The Princess Diaries

"You know, most kids hope for a car for their 16th birthday, not a country!"

Mia Thermopolis (Hathaway) feels invisible: people sit on her and barely know she's alive.  She lives with her mother, Helen (Goodall), and has never met her father or his family.  Before her 16th birthday, she is invited to have tea with her grandmother.  Mia learns that her grandmother, Clarice (Andrews), is the queen of the small European country of Genovia.  Also, since the death of her father, Mia is the only heir to the throne.

Every day leading up to her birthday, Mia secretly goes to the Genovian embassy to receive princess lessons from her grandmother.  To avoid a media firestorm, they keep the news a secret, and she also receives protection from Joe (Elizondo), the head of Genovian security.  She undergoes a makeover, making everyone notice her.  Can she keep the secret from her best friend Lily Moscovitz (Matarazzo) and everyone else in her life?


I was in high school when this film debuted and I fell in love with it immediately.  I loved it so much that it was the first movie I ever bought.  It's the film that originally made many people (including me) fall in love with Anne Hathaway.  And with Julie Andrews as the Queen, how could it be anything other than awesome?

The story was taken from the popular "Princess Diaries" series written by Meg Cabot.  I have never read any of the "Princess Diaries" books, but the story still resonates.  This is the dream of most little girls: becoming a real-life princess.  But this isn't the dream... this isn't like the Disney princesses we grew up with, this is about the challenges of being in the limelight in this modern world.  It isn't just frilly dresses and being awesome...  In the end it is a story about figuring out who you are and what you want to be, which is universally relate-able.

The perfect film for girls... (and there's a sequel!)

The Princess Diaries (2001) 115 minutes
Director: Garry Marshall
Starring: Anne Hathaway as Mia Thermopolis
Julie Andrews as Queen Clarice Renaldi
Hector Elizondo as Joe
Heather Matarazzo as Lily Moscovitz
Mandy Moore as Lana Thomas
Caroline Goodall as Helen Thermopolis
Robert Schwartzman as Michael Moscovitz
Erik Von Detten as Josh Bryant
Patrick Flueger as Jeremiah Hart