Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Princess Diaries (2001)
Director: Garry Marshall
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A passable 'make-over' movie from the director of Pretty Woman, this introduces Hathaway as a San Francisco schoolgirl shocked to hear that she's in line for the throne of Genovia. It's fast track Pygmalion time, as Queen Renaldi, her new royal grandmother (Andrews), sets about teaching deportment, etiquette and waving to commoners. But wasn't she happy enough sharing the wacky ex-fire station with her artist single mother in their balanced post-hippy paradise? And isn't the timing bad, now that her best pal's sweet-natured brother Michael (Schwartzman) has started making bashful eyes at her from beneath his Beatles mop? Marshall has described Hathaway as a 'combination of Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland and Julia Roberts', alluding, presumably, to her somewhat erect elegance, singing ability and piano keyboard set of teeth. Notions of responsibility, surrogacy, rites of passage and the value of friendship are gone through, but the highlighting of modern tropes merely serves to emphasise the film's conventionality.Author: WH
User reviews of this film
-
- sillybilly said...
- Posted on Oct 04 2008 15:00 really goodgood
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Garry Marshall
Producer: Whitney Houston, Debra Martin Chase, Mario Iscovich
Cast: Julie Andrews, Anne Hathaway, Heather Matarazzo, Hector Elizondo, Mandy Moore, Caroline Goodall, Robert Schwartzman, Erik von Detten, Sean O'Bryan full cast
Duration: 115 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
London Children's Film Festival
Read our exclusive reviews of films playing at the 2009 London Children’s Film Festival
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Michael Haneke discusses 'The White Ribbon'
Dave Calhoun met with Michael Haneke in Munich to mull over the details of his Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now