The Princess Diaries

By FRANCES GRANT

(Herald rating: * * )

A gawky teenager learns she is in fact a princess of a small European country, Genovia, and must take grooming and royal protocol lessons from her grandmother.

The Princess Diaries is a classic Cinderella story transplanted to a San Francisco high school which, while overly long and entirely predictable, strikes some comic notes (the Genovian national anthem is a particular highlight) as the regal apprentice decides whether she's up for the job.

Mia Thermopolis (Hathaway) is a shy girl who just wants to be invisible. But her desire for safe-if-dull anonymity is thwarted when her long-lost grandmother (Andrews) appears to inform her of her royal heritage and groom her for the role.

Director Marshall has already proved a dab hand at the ugly-duckling-turns-into-a-swan storyline with his earlier hit, Pretty Woman. Mia's transformation from wild-haired, heavy-browed and bespectacled teenage misfit to a sleek, glossy fantasy princess will no doubt set girls' hearts racing.

But newcomer Hathaway, demonstrating a commendable willingness to pull faces and clown around, manages to make Mia in regal mode just as appealing as her hapless former self.

Julie Andrews resurrects some Mary Poppins-ish authoritarianism to display towards the common folk but somewhere in the middle the film starts feeling longer than a Windsor public occasion. A diversion into a long beach-party sequence, where Mia is predictably set up with the popular heartthrob as a paparazzi trap, seems designed solely to give pop princess Moore a musical showcase.

One for the tweenie girls, although it might pay to remind them that princesses are notorious for not living happily ever after.

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo, Mandy Moore

Director: Garry Marshall

Running time: 114 mins

Rating: G

Screening: Village, Hoyts