I loved this book when I was growing up in the sixties, and I was thrilled when I found out that they made a movie out of it, but didn't get around to seeing it until last night. At first, I thought it was going to be one of those disappointing, modernized versions, mostly because of the distracting musical score, but despite the truly annoying score, the movie remained true to the book except for a few minor details. Even the toys depicted were from the era that the book was written in. I think that's so important when making a movie out of a children's book. The story is brilliant, about a little girl who wants to be a writer, so she gets her practice by keeping a notebook in which she writes down all her thoughts and observations about the people in her world, and even goes to the extreme of spying on people to get her material. When the notebook falls into the wrong hands, her world is turned upside down. I think the film does a very good job of portraying the children in a realistic light, and I could identify with Harriet's feelings as well as those of her friends and classmates. The adults in the movie, as well as Harriet's nemesis, seemed a bit like caricatures, but Harriet's character and those of her best friends were quite well developed. Definitely worth seeing if you are a fan of this book.

I saw this movie with my dad when it came out in the theaters -AHHH! IT CAME OUT IN IN 1996!!! I FEEL SO OLD!!-...ahem-sorry, my age just slapped me in the face. Anywho, we were watching the movie and the movie went out just as Harriett was taking out all her supplies from various places, and I remember telling my dad, "Maybe they don't want us to know where she keeps her things." The reason I bring up that random memory is because I remember it. I was so entranced by it, I remember saying that. I use to love this movie. The movie use to depress me, though, as Harriet loves all her friends thanks to her spying. Anyway, the acting is OK. Granted, it's no "Shakespeare in love", but it's OK. The story is also very out there, however, that's not fair for me to say, as I can't remember the storyline!

A writer while describing the life and work of John Le Carré said this: "Writer and spy are two lonely professions, carried of emotions and both are developed under a certain load of tension". Nothing is more adequate than such quote when the analyzed person is the great Le Carré, author of treasures like "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", "Smiley's People" among many other espionage novels. The same can't be said to the main character of "Harriet the Spy" neither about the story, that almost reached such description (and it could have been way better).

So, little Harriet (Michelle Trachtenberg) wants to be a writer and for such she pretends to be like a spy who sees everything, writing down all the things she sees, from random and somewhat pointless happenings to making truthful remarks about her friends and school mates. But when her diary is stolen by her most ferocious enemy things can turn out to be real bad for her if such descriptions be known to everyone she knows.

A cute movie, nice to watch but that doesn't help us much. Fine, this a movie for kids and for them is prefect, very enjoyable, but those kind of flicks work better if they attract mature audiences as well, even if using two or three jokes for them. The cast assembled here with names like Trachtenberg, Rosie O'Donnell, Robert Joy and Gregory Smith makes of "Harriet the Spy" quite a good film, and we can excuse some of its problems.

The main focus that a good writer is made with observations and notes only isn't much handy (as Harriet discovers). Above all, and I can't believe this was left out of the movie, a good writer must be a great reader of all sources and different types of readings, must have a background of readings. And if I'm making too much fuzz over a kid's movie, too much complications, is because is that I wanted to see an intelligent work, with this kind of plot but in a dramatic way, with lots of suspense, a teenager who wants to be a writer but gets involved with more and more trouble while covering a story. Instead, we have an emo tale filled with corny moments. But that's OK. 6/10