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BY MAGGIE SCOTT

Nancy Drew revives a classic role model just in time for young girls barred by parents from any further contact with Brittany Spears, or, heaven forbid, Paris Hilton.

A cheeky, brainy, kindly, witty role model; who, though thin and nicely dressed, is not concerned in the least with looks or being cool. If this did not pretty much put her in a class of her own, her exceptional talents for rational, analytical thinking and brash fearlessness would.

As portrayed with high voltage sweetness by Julia Roberts’ niece, Emma, Nancy (Emma Roberts) comes across as an old-fashioned girl in a cartoonish world, able to “solve cases beyond the abilities of local law enforcement.”

Then, on the way to a new home in Los Angeles, Dad asks daughter to give up sleuthing and concentrate on “teen things.” Nancy tries to fit in at school, but her intelligence soon earn her a “Martha Stewart” rep; something that doesn’t faze her much or preoccupy her for long, once she realizes that the mansion her father has bought holds a secret she will have to break her promise for.

The murder mystery of film star Dehlia Draycott (Laura Elena Harring) is calling to Nancy in a scrapbook’s yellowed newspaper clippings, in phantom images from a movie projector and a phantom wraith whispering a vital clue.

The innocent gumshoe has figured out some crucial elements of the slightly sordid mystery: jealousy, heartbreak, a child, a will—all hidden. Although Nancy usually doesn’t need anything more complicated than a lemon bar to assist her efforts at acquiring information, this time, she’s got a pint sized assistant by the name of Corky (Josh Flitter), who gladly settles for being Nancy’s side kick

Nancy tolerates his enthusiastic devotion, but manages to take on the typical perils of snooping on her own. Secret passageways, a creepy caretaker, a sinister lawyer, a car bombing, a kidnapping…all handled with not so much as a hair band out of place.

While it isn’t hard to take a shine to Nancy and to Roberts, it’s hard to take seriously the effort of writers Andrew Fleming and Tiffany Paulsen who make Nancy a girl the likes of which couldn’t possibly have existed even in the days of the original Nancy Drew stories .

A Warner Bros. release of a Jerry Weintraub production; rated PG.

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