The Princess Diaries
Tags: romantic, comedy, flashback

Plot synopsis:
Teenager Mia Thermopolis lives with her artist mother, Helen, and her black and white cat, Fat Louie, in a remodeled San Francisco firehouse. A somewhat awkward and unpopular girl, she is terrified of public speaking and often wishes to be "invisible". She has a crush on the popular Josh Bryant, but is frequently teased by both him and his cheerleader girlfriend, Lana Thomas. Mia’s only friendships are in the form of the equally unpopular Lilly Moscovitz and Lilly's brother Michael, who secretly has a crush on Mia.
Just before her 16th birthday, Mia learns her paternal grandmother, Clarisse, is visiting from (the fictional) Genovia, a small European kingdom. When Mia goes to meet her at a large house (later revealed to be the Genovian consulate), Clarisse reveals she is actually Queen Clarisse Renaldi, and that her son, Mia’s late father, was Crown Prince of Genovia. Mia is stunned to learn she is a princess and heir to the Genovian throne. In shock, Mia runs home and angrily confronts her mother, who explains she had planned to tell Mia on her 18th birthday, but that her father’s death has forced the matter. Queen Clarisse visits and explains that if Mia refuses the throne, Genovia will be without a ruler (a subplot involves a scheming baron and his unsightly baroness quietly rooting for Mia's downfall). Helen persuades a hesitant Mia to attend "princess lessons" with the Queen, telling her she does not have to make her decision until the upcoming Genovian Independence Day ball.
Mia is given a glamorous makeover, the use of a limousine and a bodyguard (the Queen’s head of security, Joe). This and Mia's frequent absences for the lessons make Lilly suspicious and jealous, so she accuses Mia of trying to be like the popular girls. Mia breaks down and tells Lilly everything, swearing her to secrecy. However, the San Francisco Chronicle learns that Mia is the Genovian Crown Princess after hairdresser Paolo breaks his confidentiality agreement (so his work would be known), causing a press frenzy, and a sudden surge in popularity at school for Mia. In a craven urge for fame, many of her classmates (mostly Lana) bluff that they are friends of the princess to reporters.
At a state dinner, Mia embarrasses herself with her clumsiness, delighting her rivals for the crown. However, all is not lost as the situation amuses a stuffy diplomat, and the Queen tells Mia the next day she found it fun. Deciding it is time the two bonded as grandmother and granddaughter, the Queen allows Mia to take her out in Mia's late 60s Ford Mustang convertible for the day to the Musée Mécanique, an amusement arcade. The day almost ends terribly when Mia's car stalls a hill and rams backward into a cable car, but Queen Clarisse saves the day by "appointing" the attending police officer and the tram driver to the Genovian "Order of the Rose" (something she clearly made up on the spot), flattering them into dropping any charges. Mia sees this and is impressed with her grandmother.
Later, Mia is delighted when Josh Bryant invites her to a beach party, but her acceptance hurts Lilly and Michael, with whom she had plans (the former wanting Mia to appear on her self-made cable show, and the latter wanting her to watch his band perform). Things go wrong when the press arrive, tipped off by Lana. Josh uses Mia to get his 15 minutes of fame by publicly kissing her, while Lana tricks her into changing in a tent, pulling it away as the paparazzi arrive, giving them a scandalous shot of her in a towel. She breaks down into tears in her mother's arms when she gets home. The photos appear on tabloid covers the following day, leaving Queen Clarisse furious at Mia. A humiliated Mia tells her that she is renouncing the throne, feeling she is nowhere near ready to be a true princess. Joe later reminds the Queen that although Mia is a princess, she is still a teenager and her granddaughter.
Back at school, Mia attempts to rescue her friendships with Lilly and Michael by inviting them to the Genovian Independence Day Ball, gets back at Josh for humiliating and using her by hitting a baseball into his groin during gym class, and finally stands up to Lana when she is cruel to Lilly’s friend Jeremiah, publicly humiliating her by smearing ice cream on her cheerleader outfit and telling her that while she (Mia) might grow out of her proclaimed odd ways, she (Lana) will never stop being a jerk; the teachers do not interfere, knowing Lana deserved it. While Lilly is excited at the prospect of attending a royal ball, Michael, brokenhearted over Mia's initial feelings for Josh, turns her down. Clarisse apologizes to Mia for being furious at her over the beach incident, and states that she must publicly announce her decision to become princess of Genovia. Mia, terrified at this large responsibility placed upon her, plans to run away. However, when she finds a letter from her late father, his touching words make her change her mind, and she makes her way to the ball. Mia’s car breaks down in the rain, but she is rescued by Joe, who had suspected she was going to run.
When they arrive, a drenched and untidy Mia voices her acceptance of her role as Princess of Genovia. Mia gets dressed up and accompanies Clarisse to the ballroom, where she is formally introduced and invited to dance. Michael, accepting an apologetic gift from Mia (a pizza with M & M candies cleverly topped to say "sorry"), arrives at the ball, and after a quick dance, they adjourn to the courtyard. Mia confesses her feelings to him, stating that even when she was constantly teased and embarrassed at school, he liked her for who she truly was. Mia shares her first kiss with Michael, while Clarisse and Joe are seen holding hands. In the final scene Mia is shown on a private plane with Fat Louie, writing in her diary, explaining she is moving with her mother to Genovia, just as the beautiful royal palace and landscape come into view below.

Review: As a parent I often have to suffer through books my children read to me, music they like, and television shows & movies that I have no desire to see.
Princess Mia also struggles between dating the school jock, who ignored her before she became famous and dating an unpopular guy who has been her friend for years.The story is predictable and hold no real surprises.
Julie Andrews did well in her role as the Queen and it was a treat to see her in another Disney film.
I was surprised by how well Anne Hathaway did in her role as Princess Mia. She held her own against such performers as Andrews and Elizondo.
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.
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.
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.
The acting of Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway is superb and the story shines out hope.
A fun story - if entirely unoriginal - about an awkward and unpopular 15 year old San Francisco girl (Anne Hathaway) who discovers out of the blue that she is the heir to the throne of the small, fictional European principality of Genovia, and has to deal with all the adjustments that requires.It's typically Disney-esque.
Hathaway put on a very good performance in the lead role of Mia, moving from shy and awkward teenager, to sudden celebrity causing her to have to deal with being popular not for who she is but for what she is, to - finally - elegant princess.
She didn't miss a beat in her portrayal of Queen Clarisse, and Hector Elizondo handled the role of Joseph - Mia's driver and bodyguard - with great style.It's a fun movie.
I think that Julie Andrews completely made the movie and that Anne Hathaway also did an excellent job.
The movie is great for people of all ages because it has a simplistic plot yet has great one liners and great repartee between the characters of the Queen and Princess Mia. I also think that the minor characters are great also because they provide even more comic relief..
The 'girl who finds out she is a princess' story, has been most certainly covered, but this makes you forget about it being a fairy tale cliché.All thanks to Anne Hathaway, who just sizzled as Mia  her cool/ funny tone of voice and personality, just made her picture perfect.
I think the Princess Diaries was one of the best Disney movies I've seen.
I just LOVED the Princess Diaries books by Meg Cabot, and my friend loved the movie, so I went and saw the movie with pretty high expectations.
Anne Hathaway as Mia was the only watchable thing about the movie, and not even because of her (lack of) acting skills, but because she was at least portraying Mia like in the book.
Julie Andrews does a fine performance as the Queen and Anne Hathaway does a fantastic job as the princess, I think she has a great career as an actress ahead of her.
But this movie seems to say that your life will wind up perfect only if your grandmother happens to be a queen and you wind up being a princess.
Having said that, I actually don't regret my decision as much as I thought I would.The Princess Diaries is a modern day fairy tale about Mia (Hathaway) who lives in San Francisco with her divorced mother.
One day, her estranged grandmother (Andrews) comes to visit with a proposal for her:  She would like Mia to be her successor and become Princess of Genovia.
Hilarity ensues because Mia is pretty much a regular teen who is clumsy, awkward and in desperate need of a professional makeover, so she spends the next several weeks in etiquette lessons, getting "re-done" and trying to decide if being a princess is what she really wants in life.
Anne Hathaway is such a talented actress and shows it in this film, With people like Julie Andrews and Hector Elizondo and such like working on a film together how can it not be great.
I would say the reason i like the films obviously because an unpopular girl gets one over on the popular, but also because of the love story between Mia and Michael, it's sooooo sweet.If you haven't seen it yet you really should.
Perhaps young girls would enjoy this film, but I don't think any adult would want to spend the time watching this ruined fairy tale.
John Hughes was the 80's king of the teen movie - see Ferris Bueller and Pretty In Pink - if only the people that greenlit this travesty had seen how to do it properly we may have been spared this film.Throw in every teen cliche in the book, some classic sterotypes - dork, outcast, mechanic etc - and just for good measure Julie Andrews as of all things a Grandmother who just happens to be Queen - oh my god !I am just so glad I didn't have to pay to see this as otherwise I would have been a tad miffed - how this did so much business in the United States is beyond me.Watch at your peril....
This film is about a 15 year old ordinary school girl finding out her royal descent all of a sudden.Anne Hathaway is great as a mischievous girl, and her transformation into an elegant princess is stunning.
I got the movie on DVD, and I love to watch it when I don't have school.
Definitely not part of the target audience (though I do consider myself young at heart!) I was charmed by Ms Hathaway's naivety and photogenic presence and the always reliable Julie Andrews who wonderfully never takes herself too seriously, poking fun at her family-friendly screen persona.
Cue Cinderella-like transformation and plenty of vivacious trying on of clothes and groovy pop tunes.The film has a simple but great (even hackneyed) message at heart, to be true to yourself and never forget that your friends and family can be the most honest and important in your life.
The storyline can be pretty thin considering the good-guy-bad-guy syndrome but Mia's closest friends are still commendable and mature young people capturing the trials and tribulations of teenage "fitting in", first loves, peer pressure, pressure from Mums and Dads and realisation of adult responsibilities.I had a really fun time with this film, absorbed in it's fairytale story lines and taking myself back to when I was young and naive.
Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews do an amazingly wonderful job acting in this movie.
Mia's transition from normality to royalty is very engaging to watch.And, unlike the sequel, you can relate to Mia in this movie because, when you look past all this princess business, she's really just an average teenager who's worried that she won't make a difference in the world.On an entirely unrelated note, I actually sort of like Mia's hair before her makeover.
The story is simple, Mia (Anne Hathaway) is a self-conscious teenager who wants to lead a quiet, happy life but when her abrupt grandmother (Julie Andrews) travels from Europe to America to tell her that she is a princess of a large country.
Being an all-American, rather an affected-by-hormones kind of girl things don't go to plan especially when Mia thinks she has won the affections of a teen-aged boy she is sexually attracted to who goes to her school but she doesn't know that she is being used in order for him to become famous.
It's interesting, fun, romantic, extremely funny, heartwarming and all it has missing is the violent action and horror audiences today expect from a good movie, and to me that is a very good thing.
Some people have said this movie is a Disney version of Pretty Woman.The difference between Pretty Woman and Princess Mia...
Princess Diaries - young teen, not very good looking, royal blood,grandmother Queen of Genovia, has to learn to walk, talk, eat and behave like princess.
This is a nice movie to sit down with the kids and watch.It is innocent, there are no connotations of any kind but most of all it's just entertainment.It's Julie Andrews for crying out loud!!
I love the story of The Princess Diaries and I own all the books.
i remember feeling bad for making my mom sad for just trying to buy me something that i would like so i decided to watch this movie and all i can say is boy was i wrong.i really thought this was a darling movie for the little girl in me who dreamed of being a princess as a child.
The Princess Diaries is a delightful film for people of all ages to enjoy..
The supporting players here are also great, but the story revolves mainly around Hathaway's character and how her life takes on a whole new meaning after she is informed that she is a real-life princess.The cast is outstanding and the story is mesmerizing.
If your looking for a nice fun light hearted movie that you can have a few laughs with along the way then Princess Diaries is definitely perfect for that.
A stunning-as-always Julie Andrews carries the movie, but I truly enjoyed the performances by Anne Hathaway as Mia, and Heather Matarazzo ('Welcome to the Dollhouse') as Lilly.
Your movies are so inspiring that I am 25years old and I still love to watch them.
I will always love the princess diaries movies the best.
My masochistic instinct and my movie hunger together push me to go on making something so bad to myself and so I watched also this atrocious Princess Diary.
I realize the story is a fairy tale, but the emotions should be real.The only good thing in the movie:  Heather Matarazzo is yelling for her friend, and someone else turns around, and she says, "Not you!
If you have read the original Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot, and liked them, then I'm betting that there is a 100% chance that you will hate this movie with every fiber of your being.There are huge problems with this pile of crap.1) I doubt that anyone involved with this film has every even touched the books, as no-one seems to do anything right.
As much as I love Julie Andrews she was entirely the wrong woman to play Grandmere who is completely evil in the books unlike this kind, sweet, understanding lady she plays.
But of course in the end she realizes that what she is doing is all wrong and she becomes some kind of modern version of a fairy tale princess...This movie is just childish, very unbelievable and full of stereotypes.
Even though I didn't really like the movie, I have to admit that it had some good things too.
I loved the books 'The Princess Diaries', Meg Cabot did a good job.
In the books she was great, in the movie...not so much.As far as I could see there were three good things about this film.1.
I've been watching that woman on screen for over thirty years now..I think Anne Hathaway is very talented and I hope she gets better offers from this - at least it would have served that purpose.
this is a movie for 6 year old girls who have been taught that being beautiful and a princess in a magical land is the ideal life...
Julie Andrews is looking and acting great and Ann Hathaway is delightful.
is in this film would't like to wake up and be told you're a princess.But that's what happens to Hathaway, a young high school girl who pines for the
The Princess Diaries (2001) is a cute, entertaining family oriented film that is perfect if you're looking for feel good Disney fare.
The Princess Diary talk about a 15-year-old teenager whose name is Mia wants to be invisible at school.
The Princess Diary talk about a 15-year-old teenager whose name is Mia wants to be invisible at school.
Based on Meg's classic story The Princess Diary, the motion picture make her characters believe-like in another artistic way.
Based on Meg's classic story The Princess Diary, the motion picture make her characters believe-like in another artistic way.
Just like having read Margaret's story (Gone With The Wind), you then watch O'Selznick's GWTW movie.
Just like having read Margaret's story (Gone With The Wind), you then watch O'Selznick's GWTW movie.
This is of course the film that brought a young Anne Hathaway to our attention, featuring her as an average teenager realising that she's actually the Princess of a far off land.
A big part of that success is down to it being well directed by the much missed Garry Marshall and the fact that it features winning performances from Hathaway and Andrews.I don't think it needed the sequel that followed, but this is an hour and a bit of entertaining fairy-tale fun..
She was intrigued by the story and really likes Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews.
Mia Thermopolis (played by Anne Hathaway) is a 15-year old girl.
Plus, Anne Hathaway puts in a wonderful, charming performance as Mia.So, really a children's movie, but adults won't mind being forced to sit through it..
When I watched this film I have really interested in it , and I really like Princess Diaries .
And I love Anne Hathaway(Mia Thermopolis) her play was wonderful .
Meanwhile Michael Moscovitz is in love with Mia.There are many things wrong with this movie.
The one thing that this movie has is the lovely Anne Hathaway.
I love this movie because it was funny and it's better than what they produce on Disney now.
People actually like this and I am pretty sure how awesome it was in the early 2000.disney movies are too predictable.
It was nice to see Anne Hathaway again, but the true delight of the movie has to be Julie Andrews.
So yes, I could watch this again and again, and still enjoy the princess's makeover like I did the first time..
Much like Julie Andrews attracted attention when she was younger in "The Sound of Music", she carries the movie with her presence.
Julie Andrews by the way also appears in a supporting role in this film.The movie definitely made Ann Hathaway a star.
This royal film's got it all: a princess, a queen, a classic Cinderella story, a ball, "cute boys", a quirky BFF...
I'd say pretty much any female will find this movie a pleasure to watch, as it fulfills the childhood fantasy we've all craved in a humorous and tasteful way, and in the end leaves you satisfied and feeling good.The characters are all endearing and special in their own ways, from Mia's disgruntled neighbor, to the classic "mean girl", to her typical "backstreet boy" crush.
And when I say that, I am in NO WAY belittling it or putting it down, because to me 'Princess Diaries' is and always will be an enjoyable, funny, and at times childish film.
She has princess lessons under the ground mother temporarily, but she must make a choice between life of San Fransiisco or the life of Genovia as a princess.Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews co-star in this movie.
The princess Diaries is the one of my best movies.Mia, played by Anne Hathaway, lives in San Francisco with a mom.
I think this is like not only the familiar Cinderella's story,but also a sweet story of misfit 15 year old teenager turned princess.
Besides, the acting of Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrew is excellent.
Everything the plot, the characters, made it the perfect Princess movie to date.Anne Hathaway did a sensational job.
But also, this film has this light-hearted feel to it which is one of the reasons why I love it so much and one of the reasons why it makes me smile.Overall, this movie (I can't believe I'm saying this!) is by far the best Princess movie I have ever seen.
Loosely based on the books by Meg Cabot, Princess Diaries is a charming, if somewhat uneven film, though it does boast a spirited and lovely-looking Anne Hathaway in the title role.
Anne Hathaway, playing the darling Princess Mia, is also very funny and no bad actress at all!
Anne Hathaway (Mia) was exactly what was described in the Princess Diaries books.
I actually liked this movie, though if you are looking for plot twists, this is not your film.
I love how whenever someone does a light-hearted movie like this, all the "master critics" come out en masse to trounce on it...."'pretty woman' without the hookers, read the book instead etc.
Mia (Anne Hathaway), a young teenage girl discovers she is a princess and has to decide whether or not to accept the throne.
The only thing from the books I think is most of the names and the fact Mia is a Princess.
It's a comfort movie (kinda like comfort food).Anne Hathaway was brilliant but the way she portrayed Mia (and the way she looked) was not quite how I imagined.