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'The Princess Diaries' submitted by: Lisa D. source: The Philadelphia Inquirer Date: August 3, 2001 By Carrie Rickey Inside every klutzy 10th-grade girl is a self-possessed sylph struggling to get out? This is the reassuring message of "The Princess Diaries," an inoffensive self-esteem comedy disguised as a makeover movie. Alas, as is so often the case with such pictures, "before" is infinitely more attractive than "after." She may be frizzy-haired and beetle-browed, but Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is a rough diamond who requires almost no polish to sparkle -- on the outside. Inside is another matter, which is why Julie Andrews is on hand. On the eve of Mia's 16th birthday, the San Francisco high school sophomore has two modest goals: To address her speech class and to get her driver's license without spinning out from panic. Then grandmother Clarisse (Andrews) arrives to reveal to Mia her royal bloodlines. With her father's recent death, Mia is heir apparent to the mythical European principality of Genovia, where the hills are alive with the fruit of pear trees. It is Clarisse's Queen Motherly duty to turn Hollywood's idea of an ugly duckling into Mademoiselle magazine's idea of a bird of paradise. So it comes to pass that while her classmates study for their algebra exams, Mia crams glam lessons. Because only the vision-impaired would find Mia unattractive, and only a Barbie doll-in-training would deem her a social untouchable, are we to assume that those schoolmates who shun or make fun of Mia must either be blind or be cookie-cutter aspirants? Yet as Mia's curly tresses are straightened, her eyebrows plucked to perfection and her shapeless uniform replaced with designer dresses, the unintentional message of this movie about the princess within all girls is that it is better to conform to a generic ideal of beauty than to be yourself. Has director Garry Marshall forgotten the lesson of his "Pretty Woman" (and of "Pygmalion" before it)? In those dramas, the transition from tramp to lady is less a matter of how its subject dresses than of how others address her. However mechanical the screenplay (by "Coyote Ugly" scribe Gina Wendkos, from the Meg Cabot novel) and perfunctory Marshall's direction, Andrews is so firm, so forthright, that she commands the enterprise. One cannot dismiss a movie in which Andrews, that rare woman in the Hollywood garden of girls, reminds us that bell-like enunciation, unfailing politeness and proud posture are markers of self-respect accessible to all, whether commoners or royalty. The truly reassuring aspect of "The Princess Diaries" is that Andrews, the inspirational governess in "The Sound of Music" and the nonsense-loving nanny of "Mary Poppins," is on hand to cultivate another generation of girls into womanhood. She is one hardy species of rose, one that never wilts. The extent to which "The Princess Diaries" succeeds is due to how pretty Hathaway at first mimics, then internalizes, Andrews' essential majesty. THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2 stars Produced by Whitney Houston, Debra Martin Chase and Mario Iscovich, directed by Garry Marshall, written by Gina Wendkos, based on the novel by Meg Cabot, photography by Karl Walter Lindenlaub, music by John Debney, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures. Running time: 1 hour, 55 mins. Site design by: Dolphin Webpage Designs © 1996-2001