Dir: Garry Marshall / Writer: Shonda Rhimes and Gina Wendkos / Cinematography: Charles Minsky
Julie, Mickey and Minnie have fun in the sun (image: obfusciatrist FlickrCC)
Genovia’s back…just in case you missed it
A sequel – quite obviously produced to cash in on the unexpected box office success of the charming teen wish-fulfilment fantasy, The Princess Diaries. Here Princess Mia (formerly plain Mia Thermopolis) is all grown-up, and returns to Genovia (a peculiarly sunny made-up Eurozone mish-mash) to fulfil her royal duties and become Queen.
The only fly in the ointment is the old genovian ruling that requires all women to be married before they can ascend to the throne. Cue blue-blooded Blind Date and within a week Mia has got herself a King-in-waiting – cheerful, but dull Brit Andrew Jacoby (Smallville’s Callum Blue). Frustratingly for all concerned, while there’s no spark with Jacoby she’s strangely attracted to Nicholas Devereaux (Chris Pine and his amazingly bouffant hair), who also happens to be a rival for the crown.
In the first film, the clever casting (Hathaway, Julie Andrews and Hector Elizondo), quirky characters and the sly, witty script combined to make an entertainingly off-beat comedy that appealed to tween, teen and adult alike.
Here they’ve extinguished the spark of clever originality and thrown in morality tales aplenty, more pratfalls, song and dance sequences (Julie Andrews gets to clear her pipes) and girly sleepovers – ultimately targeting the tween audience at the expense of all others. It hits its target demographic and delivered decent numbers at the box office, but it’s sucked the fun out of the whole experience. Anne Hathaway is so much better than this.
Rating: 2/5
IMDb entry for The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
* Based on the characters by Meg Cabot
Movie Pieces 