Harriet the Spy: Critic Reviews

A very draggy affair because Harriet's exploits are treated like an episodic laundry list.

...a tedious adaptation...

Fresh and charming, it never plays down to kids.

...the pacing is slow and there are scenes that seem amateurish...

There's a certain amateurish quality about Harriet the Spy, but it's more the TV-trained grownups behind the camera...than the pint-sized thespians in front of it.

There's dancing, and bubble blowing and bed bouncing that's entirely aimless and Harriet's neighborhood sleuthing becomes particularly pointless.

The film's OK, a little thick with sensory overload, but it wasn't made for old guys like me.

As the film progresses, the story becomes engaging.

...in busily updating the '60s story for the more worldly '90s, the filmmakers have ended up, ironically, with a product much more naively juvenile than the original.

Harriet the Spy is an intelligent, insightful look at the tribulations of being a creative, misunderstood misfit at age eleven.

Fans of the book will want to see this film.

A below mediocre adaptation of the popular novel that is nonetheless served well by the two female leads, but all representative of the adults world (parents, teachers, psychologists) are narrow, standard-issue constructions.

A kids' movie that's more serious - and substantial - than most.

Will remind parents of their own youth, and it will aid those living theirs out now to cope a little easier -- and that's just what a children's film should do.