The Princess Diaries

Once upon a time among the steep hills of San Francisco, an accident-prone four-eyed 10th-grader with frizzy hair was rescued from her lonely existence in a firehouse by an elegant queen who turned the nerdy klutz into a perfect princess with the gracious wave of her royal hand. The divine Julie Andrews lowers her impeccable standards to appear in this sugar-coated, trite scenario as the Queen of Genovia, who informs her San Francisco granddaughter that she is the only remaining legal heir to the throne. Thus, newcomer Anne Hathaway gets a CoverGirl makeover, attends demure school for dummies, and achieves instant popularity among the A-crowd teenagers all before the revolutionary Independence Day ball. Regardless of the recycled fairytale premise and the nonsensical casting, director Garry Marshall still provides basic entertainment for the young target audience with a bit more inspirational merit than the moronic galumphing apes and dinosaurs of late.