Nancy Drew is Back!

Confession: I'm an avid reader.
2nd confession: I never read a Nancy Drew book.

I owned about a dozen of them, but my sister liked them, so of course I never could.

However, I love mysteries. There's nothing quite like trying to solve a whodunnit to make my brain go to its happy place.

I didn't hear about Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase until the day it came out. Nobody else did either.

It's quite a shame that this movie didn't have the marketing budget to give it a good shot in theaters, but let me tell you why you should watch it - in whatever format you choose.

The Positive:
I had so much fun watching Nancy Drew.
Isn't that what we want from a movie? I left smiling, and I know I'll buy it and watch it again.

The acting - Sophia Lillis is incredible. She's sassy, silly, and spunky. Her version of Nancy is nobody's pushover, and she'll take on anyone she thinks needs to be brought down a peg or two.

While her friends weren't quite as strong, they were solid. Especially mean girl Helen.

The story - Despite never reading the book, I pegged the villain pretty early on. However, this didn't take away from enjoying the ride until Nancy figured it out.

The best thing about Nancy Drew was the friendship. It's rare to have a movie focused on young women that isn't also focused on their relationships with boys. Not so with Nancy. Throughout the film, we get to see the push and pull of teenage friendships - creating new ones and testing the limits of old ones. The way these girls work together to solve the problems they face makes this an A+ film for any teen or tween girl looking for positive role models.

I fell into the story. It absorbed me once it got going. 

The scary - It's silly in hindsight, but Nancy Drew successfully creeped me out in one scene. My defenses were lowered, watching a teen mystery. I never felt truly terrified, but one scene did make me jump and remind myself I was in a movie theater with no one sitting behind me, safe as can be.

The Negative:
The beginning tries too hard. In its effort to set 2019's Nancy apart from the Drews of the past, the first five minutes are devoted to showing her skateboarding down the street of her small town, doing stunts when you can't see her face (thank you, stunt double). 

This is followed by Nancy helping her friend get back at an overdone bully, which leads to a spot of trouble for our feisty redhead, and in turn leads to our mystery.

The overacting of some of the side characters can be a bit much, and it takes away from the focus of the mystery. 

The Rating:
3.5 feathers

Final Verdict:
If you love a good mystery, a strong female lead, and a story about friendship, see Nancy Drew today!