It’s a ‘chick-flick,’ ‘teen girls,’ ‘family friendly,’ ‘feel good’ sort of a week! My mother has been visiting, so this week’s movie night gravitated towards the warm and cuddly category, with just the right dash of humor and nostalgia. We double-featured “The Princess Diaries” and “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.” For family/feel good time, anything with ‘Princess’ in the title usually grabs my eye, and, having a cast led by Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway, was the icing on the cake! Never fear, though, it’s not just a chick-flick – my manly, prince-of-a-husband loves them too!
“The Princess Diaries” movies are modern-day spins on the classic Pygmalion/My Fair Lady theme. In this case, a smart, nerdy, awkward teenager (adorably played by Anne Hathaway in her big-screen debut at the ripe old age of 18!) is the ‘Eliza Doolittle’ of the movie (Mia Thermopolis), and the always perfect, Julie Andrews, is her grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi, who takes on the ‘Henry Higgins-like’ challenge of turning her ‘squashed cabbage leaf’ of a granddaughter into a princess. There are some twists and turns, some adorably funny scenes (the encounter with the Cable Car in the original, and the princess party and hair scene [“I look like a moose!” “But a very cute moose. Make all the boy moose go ‘WHAAAAA.’”] in PD2 are especially memorable), and, although, predictable, they get you to the inevitable endings in a sweet and entertaining way.
Make Cinema Saturday a ‘Life In My Years’ event by inviting over some friends, donning your tiaras (for the girls, or anyone else so inclined), and serve up some corn dogs and skittles during the original, followed by some nice sweet pears to celebrate PD2!
TIP: Make sure to take good notes during the PD2 closet scene as you will DEFINITELY want one just like it when you win the lottery!
