Plot
Mia Thermopolis is the average teenager - sweet, a little geeky and pretty much invisible to everyone with the exception of her mother...

Release Year: 2001

Rating: 5.9/10 (36,774 voted)

Critic's Score: 52/100

Director: Garry Marshall

Stars: Julie Andrews, Anne Hathaway, Hector Elizondo

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...

Writers: Meg Cabot, Gina Wendkos

Cast:
Julie Andrews - Queen Clarisse Renaldi
Anne Hathaway - Mia Thermopolis
Hector Elizondo - Joe
Heather Matarazzo - Lilly Moscovitz
Mandy Moore - Lana Thomas
Caroline Goodall - Helen Thermopolis
Robert Schwartzman - Michael Moscovitz
Erik von Detten - Josh Bryant (as Erik Von Detten)
Patrick John Flueger - Jeremiah Hart (as Patrick Flueger)
Sean O'Bryan - Teacher Patrick O'Connell
Sandra Oh - Vice Principal Gupta
Kathleen Marshall - Charlotte Kutaway
Mindy Burbano - Gym Teacher Ms. Harbula
Kimleigh Smith - Music Teacher Wells (as Kim Leigh)
Beth Anne Garrison - Cheerleader Anna

Taglines: She rocks. She rules. She reigns.

Official Website: Buena Vista Pictures [United States] Awards Consideration Site- catagories, screening calendar | Disney |

Release Date: 3 August 2001

Filming Locations: 2601 Lyon Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $37,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $22,862,269 (USA) (5 August 2001) (2537 Screens)

Gross: $165,335,153 (Worldwide)

Runtime: 115 min

Trivia:
Garry Marshall's granddaughters watched the tapes of actresses auditioning for the role of Mia - they confided in their grandfather he should hire Anne Hathaway because she had good princess hair.

Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: In the scene where Mia is driving the Mustang up hills with her grandmother, it is inferred that it is a manual because it keeps drifting backwards on hills (it even drifts all the way down a hill and hits a bus). Also there is a close-up shot of her putting both feet on the brake pedal. Later in the movie when she's driving to the ball in the rain, the car stalls and she lays down on the front passenger seat. You can clearly see the gear shifter and it is an automatic. Therefore it wouldn't drift backwards on hills.

Quotes:
[first lines]
Helen Thermopolis: Time for school! Stop daydreaming, you'll be late for school.

Entertaining

Rating:

I will admit that when I first heard a Disney movie called "The Princess Diaries" was coming out, I thought it would be corny. But upon actually SEEING the film, I found (as is usually the case when stupid judgmental people make up their mind about films without watching them, I won't name names, you know who you are...Tom!) that it was in reality a charming, original, humorous and thoroughly entertaining family film.

The plot is fairy tale in nature: Mia is a social misfit with terrible hair and no self-confidence. Her only friends are eccentric activist Lilly and rock band headliner Michael (played by real-life rocket Robert Carmine of "Rooney") who has a little crush on her. Then, who of all people should turn up but Julie Andrews to tell Mia that her father (who she hasn't seen since she was tiny) was actually royalty and that she, Mia, was princess of a country no one's ever heard of. What it comes down to is this: She has until a big embassy ball to decide whether she wants to give up the crown (and basically open the country up to a hostile political takeover) or take her place as princess. After a makeover (at the hands of funnyman Larry Miller), some training and at least four horrendously traumatizing incidents, she decides...well, that would be giving it away, wouldn't it?

This is not a movie for little girls dressed in tutus who want to be princesses when they grow up. For the first time in the studio's tenure (I'd wager) this film depicts the responsibility of royalty. Mia tackles with the pressures of ruling a country. But for my money the best part of this movie is the love story. No, not Mia and the uniquely attractive rocker (although, that is great). A second, unscripted love story exists between Andrews and her chauffeur, Hector Elizondo. That's terrific.

It's about being yourself and bettering yourself. It's about knowing who your real friends are. It's about living up to your own expectations. It's about smushing an ice cream cone on the blouse of a bitchy cheerleader who deserves it. And maybe that sounds corny to all y'all (rustic expression) but I know a lot of adults who could use lessons like these.

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