Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

Nancy Drew (Sophia Lillis) and her father Carson moved to the small town River Heights after the death of her mother. She is bitter at having left her friends in Chicago. She gets into trouble when she pranks annoying jock Derek who cyberbullied her friend Bess. She runs into Derek's girlfriend Helen Corning and her beloved aunt Flora (Linda Lavin). Flora's home has been haunted by ghosts from its past and nobody believes her except Nancy Drew. Meanwhile, Carson is fighting efforts to bring a train line into River Heights.

The story is a little old fashion that the hip scriptwriters have tried to update. The seams between the two do show. I wish they change train story. I can do without Nancy Drew riding a long skateboard or the truly ridiculous Derek. Can't he be a real villain rather than a silly one? It's like the movie is caught between a silly kiddie Disney channel movie and a grown up thriller. In addition, Nancy Drew needs a weapon; a stun gun or pepper spray. She's jumping into a scenario unarmed against a thug with a gun. It gets a bit too Home Alone for me to take seriously.

On the other hand, the girls have good chemistry. Sophia Lillis and Laura Wiggins are solid actors even if Laura is a tattooed 30 trying to pass for a young teen. It helps to have TV legend Linda Lavin. I like what she says about her best friend and the two girls coming together. The girls have the right attitude. The movie does have a few too many minor annoyances.

As a lifelong Nancy Drew-book and games-lover I was really looking forward to this. Was I disappointed? Yes. But this movie wasn't made for me - it was made for the younger generations, and for them I think it's a welcoming first few steps into the Nancy Dew culture. Is it perfect? No. Is it supposed to be? Also no! This is a cute, and fun young persons movie with mystery,friendship and personal growth at it's core, and in that way it IS perfect - that embodies the Nancy Drew spirit perfectly. A 7 from this old nostalgic, but as a first glance into ND-fandom it's a 10. The actresses and actors are great, and believable, and it feels very Nancy Drew, even in this new wrapping. Well done, all around!

I have never experienced a film speeding as fast as this, its 80 minutes were gone like the wind. so that maybe a good quality sign, that the grumpy old man had a time warp while watching nancy drew. its an modernized , not to overexhaggerated detective story, that are for all ages, i myself read some of the N.D. books to impress my childhood girlfriend, though i prefered the Hardy boys better.

the film are well made, and bears the message without vfx and cgi, the language are plain, and the plot iand story are really working. the actors does a fine job, they even have vocal pureness so even the tinnitusated grumpy old man didnt need any subtitles. the sets and design are very colourfilled, and the use of modern technology are moderatly and clever used. imagine miss marple of agatha christie with a laptop and smartphone, that would raised MY eyebrow, so the modern nancy drew does still have the authentic sting.

i will recommend this to you all, but dont expect the unexpected, and let nancy guide you through the hidden staircase with pride.

I watched this at home on BluRay from my public library. The CW network has a darker, young adult Nancy Drew weekly TV series so I watched this one to compare what is done with Nancy as a 16-yr-old vs a young adult.

In 1938 and 1939 four Nancy Drew movies were made, one of them had this same name. It involved a house that someone was trying to get the occupants, two old spinster sisters, to leave. Key to solving the mystery was a hidden staircase in the old house.

Cute freckled Sophia Lillis is Nancy Drew in this modern version. In the extras the actress herself calls this an origin story although that might not have been the intent. Her mother has died, she and her attorney dad move from Chicago to a fictional community, River Heights. There a company is trying to establish a railway line through the town and Nancy's dad is one of those fighting it for the sake of the community. That angers some who have a lot at stake financially and that causes the tension in the story. And a mystery for Nancy to solve.

So the story involves Nancy getting in trouble, enough so she has to do community service. In spite of that she still manages to work on solving the mystery and it does indeed involve the discovery of a hidden staircase in the home of an old grand aunt of one of her classmates. But the plot of this one is quite different from the 1939 movie of the same name.

Considering what it is, I found it to be suitably entertaining. At one point I was impressed that they actually broke into a lab and used chromatography to identify myristicin, a hallucinogenic chemical derived from nutmeg. The Nancy Drew of 1939 didn't have a skateboard, nor a cell phone, and didn't post things to social media. Nor did she have access to security video. A lot has changed in 80 years.

I didn't expect much from this movie going in, in that sense this movie didn't disappoint at all. If u would like to speak about flaws and weaknesses, I promise you there is a ton of them. But if you are planning to watch this movie after seeing trailer and expecting to be perfect, then you should blame yourself. Having mentioned much about the notions, lets analyse the movie strengths. Sophia lillis as Nancy drew is vibrant and funny. She is very good at keeping the mood light even in the tense scenes. There is an innocence in her acting. Laura wiggins plays the pretty friend as usual. Andrea anders, sam trammel doesn't have much screen space but they have supporting roles to sophia. Even though you pretty much know how its gonna pan out, this movie keeps you invested. Grab a popcorn and drink and if you plan to light hearted teen movie this movie won't make you regret it.