The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement :

Less giggles down the aisle

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

Despite a positive message about staying true to yourself, Garry Marshall's The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement becomes a royal mess because of its unconvincingly lengthy plotline and character crowded scenes.

Princess Mia and Sir Nicholas

Queen Clarisse and Joe

A sequel to the 2001 hit 'The Princess Diaries,'this movie sees an five years elder Amelia (Mia) Thermopolis making her way to Genovia, a fictional kingdom, to take over the crown from her grandmother. However she soon learns that she has competition because Sir Nicholas Devereaux is also aiming for the crown. Mia's discovery that she needs to be married within 30 days to become queen triggers excitement. She becomes engaged to Lord Andrew, Duke of Kentworthy, even though she has no romantic feelings towards him. While wedding plans are underway Mia embarks on a love-hate relationship with Nicholas without knowing whether his intentions are honest or shallow.

Most of the prominent characters of the first movie return to the sequel. However some of them such as Mia's best friend, Lilly, hairdresser Paolo and her mother have only small roles to play. They are sidelined into the background. It is that they are brought back only as a desperate attempt to rekindle the magic of the first movie.

Mia's sleepover party seems to be an unnecessary installment to the tale even though it is added to generate a little fun. It does not bring out the intended humour and only lengthens the movie. There are so many such fillers in the film that you feel confused once you return to the original plotline of which Mia has to find the perfect match to ascend the throne. Mia's and Nicholas becoming a couple too is predictable. Somehow they seem mismatched especially because the latter seems to be a Casanova. In this light Lord Andrew seems a better match for Mia in character as well as appearance.

The sequel lacks the laughs too. Mia's maids who have been inserted into the tale for comic relief are caricatured and annoy rather than make you smile. The movie also has strong elements of 2004's The Prince and Me and 2003's What a Girl Wants. It would have worked wonders if Marshall would have found an original storyline and made something unpredictable rather than follow the conventional style.

The movie has a feminist streak as Mia spearheads Genovia's first full-fledged feminist movement. She stands against the ideology that a princess needs to marry first before claiming the throne. Since this is a Walt Disney Pictures production, it has a stereotyped ending with Mia finding her Prince Charming and winning over the courts' approval. Therefore a bulk of The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement deals with the same topic that was explored in its predecessor. It aims to tear down Mia's inner strengths once again but restores them in the end.

It is such a shame that the mechanics employed are unsatisfactory because the cast try hard to keep the audience immersed. Anne Hathaway makes clumsy but a very likeable princess. Julie Andrews is given more screen space as Queen Clarisse Renaldi. She and Hector Elizondo who plays her bodyguard, Joe, manage to lighten up some of the scenes with some smart acting moves. Yet one cannot help wishing that Elizondo deserves more room in the story. Marshall has failed to make full use of his presence because he has been seeking means of finding humour in every nook and corner of the scenes. Callum Blue, John Rhys-Davies, Kathleen Marshall and Heather Matarazzo too play their characters well. However Chris Pine lacks the charisma of a hero and this lets the movie down badly.

This is a family film which fans of the predecessor are likely to enjoy. The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement is well-meaning and lightly enjoyable. Its target audience is young girls who adore it for the fact that it gives them an idea on what it would be like to be real-life princesses themselves.