-May contain major spoilers-
 |
| Photo source: Disney/IMDB |
The Princess Diaries is a coming-of-age romantic comedy teen film directed by Garry Marshall with music by John Debney and premiered on July 29, 2001, at El Capitan Theatre. Starring Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Heather Matarazzo and Robert Schwartzman.
The Princess Diaries is based (very loosely) on the book series of the same name written by Meg Cabot.
Summary
Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is a shy and unpopular girl who lives with her mother, Helen (Caroline Goodall), in San Francisco, California. She goes to Grove High School with the worst person ...ahem, her best friend Lilly (Heather Matarazzo), an "activist" -who tells Mia that she should get over her father's death as it has been two months- she also has her own cable show "Shut Up and Listen" and Lilly's older brother Michael (Robert Schwartzman), who is in a band and works at a mechanic shop, he treats Mia kindly and seems interested in her. Mia has a crush on Josh (Erik von Detten), the most popular guy in Grove High, who is dating Lana (Mandy Moore), a cheerleader who is the most popular girl at Grove High, alongside her friends Anna and Fontana.
Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews), her European paternal grandmother who she has never met before, suddenly wants to have tea with her as she is in town. When they meet up for tea, Clarisse informs Mia that after the death of her father, she has become the crown princess and sole heir to the throne of Genovia, a small European country that is famous for their pears (by the way, Clarisse is the Queen of Genovia by marriage and is currently acting as the Regent of the country). Mia is angry with both her mother and Queen Clarisse as she feels she has been living a lie. Although she initially refuses the idea of ruling Genovia, she ends up accepting her mother's suggestion of taking princess lessons until the Genovian Annual Independence Day Ball, where she will get to decide if she wants to continue being the princess of Genovia or live a normal life.
Mia starts to receive personal princess lessons from the Queen after school, with Joe (Héctor Elizondo), the head of security of the Queen, acting as Mia's private chauffeur and bodyguard. After getting a makeover befitting a princess, Mia's identity as a princess (that was kept secret for security reasons) gets leaked. Now Mia has to deal with her sudden popularity, the hounding of the press, trying to keep up with different commitments, and her affection towards Erik, who started to notice her, and Michael, who always did...
 |
Thoughts
For starters, there are way too many differences between the movie and the book series, so I won't even compare them, but to be sincere, I love the first movie way more than the books -I fervently hate the second movie, though-
The cinematography is nicely done. My favorite scene from the movie is the one where Mia and Michael talk outside the ball ﹘ the set, the lightning, the camera framing, and the script make this scene truly shine and feel kind of dreamy. Another favorite scene is when Mia's Mustang stops working in the rain ﹘ I love it.
The acting is great. Julie Andrews acting as Queen Clarisse is very regal; if you told me she was indeed the queen of X country, I would believe it with two hands.
Anne Hathaway does a great job, especially considering that this is her first major role. The character of Mia grows a lot throughout the movie ﹘ at the start she is so awkward and painfully shy that she can't even speak in front of her class, and at the end, although still a bit shy, [SPOILER] she is able to address the people at the Genovian Annual Independence Day Ball [SPOILER ENDS].
Robert Schwartzman also does a great job portraying Michael, who is kind of awkward but in a 100% charming way -if Michael was real and had gone to my high school, I would have had a mega crush on him.-
I'm team Mia & Michael 4eva, and I'm a bit sad that they cut some of their scenes together out of the movie as they expanded their friendship/relationship more, but I understand the reason why they were cut, [SPOILER] for example, in one of the scenes, the director felt that it was a bit mean of Mia to go on what basically was a date with Michael and immediately after accept to go to the beach party with Erik [SPOILER ENDS] Here are the deleted scenes if you want to see them! Also, one of the deleted scenes explains and puts meaning to the pizza M&M towards the end of the movie (the pizza scene always felt like -???- to me before watching the deleted scene).
I hate Lilly not for her acting -Heather Matarazzo did a great job- or the script, but because I think Lilly is genuinely a mean person and the worst friend Mia could have -and she is even worse in the books!- They did a great job with her!
The soundtrack is good. Krystal Harris's "Supergirl" is so early '00s that it hurts, but I enjoy it a lot. I love Mandy Moore's cover of "Stupid Cupid," it feels so playful. My favorite musical moment in the movie (that doesn't appear in the soundtrack) is the choir class cover of "Catch a Falling Star" (originally by Perry Como) which also gets sung later by Mia when she sadly sings in the rain while she is stuck in her car.
The costumes are pretty, Queen Clarisse's outfits look very elegant and fit her character very well. I love Mia's ball gown very much.
I recommend this movie if you like high school movies, character growth, and a cute romance.
If there is a third movie and Michael doesn't appear, but the guy from the second movie does, the producers will be catching my hands! -Just kidding, I just won't be watching, though-
Rating
Acting - 8/10
Plot - 9/10
Romance - 10/10
Soundtrack - 8/10
Mia's ball gown - 10/10
Overall Rating - 9/10
Extended Movie Info
Run Time: 115 minutes (1hs 55min).
Release Date: July 29, 2001 (premiere).
Based on: The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot.
Directed by: Garry Marshall.
Cinematography by: Karl Walter Lindenlaub.
Screenplay by: Gina Wendkos.
Edited by: Bruce Green.
Music by: John Debney.
Costumes by: Gary Jones.
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Heather Matarazzo and Robert Schwartzman with Héctor Elizondo, Caroline Goodall, Mandy Moore, Erik von Detten and Sandra Oh.
 |
| I gotta go! |