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The Princess Diaries (Widescreen Edition)

The Princess Diaries (Widescreen Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I love this movie!
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I know it by heart. It's a wonderful family film that is funny and meaningful at the same time. It embodies every girl's wish that they're really royalty and will be swept away by a long-lost relative to be a princess and rule. Mia goes through doubting her abilities to reign, embarassing high school moments, and love. It's just really great.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Charming, Funny, Sweet -- Simply Irresistible!
Review: This movie was absolutely wonderful! Julie Andrews was brilliantly cast as the grandmother version of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, as she transforms her young granddaughter (Anne Hathaway) into a proper princess. When I went to see this movie for the first time I wasn't sure what to expect but the film was wonderful from beginning to end! Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews both deliver stellar performances with perfect comic timing. The supporting cast is also fantastic, including Hector Elizondo - who almost steals the show as the charming security guard and driver. A fantastic movie definitely worth the price of admission!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Like a remake of Pretty Woman
Review: Remember "Pretty Woman?" Ask Director Garry Marshall to do it all over again 11 years later. Substitute Julie Andrews for Richard Gere and switch Julia Roberts to Anne Hathaway. You can bring over at least 8 other actors, as long as one of them is Hector Elizondo. Now you're ready for "The Princess Diaries."

Mia (Anne Hathaway) is just your average 10th grade student, struggling with her shy awkwardness, living with her mom in a old, converted firehouse in San Francisco. Her grandmother, on her late father's side (Julie Andrews), suddenly wants to meet her over "tea." Grandma drops the news that Mia is really Princess of Genovia, the sole heir to the throne, if she wants the job. But she'll need some cleaning up and some charm and etiquette lessons, naturally. That's where Joseph (Hector Elizondo) comes in. Just like in "Pretty Woman," we see the metamorphosis of a young woman from someone who doesn't really fit in as expected to the most beautiful, graceful and charming woman she can be. But don't think for one minute that it's a smooth transition!

I heard some good things about this film and thought, this will be cute for a rainy Sunday afternoon. I enjoyed this film much more than expected. There are so many similarities to "Pretty Woman," but that's a good thing: Taking Mia and transforming her to fit into an entirely different world, a world she didn't choose but one that chose her; The relationship between The Queen and the Princess, so awkward at first, until they really start bonding; Mia's friends struggling with her sudden change; The innocent mistakes and embarrassments the Princess experiences as she struggles to fit in to "their" world; and many other similarities.

It was good to see Julie Andrews again. Her style, charm and grace makes her a perfect choice for Queen Clarisse. Anne Hathaway was new to me and impressed me with her performance as well. Hector Elizondo is such a fine actor. These likeable characters he often plays makes him a truly likeable actor. I always enjoy his performances. Overall, a very entertaining film that I highly recommend.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I love it!
Review: A funny family comedy! Anne Hathaway, shows her best performance as Mia, the kooky teenager who's only trying to stay invisible, when she finds out she's a princess of a whole country! A must-see! Two thumbs up!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 5 Stars for Julie!
Review: This litle story about a semi-geeky teenager who discovers she's heir to the throne of a tiny country is worth seeing only because of the presence of the exquisite Julie Andrews, as the girl's grandmother/Queen. Anne Hathaway is cute as the princess, but the scenes involving the kids just point out how utterly common everyone on the screen is except Julie, who glides, instead of walks, speaks instead of talks, and positively glows at all times. She clicks with Hector Elizondo, too. Just give me 90 minutes of Julie Andrews reading the phone book and I'll be happy. It's great to see her on the big screen again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Charming Disney Film
Review: This is such a wonderful story! This, I think, is one of Disney's best!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Refreshing
Review: It's great to see Julie Andrews again in a movie. She doesn't even have to act, she is a Queen in every sense of the word. She glides across the screen in this wonderful Cinderella like story. The supporting cast is also wonderful and this film is a breath of fresh air with no special effects, no swearing, no trashy sex,,,,,,just a great fun, relaxing movie for all ages. Thanks Julie,,,,,your as wonderful as always.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A feel good comedy
Review: Okay, so I've read all the bad reviews aimed at this movie, but I think these people are completely wrong. I am almost sixteen years old and I absolutely loved this movie (so did my mom, by the way). It was not meant to be a serious movie. It was meant to be a feel-good, sweet comedy. This movie is one of the best ones of it's kind I have seen in a long time. It is one of those rare occasions where you can still enjoy a movie, without it having tons of foul language. It proves that good movies are still made. Give it a chance, and you will be pleasantly surprised!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Pretty Women for Teens
Review: Good points: Julie Andrews' return to the big screen in all of her regal splendor is the definite highpoint of an otherwise frothy affair. She's the only reason I was motivated to watch in the first place - Don't we all wish Mary Poppins was our long-lost grandma? In the lead, Anne Hathaway has the right mixture of fresh-faced beauty and goofy charm for Mia. She was pleasant, nothing more, nothing less. A little bit mixed bag on Heather Matarazzo. I've enjoyed her onscreen presence ever since Welcome to the Dollhouse, but I tire of her playing the same Ultra-Dorky Yet Likeable Outcast Girl in movie after movie after movie. She has it down pat, but it's time to move on, child. Christina Ricci made it, so can you.

Bad Points: What's up with that fashion consultant eyeing Mia up and down like she's a piece of cattle? Great for the self-esteem, that one. While the scenario at first glance is harmless kiddie fluff, you realize - what kind of message is this sending to its target audience? If they pluck their eyebrows, straighten their hair, and wear lipstick, they can have, VOILA!, Insta-Popularity? So much for actual Brains and Personality. I think I've seen enough overmade-up and underdressed prepubescent girls to last a lifetime.

Overall:...I still think it's a pleasant diversion, mildly amusing at best, but it's not a movie I'd show any daughter of mine.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Predictable, But Delightful and Optimistic Gem
Review: Pretty Anne Hathaway, who, interestingly enough, has the same name as Shakespeare's wife, plays the lead character in a modern fairy tale that the Bard himself might have found amusing.
Hathaway's Mia Thermopolis is a gawky teen living with her artist mother (gently and generously portrayed by Caroline Goodall) in San Francisco (whereas, in Meg Cabot's book, her home was New York). She attends a private school via the financial support of her father, who had passed away shortly before the story begins, has a best friend involved in social activism, (played by a loud and cynical Heather Matarazzo), a crush on a heartthrob who doesn't notice her, and a clique of annoying cheerleaders who constantly taunt her, led by pop singer, Mandy Moore.
One day, a meeting with her grandmother changes her life, and Mia discovers that her father was the Crown Prince of Genovia. While reluctant to accept her heritage at first, Mia gradually warms to the idea. As the very regal Queen Clarice, Julie Andrews combines her two Broadway roles in "Camelot" and "My Fair Lady" as she begins the process of training the gawky Granddaughter she had never met before for the role she may one day have on the world stage. Scenes of Mia's Princess lessons are reminiscent of scenes in the film, "Gigi".
The makeover scene is enjoyable to watch, as we see Mia turn from looking like Sarah Jessica Parker's character in "Square Pegs" to looking more like Queen Rania of Jordan. She is truly beautiful with her big, sparkling doe eyes and softened hair as she sees her outwardly polished self in the mirror.
Her friend, Lilly, taunts her about her metamorphosis, while Lilly's brother, Michael, played by an adorably sweet Robert Schwartzman, admires it. After a few tumultuous and embarassing incidents, Mia must make a final decision about where she belongs, and is ultimately influenced by her best friend's opinion in so doing. Genovia may receive a new heiress, and the prospective Princess might be on her way to finding true love as well.
All the while, it is the cool-headed Hector Elizondo's Joseph, the head of the Queen's security detail, who helps the young girl through her dilemma, providing sage advice, and helping to reconcile both grandmother and granddaughter after Mia generates some bad press.
The books on which this film was based have a bit more of an edge and may be more cynical. The premise is a teenage girl's answer to the 1991 film, "King Ralph". But once again, Disney has provided viewers with light and wholesome entertainment.


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