan) make a temporary move from rural River Heights to Los Angeles. Determined to make the most of her stay, Nancy has chosen them a rental home with a notorious past: the mysterious death of its owner, starlet Dehlia Draycott, in the early 1980s. The closer Nancy edges towards the truth, the more trouble she encounters from someone who clearly doesn't want the mystery solved. To make matters worse, old-fashioned Nancy doesn't quite fit in with the cool kids--or anyone else--at Hollywood High, except for younger would-be Romeo Corky (Josh Flitter).Screenwriters Fleming and Tiffany Paulsen do not try to make over this beloved character into a modern teen. Instead, they make earnest Nancy simply a girl who likes old-fashioned things: outfits that include penny loafers and coordinated knee socks, headbands, and homemade knee-length dresses; her classic roadster convertible; impeccable manners; and, her housekeeper's homemade baked goods. Roberts--the daughter of Eric Roberts and niece of Julia Roberts--is affable as Nancy. Even Bruce Willis (playing himself in a cameo) can't resist her charms. Rachel Leigh Cook, Barry Bostwick, and Marshall Bell also star as characters whose lives will change significantly if Nancy can solve the mystery, and Max Thieriot plays her smitten hometown boyfriend, Ned Nickerson. This is a fun blast from the past for women who grew up reading Carolyn Keene's classic novels, as well as for young girls who are enjoying THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK or THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE for the first time.
| Features | Audio: English, French, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Dubbed: French, Spanish | | Featurette: Nancy Drew - Kids At Work | | Includes Both Widescreen & Full Screen Versions Of The Film! | | Interactive Menus | | Mini Featurettes: Our iPod Ideology, Nancy Drew's Detective Kit, Behind The Scene, Day On The Set, & Emma's Last Day | | Music Video: Pretty Much Amazing By Joanna | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 9/8/2009 |
| Running Time: 95 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 1000025305 | | UPC: 00085391160670 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen/Standard 2.40:1/1.33:1 [4:3] |
| Cast & Crew | Emma Roberts | | Max Thieriot | | Rachael Leigh Cook | | Tate Donovan | | Alexander Gruszynski - Cinematographer | | Andrew Fleming - Director | | Andrew Fleming - Screenplay | | Jeff Freeman - Editor | | Jerry Weintraub - Producer | | Mildred Wirt "Carolyn Keene" Benson - Based On Characters Created By | | Ralph Sall - Original Music By | | Susan Ekins - Executive Producer | | Tiffany Paulsen - Screenplay | | Todd Cherniawsky - Art Director | | Tony Fanning - Production Designer |
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| | Professional Reviews | ReelViews 6 of 10
Nancy Drew is an effective translation of the source material, but that's not necessarily a good thing. The popular written series has been a staple for young female readers since the first books were published in the 1930s, and the movie will probably play well to its core niche audience. (As of 2006, there were 175 official Nancy Drew books in publication, plus a number of spin-offs including a popular Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew crossover series.) Unfortunately, for anyone who is not a girl between the ages of seven and 10, Nancy Drew will an unpalatable, dull, and predictable experience. The characters undergo nothing that could be remotely associated with development, the mystery is wafer-thin, and the slight plot is stretched to the breaking point in order to fill out 95 minutes...When it comes to mysteries, Nancy Drew stories aren't meant to be in the same league as P.D. James or even Agatha Christie. They're blatantly transparent with a little misdirection but not enough to confuse anyone for long. For children, they mysteries are fun to solve alongside Nancy. For adults, they are diverting at best and (more often) tiresome at worst. When you don't have any reason to care about the victims, the perpetrators, or the detectives, what's the reason to see the movie? - James Berardinelli
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