‘Princess Diaries 2’ is great, if you’re 8
If you cook much, you’ve undoubtedly had this experience: You try a new recipe and it turns out great. But the next time you try it – with the same ingredients, the same kitchen and the same cook – it’s a disaster.
“Disaster” isn’t too strong a word for “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.” Most of the ingredients are here, including original director Garry Marshall and stars Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews and Heather Matarazzo, but none of the appeal is. (Original screenwriter Gina Wendkos is the one element that did not return for “PD2,” which says a lot about the importance of a good script.)
The movie falls into a number of traps: trying too slavishly to duplicate the original without taking it in any new directions, for starters. The first time out, Hathaway played a girl who had to adjust to news that she was going to be a princess; this time out, they’ve really shaken things up by having her find out she’s going to be a queen. Before that, she has to be part of a romantic triangle that has no entertainment value because it requires her to spend three-fourths of the movie with a guy we already know is wrong for her and only one-fourth with the guy who has the kind of Tiger Beat eyebrows that scream, “Pick me. We’ll have beautiful children.”
The worst vignette, hands down, is a slumber party Mia throws to celebrate her engagement. It’s a pleasure to hear the long-dormant vocal cords of Andrews get a brief workout at the party, but it’s embarrassing for Mia to celebrate her betrothal with a bunch of teenage girls and a big pile of juice boxes. Hathaway is 21, and her character is a college graduate – give her a Jell-O shot and a shameful secret or two, for crying out loud.
That strange disconnect is one a lot of this year’s aimed-at-8-year-old-girl movies share. I’m glad “PD2” doesn’t make the cynical “Sleepover” mistake of having its teenage characters act like embittered hookers. But it doesn’t make much sense to have 21-year-old characters behave like eighth-graders, either.