Clued-in: Emma Roberts plays Nancy Drew in all her awkward sleuthfulness. Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/Warner Bros.

One of the pleasures of children’s literature is its tendency to put kids in adult situations and allow them to maneuver on their own. Harry Potter is the most recent and notable example of this, but the Nancy Drew series has been doing it since the 1930s with tremendous success.

Fittingly, loyalty to this concept serves the Nancy Drew movie as well; it works because it has no aspirations to be anything more than a children’s movie. Whereas most animated tales try to slip in adult jokes to appeal to parents who’ve been dragged along with their screaming offspring, this film doesn’t even bother with grown-up appeal. It’s a movie starring kids and for kids, and is charming enough to be enjoyed by the kid in all of us.

Based on the more than 175 books bearing her name, Nancy Drew follows the titular amateur detective as she travels to Hollywood with her father, Carson (Tate Donovan), who has asked her to stop sleuthing for a few months so she can “be more normal.” One look at Nancy (Emma Roberts, niece of Julia) and we know “normal” isn’t her thing: colorful yet staidly perky matching outfits suggest that although the character has survived past the 1940s, her fashion sense has not. She is who she is and makes no apologies — a wonderful role model for insecure early teens who dare to live outside the mainstream.

Nancy chose the house they’re renting in Hollywood for one reason: It is where former movie star Dehlia Draycott (Laura Elena Harring) was last seen before disappearing more than 20 years earlier. Nancy’s investigation into the disappearance leads to many things, including a woman who may be Dehlia’s daughter (Rachael Leigh Cook) and an unexpected/unnecessary cameo from Bruce Willis.

Nancy gets both wanted and unwanted help from her loyal boyfriend Ned (Max Thieriot), two bratty schoolmates named Inga (Daniella Monet) and Trish (Kelly Vitz), and Inga’s younger brother Corky (Josh Flitter). Fans of the books will wonder about Nancy’s friends George and Bess; they’re here, but left behind as she travels to Hollywood.

“It’s one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of all time,” Nancy says about the case with earnestness and zero self-doubt, completely dismissive of the fact that trained detectives have deemed it unsolvable. Herein lies the appeal of the story: Nancy, 16, is operating in an adult’s world and has her life threatened in the same way that an adult would in a similar situation. By seeing one of their own in peril, kids are able to relate to storylines that would ordinarily be for mature eyes only.

If your kids aren’t familiar with the Nancy Drew books, don’t worry: Director Andrew Fleming’s film is very accessible, and Nancy has a number of cutesy trinkets — pink slippers and matching pajamas, a self-designed “sleuthing kit” and a classic blue roadster car — that make her immediately endearing to kids of all ages.

Now for Nancy’s greatest challenge to date: figuring out how to make a sequel that doesn’t suck.

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Nancy Drew *** Directed by Andrew Fleming. Written by Fleming, Tiffany Paulsen. Starring Emma Roberts, Josh Flitter, Craig Gellis, Rich Cooper, Max Thieriot. Rated PG. **** A genuine must-see ***  Entertaining **   Mediocre but not worthless *    A wretched waste of time Also opening in Miami-Dade County this Friday: Crazy Love, Day Watch, DOA: Dead or Alive, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Once.