Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

Young teens, that is. I wonder if young people read anymore, and if the ones that do ever read Nancy Drew books. Hard to tell if this movie will appeal to a large teen audience after "Captain Marvel" and numerous Batman films, but the story is good enough to hold the attention of kids who are not waiting for something to blow up.

Nutshell; Nancy is drawn into a mystery of a haunted house, owned by Linda Lavin. Aided by her 2 friends and a 'mean girl' they solve the problem, with a few object lessons about mean friends along the way. If you are over 21 the script is hard to endure but sufficient to hold the interest of a young audience. Nancy Drew as played by Sophia Lillis is adorable and appealing. I would recommend it to teens who are tired of superheroes, but with a caveat - it's not Fortnite.

7/10 - The website no longer prints my star rating.

This is an enjoyable but often obvious and predictable film likely to be forgotten quickly. Sophia Lillis does a respectable job updating the character of Nancy Drew, and Linda Lavin elevates the entire film with every scene in which she appears. The rest of the cast is uneven. The haunted house manages to be creepy while still appropriate for young audiences. Both some of the teen girl empowerment material and the overall mystery frequently are handled with an obviousness some adults might find annoying.

I've watched this version and the one with the same title from the thirties back to back. Originally it was in the service of my history of mysteries, but neither qualify. Only this one is worthy of comment, because of the apparent excellence of the demographic engineering.

So many films suppress the cinematic and narrative experiments in the service of cultural capture. For a student of film it is a trade off because in ordinary film, where the qualities of film are exploited and sometimes extended, we are happy to accept stereotypes, tropes and genre conformity. But when the project is about seduction of identity, the stereotypes are up for experimentation. All else in the media is in support.

It isn't just the marvellous creation of this Nancy. I predict this actress will have a rich and much admired career. I thought the same of and early Heath Ledger when I saw him in a King Arthur project with similar goals and values. She not just shines, she understands emotional manipulation.

She's what you are supposed to look at. She's what you are supposed to see, but the heavy engineering has been done around her, in place and gang. Sure, this is Scooby mixed with the old mean girl redemption story. But look closer at how the camera stages groups. Look at the apparently different sets of the same hidden passage.

There's craft in this that deserves to be understood. Disney used to have a stable of experts that knew how to do this before the TeeVee production ethic killed it. Maybe we'll get it back. Because in film, I appreciate experimentation and evolution in any dimension.

The worst part is the script's dialogue and over the top scenarios. It felt like they filmed off the very first draft of the script without making it better or realistic. I know people in film school that wrote better scripts their first year! Very cheesy moments and cliche dialogue. BUT the actors do they're best (which is not easy!) and I applaud them for that. Because of the likable actors the movie is saved. All in all its a good movie for kids aged 6-12.

When I saw the title while surfing through my TV guide list, I was excited. I've been reading Nancy Drew books for years-the ones from the 60's and '90's. I recently read "The Hidden Staircase" again so I was interested in seeing just how loyal the movie was to the book. Call me old fashioned I don't care. While the movie was cute, it deviated too much from the book. In the book, Hannah was an older, matronly lady living and taking care of Nancy since her mom died. And Nancy? Sophia is cute but not who I envisioned as Nancy. They turned her into a major tomboy. Not that there's anything wrong with a tomboy. I'm a tomboy. But, in the book, Nancy managed to remain classy while getting her hands dirty. She knew how to drive. She did not use a skate board and wear cut up jeans. If you've never read the books, you could really enjoy this movie. But, it's true what they say: books are almost always better than the movie. This movie is an example. Although, if they decide to make a movie of the next book about the mystery of "Lilac Inn", I'd still watch it. I'd have loved to see movies done of the '90's books, as well.