Harriet the Spy (1996)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Really Surprised!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

This little film has been roundly criticized for being disjointed and amateurish. Well, it _is_ disjointed: part of it is surreal allegory, part realistic morality play. Part of it moves with a natural rhythm while other parts seem to have been transplanted from afternoon TeeVee. Some is done with a cartoon cosmology, and the rest is straight from Marlo Thomas' heart. Distributed throughout are mottles of bad acting and unconsidered dialog.And I loved it all. Why?Because this is in the tradition of movies and books that generate themselves. Rather, the characters in the stories play double duty as the authors of the story and the creators of the world that surrounds it. So it makes sense as precisely what a preteen would imagine her older self writing about her. Indeed, the whole thing is a meditation on how someone might abstract the world (for writing) without a mature faculty for abstraction — which is to say how a kid would imagine an adult's mind imagining a kid's mind.Its all about the deep problems of writing. I imagine the author of the original book sitting down and having trouble writing, them ruminating about why on the page.Therefore, we have a youthful experimenter, a blocked writer, a "gardener" who makes environments from trash, another maker of environments (cages) who craves companionship, a woman who lives in a cage (Kitt), the Dad who is a movie comedian, together with lesser characters.And the spy who spies so she can write what we see. It is all about sight and callow abstraction, just what movies were made for. Sure, it differs from the book because film can amplify what the book cannot. The adapter (the guy that did the game as life as game "Jumanji" project) understood this.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Harriet The Spy Is Soooooooooooooo Good> Like its just such a great movie for kids. When it came out i was a kid and i loved it! As did my girlfriend and we still do. There are some really funny bits and touching bits. For instance when gully leaves and when Harriet gets her notebook taken away. Also when gully returns. I enjoy watching this movie, in fact i watched it yesterday. i think that all kids should be supported in their ventures such as writing in a notebook. Notebooks are such a great thing to spurn creativity. Some people just love the smell, and the look of a blank white page. They like it even better when it's filled with pretty things and words.fabulous movie.

This movie is so great! I remember seeing it for the first time as a kid. It was one of my favorites. It was back when Michelle Trachtenberg wasn't on my s**t list. Excuse the vulgarity, but there was no other way to say it. I haven't liked anything she's done since and I miss the days of "Harriet the Spy". This movie reminds me of what it was like to be a kid: always fun and carefree. Everything was an adventure and you knew that you and your buddies would be friends forever.It's a great movie for kids, full of laughter, suspense, and adventure. I also thought Rosie O'Donnell was amazing as well. The role was perfect for her because I'd always seen her as that kind of nurturing mother-figure. And Eartha Kitt???! What a riot! She was amazing, over-the-top, as usual. My favorite scene would have to be the one where she sneaks into Eartha Kitt's house. It's amazingly funny and gives you a good idea of what the rest of the movie will be like. This one is a must see for families with children. Actually, it's a must see for everyone, because we all need a movie that makes us feel young again and "Harriet the Spy" definitely does that. I give it a 9 out of 10.

This is a good film. Michelle Trachtenberg makes a great Harriet the Spy. This movie is filled with comedy for the younger kids and is worth a look. I think this movie is underrated and it should have recieved more than it did. I read the book and from what I can remember, this movie resembles the book well. Thesupporting cast including Rosie O'Donnell is great. The characterization is also well done including the characters Sport, Janie and the wise cracker MarionHawthorne. Harriet the Spy has a great mix of comedy, drama and tragedy. Irecommend this movie to any young one and if you've haven't read the book, Iwould recommend you do or you might not understand this movie. *** out of ****