‘Princess Diaries 2’ a fun sequel
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Sep 7, 2004 at 11:07pm
Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement isn’t as good as the original, but it is a good film. Sequels usually don’t measure up to the first ones, and this one is predictable, though in a good way. Not all movies have to be unpredictable to be good, and I like the happily-ever-afters.
In the first film, Mia Thermapolis found out that she is a princess, part of the royal family of the small (fictional) European nation of Genovia. She was tutored by her grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renalid (Julie Andrews) and protected by bodyguard/chauffeur Joe (Hector Elizondo). In the follow-up which is written by Shonda Rhimes and Gina Wendkos and directed again by Garry Marshall—Mia has graduated from college and is moving to Genovia (which has a population of about 50,000). Her best friend Lilly (Heather Matarazzo) joins her on her summer vacation. However, things get complicated when Mia learns that she can’t rule of her country unless she’s wed. An arranged marriage is planned, much to her distress.
Genovia itself looks sort of like Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A. Interestingly, we learn that the county is located “between Spain and France.”
Overall, Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement is a very nice and cute movie. It’s a good family film and girls, especially, will love it because of its “girl power” message. Julie Andrews and Ann Hathaway are very good together; they’re both sweet and loveable in their own ways. Elizondo is good as always, and Matarazzo is funny. Chris Pine as Sir Nicholas, a longshot heir to the throne and possible love interest for Mia, is also very good.
Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement is rated G. Macsimum rating: 7.5 out of 10. Running time: 115 minutes. You can check out the film’s trailer on the QuickTime movie trailer site.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
Alf Says:
One of the funny things, seen from a european perspective, is that in the first movie, Genovia is said to be between France and Spain. O my god! Wasn’t it easier to say “somewhere in Central Europe”?
That funny way of teaching geography (’a la Microsoft’) is only beaten (as far as i can recall) by the spanish folklore salad shown in Mission Imposible 2, where events from different parts of Spain are reunited as if they were all the same. (though this one is news only from a macsimum spanish perspective ;-)
Posted on September 08, 2004