Harriet the Spy (1996)

Harriet the Spy (1996): Dir: Bronwen Hughes / Cast: Michelle Trachtenberg, Rosie O'Donnell, Gregory Smith, Vanessa Lee Chester, Eartha Kitt: Wonderful family film that teaches children the value of trust and friendship. Harriet is an observer who oversees the pain of those around her but is nonchalant to the fact that she can cause pain too. Harriet wishes to become a writer so she prowls the streets in witness. At home she is in the care of her nanny who is fired when she and a date take Harriet to a movie. A game of bumper tag lands her pad in the wrong hands and awful truths surface that cause distance from her friends. Beautiful locations accompany an eye for detail. Stylish directing by Bronwen Hughes who creates a family film that parents can engage in with their children due to the themes it raises. Michelle Trachtenberg delivers a spunky performance as Harriet with conviction and curiosity. Rosie O'Donnell is strong as Harriet's nanny who views things at face value. Gregory Smith and Vanessa Lee Chester play her friends who must decide whether or not to forgive or to reduce themselves to the lows of other classmates. Eartha Kitt also makes an appearance as some mysterious individual observed by Harriet. Here is a family film that raises questions as well as entertain. Themes of friendship and forgiveness result in one of the best family films of the decade. Score: 10 / 10

I remember being eleven when I was given a VHS tape of Harriet the Spy for Christmas. I really enjoyed it; I was happy to find a kid's film that wasn't some Disney crud and wasn't overly strange. Based on a popular novel, Harriet is a misfit preteen aspiring author, bullied by a snobby girl in her class. She has two friends, a boy living on welfare (Sport) and a girl who wants to be a mad scientist (Jamie). She spends most of her time with her beloved nanny Golly (Rosie O'Donnell). When Golly takes Harriett and a boyfriend to the cinema without parental permission, she is fired, leaving Harriett to grow up on her own. When her private notebook (with some very revealing things about her peers written inside) is discovered, her entire class becomes increasingly cruel towards her, leaving her to seek revenge on each one... but she really just wants her friends back.While Harriet the Spy is a lovable film no matter what your age, there was use of crude humor and mild swearing, fart jokes, etc. that got rather annoying after a while. As a kid I had very few friends, knew very little about society and didn't understand some of the things mentioned like the Nobel Peace Prize, Hitler and why Harriet was sent to a therapist, until a year or so later in my life. Still, the scene where Jamie's mother discovers her favorite Victoria's Secret leopard-print bra has been stolen by Jamie for a mold rowing experiment, I've always loved that scene. Harriet the Spy is also a movie that explains that two wrongs don't make a right, and that bullying somebody is wrong no matter what they've done, it just puts you down to their level of rationality. I honestly wish there were more movies for kids like this out there, because that god-awful My Little Pony crud TV show and the Hunger Games certainly aren't worth a dime compared to this memorable movie. The acting was great, the urban scenery dazzling and interesting and it closely follows the book. It's certainly worth watching, if you are sick of the garbage that's out today and want something different.

This movie is extremely disjointed. It moves from one seemingly random scene to another with no real explanation of what is going on. Even after an hour into the movie, I could not have told you what the movie was even about. To quote my children, "That movie was terrible!"Not only is the movie disjointed and confusing, it also gets quite mean-spirited. It actually made my kids uncomfortable watching it. We all expected this movie to be a fun, upbeat movie about a young girl being a "spy" and having adventures. Instead the movie had very little to do with adventurous spying, and instead was a showcase of dysfunctional families, a neurotic girl, and vindictive children. If you are looking for an upbeat family film, this is not the one.

this movie i went and saw when it first came out. After watching the behind the scenes promos on nickelodeon i was really shocked that Nickelodeon can do movies as well as a television network. Brilliantly written and acted i loved the acting and all the characters. It shows that what you are thinking is not always good to write down for fear of someone finding it. It also show's her trials and tribulations going through 6th grade wanting to be a spy and having a nanny in the mix. I loved Rosie O' Donnell in this film she is truly an awesome actor and during the movie you can't help but get a little teary eyed and crack up when your supposed to. I recommend for anyone especially a movie night for the family and/or friends! ~!