|
The Story
Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is a shy and geeky
teenager who is mostly invisible to her schoolmates. She just wants to
get through the day without drawing undue attention to herself or embarrass herself. One day, her long
lost grandmother (Julie Andrews) wants to meet with her. Reluctantly,
Mia agrees to pay her grandmother a visit, only to discover that her
grandmother is the Queen of Genovia (a fictional country somewhere around Morocco
or France). More startling is discovering that she is the Princess of
Genovia. The Queen is looking for an heir to the throne, and since Mia
is the only blood relative, she would have the power to rule Genovia
someday.
After the initial shock wears off and after much coaxing
from her grandmother, Mia reluctantly takes etiquette lessons from her
grandmother to become more lady-like and royalty-like. But will Mia
give up her comfortable low-profile life, accept
her birth-right title, and become a ruling Princess of Genovia? How
will her schoolmates and friends treat her when they find out that she is
royalty?
Newcomer Anne Hathaway plays the part of the teenager
Princess with great skill, while Julie Andrews is the perfect is her
role as Queen of Genovia. It is nice to see Julie Andrews again in the
movies. Though the film is rated "G", it
is not a film for really young children. I think that certain on-campus high school
scenes are a bit inappropriate for younger audiences. With that said,
I think the movie is pretty inspirational and uplifting for families with older children (ages nine and
up), particularly for the little Princesses of the house.
The Extras
"The Princess Diaries" DVD contains the following bonus
materials:
-
Audio commentary by director Garry Marshall: a pretty
entertaining and informative commentary. The brother of actress
Penny Marshall, Garry is quite funny and open in his commentary.
-
Audio commentary by Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway,
"The Ultimate Tea Party": an interesting commentary while they
are enjoying English tea in a Disney Studio screening room.
-
"A New Princess Featurette": the typical
self-promotional behind-the-scenes featurette
-
Deleted scenes with introductions by director Garry
Marshall: he did a wonderful job of introducing each scene. It was
a pleasure hearing his introductions, as much as it was to see these
deleted scenes.
-
Myra music video "Miracles Happen"
-
Krystal Harrig music video "Supergirl"
-
"Sneak Peeks" of the following DVDs and
theatrical releases:
-
"Peter Pan"
-
"Peter Pan in Return to Never Land"
-
"Atlantis: The Last Empire"
-
"Cinderella II: Dreams Come True"
-
"Show White and the Seven Dwarfs":
Platinum Series DVD
-
"101 Dalmations: The Animated Sequel"
-
Dinsey's "Princess of Thieves"
-
Disney's "Child Star: The Shirley Temple
Story"
I wish Disney didn't put the "Sneak Peeks"
at the beginning of the disc, even though you could skip them or go the
main menu. Besides that minor nit, I think there are enough bonus materials here to keep most
Princesses satisfied. 
Video & Audio
The image quality of this anamorphic
widescreen DVD is excellent, thanks to the THX certified video transfer. The colors are accurate and
saturated, while shadow detail is very good. There is also a 1.33:1
aspect ratio full frame version available as a separate DVD, for those of
you who prefer the full frame presentation.
The Dolby
Digital 5.1 soundtrack is well balanced, with rather conservative use of the surround
channels.
The dialogue comes across crystal clear and was easy to understand.
| 
United We Stand
