User Reviews

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.

The Magic Kingdom always tries to give their young teen players a chance at the spotlight. In the case of Harriet The Spy: Blog Wars the chance comes to Jennifer Stone best known as being the Bohemian sidekick of Selena Gomez in Wizards Of Waverly Place.

Jennifer and an all Canadian supporting cast filmed this item in Toronto and Hamilton and the film is about two competing teens for the chance to become the class blogger. Jennifer's a bright and intelligent young lady and her dad Doug Murray is a film producer and she writes well. But her rival Vanessa Morgan is the future prom queen with the popularity to match. Guess who's got the advantage?

But Jennifer's not without resources, her dad happens to be producing a film starring the current teen heartthrob Wesley Morgan. Nothing sells a blog like celebrity dirt and for young teenage girls, dirt on an idol is catnip to the feline.

Harriet The Spy: Blog Wars will never rate high among the Disney made for television projects, but Jennifer Stone and the cast perform well enough and the predictable story is easy to take. I've the feeling though that Ms. Stone is capable of better.

Normally I like kid shows and enjoy childish funny things. But there are multiple annoying things about this movie, but the worst of all is the main character's introduction of herself where she proclaims a passionate stand against good food that looks nice. She very "boldly" refuses to eat the beautiful version of a tomato sandwich prepared by her mother's chef, because it's open face, appears to have some other elements added (probably basil), and because there is a tomato carved to look like a rose on the plate. Instead, she insists on eating a regular sandwich that is just plain sliced tomatoes. The chef responds by saying that she has the food appreciation of a two year old, and the viewer who is perhaps meant to side with her, or somehow identify with her on this, rather tends to agree more with the chef... she does seem to have the appreciation for good food that a two year old has. Actually, some babies have more appropriate willingness to eat what's put in front of them. This character is supposed to be what, like in middle school and she's acting this way? Extremely bratty, ungrateful, immature behavior. Right at the beginning.

The quote that she and the nanny say also doesn't contextually make any sense, but is used as a way to make a point against the chef and to make the point that she won't eat his fancy sandwich. Later her father also doesn't want to eat an orange because it's sliced into the shaped of a bird, and so the orange gets thrown away and the father opts for a banana. This is frustrating because it seems to be depicting that the chef is somehow being silly by expecting them to eat food that he's spent time on, when he is just doing his job and doing what he loves, and they are literally throwing food away. Since I grew up in a 3rd world country, I find that somewhat atrocious.

These scenes gave me a strong and unshakable sense of the main character being extremely over privileged and spoiled. This made the rest of the show harder to get into, since I wasn't able to identify with the main character at all. Rather than being introduced as a character with moral integrity, who cares about real issues like world hunger, or something like that, or even wanting to make the world a better place for those around her, she is instead introduced as a spoiled brat who protests having to eat anything that looks nice or has flavor complexity.

Worst writing I've ever seen. Terrible protagonist. Bizzare plot paths. Some actors tried. But had no chance with that script.

I hate to be the person to go on online rants, but I feel its necessary. As a kiddo, I was obsessed with the original version of this movie. There was so much quality character development, and as a watcher, beautiful relationships were formed through the screen. The cast was amazing, and the acting was incredible. This remake is very very disappointing and a waste of time. Poor character development, and none of the original cast that we know and love. I wanted to love this, but I just couldn't. I will stick to the inspirational story line, and enjoy a movie that always brings me back to my childhood.

Do not waste your time or money with this Movie, this movie is the most annoying one I have ever seen!

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.

Jennifer Stone broke the shackles of second banana-dom on Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place," and is locked into a lackluster made-for-cable television movie that does nothing to show off her comedic skills. Based on the popular series of books- which generated a film in 1996 with Michelle Trachtenberg, released by Disney's nemesis Nickelodeon, Harriet Welsch (Jennifer Stone) plans to be a writer. To get to that goal, she observes, some would say stalks, people, listening in on their conversations (again, some would say stalk), and writing down the mundane details of other's lives. Harriet fills composition books with "observations," at the encouragement of her nanny, Golly (a pretty good Kristin Booth). Harriet's parents are too busy with their lives- Dad (Doug Murray) is a film producer, and Mom (Shauna MacDonald) is a serial community volunteer. Harriet's teacher Ms. Elson (Jayne Eastwood) decides to pick the class blogger for the year by having regular blogger Marion (Vanessa Morgan) compete with Harriet for the honor. Good thing Harriet's dad happens to be producing the sequel to the hit film "Spy Teen" starring heartthrob Skander Hill (Wesley Morgan). Marion and her pack of mean girls are huge fans, and after Harriet's first few observational posts bomb, she decides to show the class what a jerk Skander is. Complications follow, as Harriet begins stretching the truth about her relationship with Skander, and as her popularity grows, her friendships plummet.

On the sitcom "Wizards of Waverly Place," Stone plays Harper, the crazy best friend to teen wizard Selena Gomez. Yes, the show is putrid, but Stone always manages to get at least one laugh while stealing her scenes- much like Sterling Knight and Tiffany Thornton in the even worse "Sonny With a Chance"...but I digress. Here, Stone's Harriet is the complete opposite of Harper, and Stone seems uncharacteristically restrained. Harriet, and most of the rest of the cast save for Golly, are not very likable, and this has a huge impact on the viewer. While the script does score points for taking jabs at mediocre film making and turning "art" into a product (how did anyone at the Disney Channel approve those lines?), there are some overly serious moments here that had me thinking an after-school special topic was going to rear its ugly head. This does not take away from the tone, because the film is so laugh free you will not mistake this for a comedy. The screenwriters boldly lift from "Mean Girls," without hesitation or embarrassment. Ron Oliver's direction is bland, although he sure likes that dolly shot right up to the face of the director of "Spy Teen 2: The Sequel" since he uses it twice). "Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars" plays like an abandoned series pilot. The cast and writing are awkward and mawkish, and everyone flounders.