I took my thirteen-year-old daughter to see the film today. As a boy, I had read most of the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Encyclopedia Brown, and watched Tom Brown on PBS. She was an avid reader of Junie B Jones, Goosebumps, and had read a few Nancy Drew books.
In the Brady Bunch Movie, they played the innocent past against the present strictly for laughs. In Blast From The Past, I thought they were looking for a wry social statement along with the laughs. It seems to me that Nancy Drew also tried to make some observations and get some laughs out of the juxtaposition, but it was muddled. Emma Roberts soldiered through and we liked her, but Nancy didn't just emerge from a bunker. An LA high school would have been tougher and would have had more minority students, but Nancy's social problems should have been the same back in River Heights. Even in the innocent past, being a teen detective wasn't always safe. The Hardys used to get roughed-up, bound-and-gagged, even shot at, but in present-day LA the bad guys just didn't seem to consider hurting Nancy.
Despite all the logistical problems, my daughter enjoyed watching it, and I think many other young girls will like it, too. I enjoyed Nancy's period outfits and all the anal-retentive jibes, and I think many parents will get some laughs there, too.
In the Brady Bunch Movie, they played the innocent past against the present strictly for laughs. In Blast From The Past, I thought they were looking for a wry social statement along with the laughs. It seems to me that Nancy Drew also tried to make some observations and get some laughs out of the juxtaposition, but it was muddled. Emma Roberts soldiered through and we liked her, but Nancy didn't just emerge from a bunker. An LA high school would have been tougher and would have had more minority students, but Nancy's social problems should have been the same back in River Heights. Even in the innocent past, being a teen detective wasn't always safe. The Hardys used to get roughed-up, bound-and-gagged, even shot at, but in present-day LA the bad guys just didn't seem to consider hurting Nancy.
Despite all the logistical problems, my daughter enjoyed watching it, and I think many other young girls will like it, too. I enjoyed Nancy's period outfits and all the anal-retentive jibes, and I think many parents will get some laughs there, too.