Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars (2010)

Perfect cast and a good story

Fantastic!

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

I honestly thought it was a cyber-bullying school P.S.A. when I first saw it. Taking the classic novel Harriet the Spy, about a preteen with a love of solving mysteries and writing in her notebook, this version introduces the modern way of journalism, blogging. Back when people had brains, there were much better movie ideas out there than the plot of two generic-acting teens having a "blogging war". Nevertheless, this movie was made, and I was stuck watching it in class. Its only upside was its filming location, the former steel city of Hamilton, located in Ontario, Canada. The acting was okay but the teenage characters were too predictable and typical, and I grew up reading the original novel and watching the 1996 film Harriet the Spy so it was hard for me to enjoy this one. I was also sixteen when I saw this, older than its target audience, so perhaps I'd have gotten more out of it if I were younger.

Harriet Welsch the spy (Jennifer Stone) ridicules their chef but loves her nanny Golly (Kristin Booth). She is competing with her nemesis Marion Hawthorne for the official class blog. Marion's simplistic blogs are outshining Harriet's tales of spying on unimportant people. Meanwhile her father is the new producer of the new Spy Teen 2 movie and teen heartthrob Skander. She hates the superficial ridiculous movies but she starts using Skander for her blog. The popularity of Skander rubs off on her blog. When she sees Skander throwing a fit on set, her blog climbs and so does trouble for her father. She goes into full spy mode on Skander and even pretends to be his friend much to Marion's chagrin. Skander is paranoid about being stalked. Harriet is also spying on Golly.The production value is pretty bad. The Toronto for NYC is done very poorly. The acting is OK but it's nothing to write home about. Jennifer Stone has a good amount of pep, but the acting from the other kids fall off pretty quickly. If the movie looks poor, the movie within the movie looks even worst. It's a poor effort even for a Disney TV movie. There are too many annoying characters in silly situations that look ridiculous.

This movie is about a rich girl who wants everything in her life. She isn't popular but wants to become the class blogger. In turn she spy's on teen heartthrob that she claims to hate , which she is capable of doing because her dad is producing his new movie. While all this is happening she finds time to complain that her nanny has a life outside of hers and that her parents don't know who. She ends up getting in trouble and realizing she ruined this teen's and her dad's career, but by some miracle everything works out in the end and she gets everything she wants. The class blog, Nanny's friendship, her friends back, and of course the evil girl loses. HORRIBLE!!!!

While I feel the original Harriet the Spy tops this remake. I do think this was an enjoyable made for television movie. Not totally cringe worthy and some good moments for Miss Stone, who I believe is one of the better teen actors today.She keeps her performance real, and while the story is not anything new, it's entertaining and fun for teen/tween girls.Disney seems to be lacking in new and fresh entertainment. I would like to see something original and fresh from the people who work for the mouse in the near future. Bring back some of the original Disney Channel movies that the whole family could enjoy together.My daughters enjoyed this movie and are fans of Miss Stone, so I gave it a five out of ten on their behalf.