“Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi. Princess. Of. Genovia.”
Offer a woman of the particular age a microphone (and several cocktails—guilty) and she can quickly recite this message in entirety, each word clipped with Disney-princess gravitas and a wavering, Madonna-esque European accent.
The speech marks The Princess Diaries’ final duckling-to-swan transformation of a movie-mousy California teenager to the poised heir to your throne, nonetheless it wasn’t the Princess of Genovia that captivated audiences right back if the film hit theaters in 2001. It absolutely was Mia Thermopolis, used megawatt, Julia Robertsian charm by 19-year-old breakout Anne Hathaway, ahead of when Prada, Catwoman, and a fantasy in times gone by.
The Roberts contrast doesn’t begin and end by having a toothy smile and enviably voluminous tresses. Garry Marshall, whom directed the redhead in her star-making submit Pretty girl, are at the helm here and casted several collaborators from PW in PD: Héctor Elizondo (similarly paternal) and Larry Miller (similarly campy), as well as Patrick Richwood, Kathleen Marshall, and Allan Kent. And, like Pretty Woman’s famous necklace-box moment, certainly one of Diaries’ many beloved scenes—Hathaway dropping to her butt on slippery bleacher appears, a surprised bark of laughter erupting from her—was unscripted, kept in by Marshall to showcase the sheer, Hollywood Sweetheart likeability of his starlet.
That likeability has ebbed and flowed throughout Hathaway’s career—that cringey “It came true!” Oscar speech did much to dull the golden-girl gleam—but within the Princess Diaries, it was full-force, equal components approachable gawkiness, theater-kid earnestness, and everyday elegance.
Of all girls that came from the era’s movie-makeover genre—Never Been Kissed’s sheltered Josie Geller, She’s All That’s spiky Laney Boggs—Hathaway’s efficiently radiant, quietly quirky Mia may be the kind of high-school heroine that would certainly get cooler with age, unlike Diaries’ resident bully, the peaked-at-prom cheerleader Lana (a gamely bitchy Mandy Moore). Mia would be fine, frizzy hair, framed specs, and fairytale endings be damned.
In the pair of Pretty Woman, Marshall famously told Roberts’ co-star Richard Gere: “In this film, certainly one of you moves and another of you doesn’t. Guess which one you are?” In that movie, there clearly was only enough limelight for just one starry smile, one sweetheart associated with the display screen. But in Diaries, Marshall pairs Hathaway because of the fairest of ladies: The utterly majestic Julie Andrews as Clarisse Renaldi, Mia’s paternal grandmother plus the reigning royal of Genovia, who must place her misfit granddaughter via a how-to-sit, how-to-wave “princess training” before she can don a crown. The then-66-year-old reportedly arrived on the scene of semi-retirement for the component, returning to Disney for the first time since her very own grand film debut in 1964’s Mary Poppins, and her keenness is palpable.
Sure, between Clarisse’s exacting posture, pronunciation, and polish (“You’re so…clean,” Mia blurts out upon meeting grandma), in writing, Andrews occupies the right guy role of this dreamy dual act. But she still relishes inside her very own moments of slapstick (cable-car hijinks down the bumpy hills of san francisco bay area) and love (an intimate dance with Elizondo’s security guard Joe hints that company is mixed with a little bit of pleasure for our queen). About striking both humor and heart, Andrews has long been a heavyweight champ, and she’s a worthy sparring partner in Hathaway, going toe-to-toe in grace, wit, and luminosity.
The effectiveness of that match-up—and its Bechdel-beating girl power—temporarily distracts viewers from all of the formulas and familiarities of this conventional AF Cinderella story. (A cameo through the always-welcome Sandra Oh—”Gupta?”—also creates a powerful diversion.) It’s a Pygmalion tale so common that Andrews herself has done it before, once the stage’s Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady back 1956, time now bending her to the Henry Higgins role right here. But there’s something touching, nearly profound, in viewing the next generation uphold tradition and assume the throne: Not just with Mia and Queen Clarisse additionally the Genovian top, however with Anne and Julie and Hollywood Sweetheart stardom.
There were rumors about a third movie for decades. (We don’t need to explore 2004’s Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, except to congratulate Chris Pine on their face.) But any sequels will lack that passing-of-the-torch tenderness, that meet-cute involving the sweethearts of different generations: a freshly-powdered debutante being formally presented to culture and a practiced dame taking one last change associated with ballroom.
The Princess Diaries premiered by Walt Disney photos on August 3, 2001. Its currently available to stream on Disney+.
Christina Izzo Christina Izzo is a writer-editor covering refreshments, travel, lifestyle and pop tradition in new york. Previously an editor at break New York, Rachael Ray in Season, and Reveal, she is now able to be found talking about bad ’90s films and Harry Styles’ abs over at My Imperfect Life. Catch her tweeting out improper GIFs at @christinalizzo on Twitter. See author’s posts
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