Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

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.

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 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.

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.