By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * )
Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is the class geek at her San Francisco school, all bushy eyebrows and frizzy hair. Cool girls like glamorous cheerleader Lana (Mandy Moore) tease her; Mia's only friend is the equally bizarre-looking Lily (Heather Matarazzo).
One day, Mia has a
surprise visit from her granny (Julie Andrews), who announces that Mia's dead dad was actually a European prince and that Mia is the crown princess of a little-known country called Genovia.
Soon she's gonna be a real homecoming queen. So you've got makeovers, deportment lessons, fame, the really big questions of life, like: will Mia accept the throne? Will she choose for her boyfriend the snobbish jerk Josh (Erik Von Detten) or the nice Michael (Robert Schwartzman), Lilly's older brother? Will Josh dump Lana after he sees how Mia looks when she takes off her glasses and does something with her hair?
Sure, it's lightweight, but The Princess Diaries is a nice little Disney movie for nice little girls before they grow up into crazy/beautiful ones.
Rental video, DVD: Out today
Running time: 115 minutes.
