The Princess Diaries (2001)

Release date: 2001-08-03
Country: USA|UK
Language: English|Dutch|Italian
Director: Garry Marshall
Production Co: Walt Disney Pictures, BrownHouse Productions, Bottom of the Ninth Productions
Genre: Comedy, Family, Romance
Rating: 6.3/10
Length: 1h 51min

Storyline

Mia Thermopolis is the average teenager - sweet, a little geeky and pretty much invisible to everyone with the exception of her mother, best friend Lilly and Lilly's older brother Michael. Making it through high school without throwing up is a challenge in itself for Mia, so it doesn't come as welcome news when her estranged grandmother shows up out of the blue and calmly informs her that she is in fact the heir to the throne of a European country called Genovia. Suddenly Mia's life is thrown into complete overload. She's being taught about scarves, waves and pears in order to become a perfect princess, she gets a makeover and a tough looking yet sweet bodyguard/limo driver called Joe. Things get out of hand when the media gets a hold of the story and suddenly Mia is thrust into the spotlight in both the newspapers and in school. On top of all that Mia has a choice to make. She must decide by Genovia's Independence Day Ball whether she longs to relinquish her claim on the throne or to...

Plot Keywords

princess, makeover, cinderella story, paparazzi, police car, press, principal, private school, nun, loss of father, fountain, fish out of water, pantyhose, reporter, rock band, teenager, high school, teen movie, photo booth, bechdel test passed

Short Review

Notions of responsibility, surrogacy, rites of passage and the value of friendship are gone through, but the highlighting of modern tropes merely serves to emphasise the film's conventionality.