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Dear Diaries: Nothing new here
submitted by: Lisa D.
source: The Dallas Morning News
Date: August 3, 2001
Stars deliver, but teen flick lacks punch
By PHILIP WUNTCH
No angst throbs as painfully as teen angst. Cinderella was the original unhappy teen, forced to stay home and clean house instead of partying all night.
How appropriate, then, for The Princess Diaries to recycle the Cinderella fable right back into the teen world. Mia Thermopolis is 15 and miserable. She throws up before having to speak in class, she's lousy in sports and she's ridiculed by all the cool kids.
Mia (played by Anne Hathaway) gets an unexpected champion in the form of her previously unknown grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi. Queen Clarisse (played by Julie Andrews) is monarch of a tiny fictional European country called Genovia, and Mia is heiress to the throne. But first, the gawky teen must take royalty lessons.
The G-rated film is innocent, sweet and very, very predictable. Ms. Hathaway is a delight, and Ms. Andrews would be similarly charming if she had better dialogue. The two stars, and a strong supporting cast, spruce up this souvenir, but they cannot give it a lasting shine.
The Princess Diaries is dutifully directed by Garry Marshall, who, 11 years ago, gave us the phenomenally popular Cinderella-as-hooker fable Pretty Woman. The new film follows much the same pattern as the earlier Julia Roberts star-maker. Hector Elizondo, this time a royal aide rather than a hotel manager, returns to give the young heroine some much-needed etiquette lessons. There's even another dinner party scene, complete with flying cutlery. You've seen it all previously, and probably liked it, but the film suffers from being a late arrival in this summer of recycles.
Based on the well-received Meg Cabot novel, the screenplay shows an awareness of the eternal cruelties foisted by teens on one another, but it never really convinces us that these are contemporary teens. Everyone's behavior is shoe-horned into an old-fashioned Disney glass slipper.
Aside from Ms. Andrews, Ms. Hathaway and Mr. Elizondo, the cast includes singer Mandy Moore as a stuck-up cheerleader who gets what she deserves. No one will be certain whether Ms. Moore is in on the joke. Heather Matarazzo, superb in Welcome to the Dollhouse, has several good scenes as Mia's co-geek and voice of conscience. And Caroline Goodall, a largely underrated actress, shines as Mia's free-thinking mother.
The film's San Francisco locale looks great, and the movie has random moments of sparkle. But it reeks of familiarity.
The Princess Diaries
C+
Starring Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo, Mandy Moore, Caroline Goodall and Heather Matarazzo. Directed by Garry Marshall. Rated G. In wide release. 114 min.
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