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The Princess Diaries
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The Princess Diaries was a charming sleeper hit in 2001. It starred Anne Hathaway (Ella Enchanted) as Mia Thermopolis, an awkward San Francisco teen who discovers that she is the heir to the throne of Genovia, a make-believe country between France and Spain. Mia takes princess lessons in order to live up to her birthright, and of course the ugly duckling is transformed into a swan. Hopelessly formulaic but still enjoyable, the original stretched every fairy tale cliché thin. So what's left for the sequel?
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UNLIKE MANY OF Disney's tales, The Princess Diaries is about a reluctant daughter of nobility. For Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway), discovering her estranged and recently deceased father was the heir apparent of a small European country is more of a nightmare than a dream come true. Her free-spirited mother (Caroline Goodall) secretly married the prince, but chose a divorce rather than conforming to the strict protocol of royal life. As Mia is now the only living descendant of the monarchal family, her grandmother (Julie Andrews), the Queen of Genovia, feels it is time she was told about her real identity.
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The Princess Diaries spans twenty-seven days in the life of Mia Thermopolis, a high school freshman living in New York with her mother, Helen Thermopolis. Mia is fairly sophisticated for her age, having been raised in an artist's loft in the multi-cultural milieu of Greenwich Village. Her father is a politician from the fictional principality of Genovia, modeled after the real-world principality of Monaco. Mia is presented as an ordinary American teenager. She is bright and interesting but doesn't fit in with the popular clique at school, despite her crush on the popular Josh Richter. She is a tomboy who favors combat boots and sports Greenpeace logos on her school backpack.
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Most of the humor in The Princess Diaries revolves around Mia's attempts to act like a princess. She is klutzy and apparently has no social grace whatsoever. Mia wants to remain a regular teenager, and at some point must decide between an ordinary life and one in the spotlight. There is no real secret as to what she chooses. There is no real secret to anything in this movie. It is pleasant but not extraordinary.
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The Princess Diaries Suite is located atop the 11-story Sierra Tower at the Disneyland Hotel, providing a sweeping view of the nearby Downtown Disney District and surrounding Disneyland Resort. The room features an ornate, hand-crafted queen-size bed and delicate overhead cornice that are matched with a collection of European-influenced furniture, and most pieces are from the original movie set depicting Mia's private chambers. The themed bedroom can be booked separately or as part of the complete 1,320 square-foot Presidential Suite.
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The Princess Diaries has been directed by Garry Marshall, who's covered this sort of terrain before with Pretty Woman. The two films feature a crass heroine being transformed into a dignified and stylish woman, while Hector Elizondo is prominently featured in both as a sympathetic father figure. Marshall's predilection for the obvious is particularly noticeable this time around, exacerbated by a ridiculously inflated running time. All the clichés that one expects out of a story like this are here - gee, wonder if Mia will conquer that fear of public speaking? - but because the movie goes on much longer than it has any right to, overlooking the film's many trite moments becomes exceedingly difficult.
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The Princess Diaries