Mia Thermopolis (played by Anne Hathaway) is a 15-year old girl. Awkward and shy she lives with her artist mother Helen (Catherine Goodall) in an refurbished former fire station. Then one day she meets her grandmother Clarisse (Julie Andrews) and is informed that she is the Princess of the European country of Genovia. Despite the perks involved, she is not so sure she wants to assume the title.

Very formulaic and obviously made for children, the whole plot and production are pure Disney. Very fairy tale-like and predictable.

Yet it is difficult to dislike. The main characters are not your usual irritating, bratty teens. There is an innocence to it all that propels the movie. Plus, Anne Hathaway puts in a wonderful, charming performance as Mia.

So, really a children's movie, but adults won't mind being forced to sit through it.

I am a forty-something year-old father and not the sort of person to which this film was targeted. I like foreign films, classic Hollywood and even silent films and am very critical about the horrid quality of the films that have been released over the last thirty years. Because of all this, you would assume that I would hate THE PRINCESS DIARIES--I sure did. But when my oldest daughter insisted we buy this film and watch it together, I was genuinely shocked that I found myself enjoying and being sucked into what is essentially a teen and pre-teen girls' film. Due to terrific writing, very good acting and a fairy tale-like quality to the film, I was very, very impressed.

The movie, by the way, reminded me of a much better retooling of the old Grace Kelly film, THE SWAN. However, unlike THE SWAN, this film was really engaging and sweet.

FYI--SPOILER ALERT!!! I have never seen the sequel to THE PRINCESS DIARIES and have no desire to. That's because the fundamental message in the first movie is that you need to be true to yourself and your friends and no matter what the pressures were, the new princess did not forget her friends or nerdy boyfriend. However, the main plot idea of PRINCESS DIARIES II is that she's in search of a prince to marry--what happened to the message and happy ending to PRINCESS DIARIES?!

I really liked this. Loosely based on the books by Meg Cabot, Princess Diaries is a charming, if somewhat uneven film, though it does boast a spirited and lovely-looking Anne Hathaway in the title role. Though the film does belong to Julie Andrews as her grandmother, the wonderful actress who brought us classics such as Mary Poppins and Sound of Music. Hector Elizondo is also fun as Joe. The film has some lovely locations and costumes, and the two actresses are well supported by some very talented co-stars, such as the lady who played the bitchy Lana. The film also has a feel-good nature about it, that just adds to the film's appeal. However, the film isn't without its flaws. The story had an oft-tendency to become predictable, and the script while very funny on the most part, had some clichés here and there. There were some scenes that were a little, and that word I am putting a lot of emphasis on, slow and could have been developed a little more. On the whole, and I genuinely mean this, a charming, likable, if not entirely successful film. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox.