Cast: Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, John Rhys-Davies
Director: Garry Marshall

Engagingly Cutesy

By Mary-Ann Russon • UrbanWire
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Lord Andrew Jacoby wooing Princess Mia

Disney's favourite princess returns to cinemas in the long-awaited sequel to the 2001 surprise hit The Princess Diaries.

Set 5 years after the first movie, Princess Diaries 2 follows the ongoing adventures of American-born Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway), a regular American who found out that she is a princess. Now 21, Mia has just graduated from college and is ready to take her place beside her grandmother Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews) as Crown Princess of Genovia (a small fictional European country styled like the Czech Republic). Queen Clarisse intends to teach Mia how to be a queen and then gracefully abdicate.

Unfortunately there's a snag. Under Genovian law a princess can't become queen unless she is married, and the Genovian parliament already has little respect for Mia, seeing her as an outsider simply living out every little girl's dream - to one day be a queen. So when Viscount Mabrey (John Rhys-Davies) contests Mia's right to rule, offering in place his own candidate for the throne - his nephew Nicholas Devereaux (Chris Pine) - parliament makes a decision: Mia has 30 days to find a husband, or she will lose the throne to Nicholas.

Queen Clarisse and lifelong bodyguard Joe share a romantic moment

This puts a dampener on Mia's mood, for she has always hoped to marry for love. An arranged marriage to a suitably titled man seems inevitable, but none of Mia's potential suitors interest her one bit. Eventually, Mia decides on Lord Andrew Jacoby (Callum Blue), a nice, proper English gentleman with the right lineage and all the qualities needed in a consort.

Just as everything seems perfect, Mia's nemesis Nicholas (who is of course very good-looking) turns up, instructed by his evil uncle to woo Mia and ruin her engagement so that she will lose the throne. Sparks fly as a love-hate relationship develops between Mia and Nicholas, and Mia must decide: Should she follow her heart, or honour her duty to Genovia?

Based on the series by Meg Cabot, Princess Diaries 2 is hilarious but rather cliché. Given Andrew is plain and boring (though very sweet), while Nicholas is handsome and charming, it's really no guesses who Mia's going to end up with.

While this is a film that young girls will undoubtedly enjoy, true fans of the books, or even just fans of the first film are likely to be disappointed. Mia's first love Michael Moscovitz (Robert Schwartzman) from The Princess Diaries is sadly absent, and although Mia's tree-hugger political activist best friend Lily Moscovitz (Heather Matarazzo) makes an appearance in the sequel, she seems to exist only for comic relief.

Princess Mia and Nicholas Face Off

There are also many unanswered questions in the film. For some strange reason, latest Disney darling Raven makes a special guest appearance as an unexplained friend of Mia's, looking very out-of-place. Instead of confiding in her best friend Lily, Mia spends most of her time either with Raven or with a group of unknown elite girls from rich Genovian families. Who are they? How do they know Mia? That doesn't seem to be important.

Another interesting point is that in the first film, Grandmother Queen Clarisse flew the entire Genovian court over to San Francisco to meet Mia at a fancy ball, where she announced that Mia would succeed her one day as Queen. So why didn't the Viscount protest then?

However, Anne Hathaway's performance is sweet and genuine as the bumbling princess while Chris Pine provides the eye-candy, but the real attraction has to be getting to see Julie Andrews surfing on a mattress down a large slide in the Genovian palace, and singing at Mia's bridal shower slumber party.

So if you like Anne Hathaway, enjoy looking at luxury and riches, think Chris Pine is hot, or simply adore Julie Andrews, this is the film for you. In any case, Princess Diaries 2 also serves as a good distraction for playful youngsters if you are stuck caring for them.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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