This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

A Masterpiece!

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004): Dir: Garry Marshall / Cast: Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo, Chris Pine, Heather Matarazzo: Every bit as predictable as its successor but this one is about marriage and authority surrounding Princess Mia being crowned Queen of Genovia but council ruling claims that she must be married. This leaves a corrupt official an opening for his nephew who is an heir. So now Mia has 30 days to find a husband. Predictable with not a shred of creativity other than the fact that Mia's maids should not be allowed out in public. Directed by Garry Marshall who made the first film as well as the adult version titled Pretty Woman. Anne Hathaway is ready for something bigger and better. This role requires her to get to know a guy in record time before deciding to spend the rest of her life with him. What a crock of sh*t. Julie Andrews sings, which is about the only positive aspect to her otherwise familiar character. Hector Elizondo is the security adviser with sound advice that unfortunately doesn't involve leaving this film. Chris Pine plays the umpteenth boring male heir lined up to score quickly and pretend this is happily ever after bullshit. Heather Matarazzo also reprises her role as that annoying best friend from home that nobody liked in the first film. Typical sequel that is about as engaging as a kick in the ass. Score: 3 / 10

*SPOILERS*The Good: Most of the wonderful, original cast is back, including a few new faces such as the future Capt. Kirk Chris Pine and Callum Blue, who ironically filmed this during his "Dead Like Me" years. And not forgetting to mention John Rhys-Davies, who makes even a bad movie worth watching. Also, we get to see how the romance between Clarice and Joe end up. It's always wonderful seeing an older couple romance portrayed so sweetly in movies today.Julie Andrews sings for the first time since her botched throat surgery. Even when her voice is at less-than-capacity, she can still out-sing just about anyone out there.The costumes are absolutely gorgeous!The Bad: Lily is reduced to a peripheral character here, with not much to do but support Mia in everything she does. And therein lies the problem. In the first movie, she acted as Mia's grounding force by criticizing her when necessary (like when she let her friends down). In this film, however, Lily just seems to play along. You'd think the uber-feminist Lily would have something to say about Mia's being forced to marry to become queen, but she doesn't. And at first she hates Nicholas for wanting to usurp the throne, but is fully supportive of Mia pursuing him later when her feelings for him change. The Lily from the first movie would be knocking some sense into her, not covering for her.Raven. She is completely out of place in this movie. However, as one of Disney's rising stars at the time, she was put in mainly to sell more tickets and soundtracks. I probably wouldn't have minded her had she not ruined Julie Andrews' song. Apparently kids today don't want to hear an "old lady" sing unless a teen is singing along with her in a hip-hop beat.What set this movie off on the wrong course in the first place is that it seems to be geared solely toward girls under the age of 7. The first movie had something for both kids and adults to love, but not so here. Mia's narration sounds like she's reading to preschoolers, characters say things out loud that are already implied, and certain throw-away scenes that had little to do with the plot were stuck in just to appeal to young girls. I think this approach ended up alienating a lot of fans of the first film.The Ugly:The editing. A lot of deleted scenes should have been left in, and some of the scenes that made it should have been left out (see below for an example). Also, the movie tended to go from one scene to another without much coherence. For instance, in one scene Mia stomps on Nicholas' foot in anger and runs to the kitchen to cry over ice cream. Clarice sort of, kind of admonishes her before taking her to see her new bedroom. Wait, what? What happened to Nicholas and his uncle? Who cares! Little girls want to see Mia's room and clothes, dang it!!The slumber party scene. Thank God for DVD's so you can skip right over it! It does absolutely nothing for the plot, and the premise of a 21-year-old having a slumber party with little girls as a "bachelorette" party is preposterous. She and Lily from the first movie should have gotten plastered and gone streaking around the castle or something. Oh wait, this is supposed to be a family movie. ;)

The sequel to a quite charming predecessor, isn't too bad, but like the predecessor it does have a number of failings that let the film down considerably. I will say that there are some lovely locations, a nice soundtrack and very spirited performances from Anne Hathaway as Mia and Julie Andrews as Clarisse. Another big treat was hearing Andrews sing at the pyjama party. Even seven years of not being able to sing at all, her voice is not too bad, even if it lacks the angelic quality that made her so memorable in Mary Poppins and Sound of Music. However, had he had some better material to work with, John Rhys Davies could have been really entertaining. Because that wasn't to be, he was merely good, as we didn't learn very much from his character. Other failings include a rather contrived plot- then again the predecessor wasn't entirely successful at that either-, an underdeveloped romance and some uneven scripting. Overall, not bad at all, but could have been better. 6/10 Bethany Cox.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those guys that binds all chick films in the same category. Hey, I like "Bring it on", "Enchanted" and "Stardust", but this film stunk.The contrived script that tried to turn a reasonable box office success into a bland romantic comedy is dismal and is like a kind of royal version of pretty woman. Hey, wouldn't it be great, to have all that money and a palace and imagine what fun you could have with it? Blah blah blah! The male that is supposed to be cad she falls in love with is played without charm by Chris Pine, kills any kind of sympathy or like that one may have or his character and bearing in mind that she is supposed to be entering into an arranged marriage it kind of kills the charm that Anne Hathaway had in the first film.The comedy is handled with about as much skill as George Bush handling a doorknob. The romance is weak and in spite of the fact that Julie Andrews and Hector Elizonda handles their roles well, it is an uninspired and tragic affair that leaves one hoping that the Princess Diaries will now stop being written.