Harriet The Spy

With its jaundiced worldview and glum, introverted protagonist, Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy is an oddity among children's books -- which is precisely why it's so well-loved. This busy, boisterous adaptation misses the point, jerking the story out of its Manhattan context (it's now set in bland suburbia) and reinventing aspiring novelist Harriet (Michelle Trachtenberg) as a kooky fresh kid. Playing Harriet's nanny, Rosie O'Donnell is on hand to dispense wisdom when the girl's compulsive spying gets her in dutch with parents and classmates. HARRIET THE SPY isn't bad on its own brash terms -- it's energetic, fairly smart and surprisingly frank about juven...