Probably, every child in one way or another is a detective, learning the world in its entirety in various ways. Not all of them write books or make movies. Every lover of the genre of “child detective” (whether in literature or in movies) knows the names of Julian, Dick and Anne Kirrin, Nancy Drew, Jupiter Jones, Peter Crenshaw and Bob Andrews, as well as our Misha Polyakov and his friends Genea and Glory. Now you can safely include Roxy Hunter.
Roxy Hunter is a restless nine-year-old girl who loves her mom Susan, mysterious incidents, strange big earrings and her fiancé Max. Max is twelve, and he's definitely a genius - few at that age are in the eleventh grade. His archaeological parents travel around the world, so Max lives with the Hunters. Roxy's father has died, so Max has to carry the heavy burden of the only man in the house.
The film begins with the characters moving to a tiny provincial town, where Susan gets a job at a bank. A realtor picks them up a suspiciously cheap house - or rather, a whole cottage. The answer is simple: a long time ago there was a murder or something else, and since then a ghost has been wandering around the attic. It is clear that the superstitious locals in the house neither foot. But Roxy is thrilled: the ghost challenges her reductive... oh, sorry, deductive abilities. Welcome to the library and the cemetery! Meanwhile, Susan tries to improve her personal life and overcome her personal ghost - the ghost of her deceased husband. It is not easy to accept the courtship of a pleasant man if you have recently become a widow.
From the opening credits, it is clear that the detective is very, very childish. The mystery is not too intricate, humor is also at about such a level as to be understandable to the target audience. But in general, it looks cute and funny, and we do not expect from children's detectives intricacies worthy of the geniuses of Poirot and Holmes! I guess at the age of eight or ten I would have made a 10 out of 10 movie. And I would climb into the attic: what if we also have a ghost?
Aria Wallace is not the most charismatic child actor I know, but here her characteristic appearance and amusing reservations are meant to make me laugh rather than delight. Roxie Hunter was very similar to Nancy Drew, which is probably what Nancy should have been like as a child. Robin Brule (Susan) is more like Roxy's sister than her mother: she's very young and pretty. But who liked it the most was Demetrius Joyette: a charming nerd and a lovely couple for Roxy!
A good movie that can be recommended to children who love detective stories. There is a word about family values here. In general, thank you Elinor Lindo for his contribution to the not very densely populated niche called “child detective”.