Fifteen-year-old Mia discovers that her father is the Prince of Genovia and she is the sole heir① to the throne②. She must decide， by her sixteenth birthday， whether she will live as a princess and move to Genovia or remain in Manhattan where she lives with her artist mom. She must suffer through the indignity③ of princess lessons at the hands of her stern grandmother...
Julie Andrews has been here before. Back in the 1950s， she played Eliza Doolittle in the classic musical “My Fair Lady” making Broadway history as the lower-class lass④who passes as an aristocrat after Professor Henry Higgins teaches her to talk and walk like a lady.
Decades later， “The Princess Diaries” lets Andrews (see interview) try the Higgins role herself. Here， she plays the queen of Genovia， who has decided Genovia’s next ruler should be her granddaughter， Mia， a San Francisco teenager who’s never been told that her long-estranged father had royal blood.
Mia knows little about Europe， and nothing about the tricks⑤of running a country， but the queen is willing to mold her manners， coach her diction， dictate her wardrobe， and do anything needed to make her a proper Old World princess. The job carries plenty of perks—a limo is mighty tempting to a girl whose Mustang can barely make it up a hill， but Mia’s a shy type who dreads the spotlight a royal perch would bring. Can her well-meaning grandma put her on the road to monarchy？ Or do her Californian values run so deep that Henry Higgins himself couldn’t change them？
“The Princess Diaries” unfolds⑥ its story from Mia’s point of view， aiming at teen viewers who’ll identify with her identity crisis and with the everyday details of adolescent life—quarrels with mom， rivalries， and romances at school—that the movie convincingly paints. A well-chosen cast helps the picture come alive： Andrews as the queen； Anne Hathaway as her undecided granddaughter； Caroline Goodall as Mia’s mom； Hector Elizondo as a royal assistant； and Heather Matarazzo in a perfect performance as Mia’s closest pal. Only the boys in Mia’s life tend to look like generic teenpic characters.
With its leisurely pace and unfancy filmmaking， “The Princess Diaries” is a likable throwback to an old tradition of pictures from the Disney studio. While most of today’s youth-targeted movies unleash bombardments of visual effects and pop-culture distractions， director Garry Marshall spins this yarn with a quiet dignity that Genovia’s staid queen would applaud.
The film isn’t backward-looking in its attitudes toward modern society， though. two or three decades ago， Mia would surely have ended the story by refusing her royal opportunity in the name of American values like democracy⑦ and individualism. By contrast， the Mia of 2001 decides to grab the job. How else could a middle-class girl get enough influence and power to make the world listen to her ideas？
① heirn. 继承人，嗣子
② thronen. 王权，君权，王位
③ indignityn. 轻蔑，屈辱，侮辱言行，无礼举动
④ lassn. 少女，小姑娘
⑤ trickn. 戏法，把戏，特技，妙计
⑥ unfoldv. 展开，摊开，打开
⑦ democracyn. 民主，民主主义，民主制度
《公主日记》
15岁的米娅得知自己的父亲原来是吉尼维亚的王子，而自己竟成为了该国唯一的王位继承人。在16岁生日之际，她必须面临抉择：是搬到吉尼维亚去当公主呢，还是继续留在曼哈顿和艺术家的母亲生活在一起。同时，米娅也不得不接受严厉的祖母给她上的难以忍受的公主礼仪课……
朱丽·安德鲁斯不是第一次出演这类题材的电影。早在50年代，在经典音乐片《窈窕淑女》中，她扮演的百老汇底层少女，经过享利·希金斯教授的调教，成为了一个举止幽雅得体的贵族式小姐。
几十年之后的今天，《公主日记》却令安德鲁斯扮演一个当年希金斯式的角色。在戏中，她扮演了吉尼维亚的女王，宣布下一人继承人将是外孙女米娅。而十几岁的旧金山女孩米娅却从未想到长期离散的父亲竟有皇家血统。
米娅对欧洲一无所知，更不要说如何治理国家了，但女王却十分乐于指正她的举止和言语措辞，以及如何衣着得体，以便把她调教成一个真正的传统意义上的公主。公主这差事固然有许多好处——正如对于只有一辆爬坡都费力的老爷车的女孩子来说，豪华轿车实在是不可抗拒的诱惑；然而，米娅生性腼腆害怕皇室高位带来的聚光灯。那么，善意的祖母是否能使米娅顺利成为君主呢？亦或是在加里福尼亚形成的价值观如此根深蒂固，以至于连享利·希金斯自己也不能改变米娅呢？
《公主日记》以米娅的视角展开故事情节，迎合了十多岁的观众群，因为他们有着和米娅相似的个性冲突和青少年特有的生活细节——与母亲拌嘴，叛逆，以及学校里的恋爱故事，这些都在电影里一一展现。此外，角色的成功选择使整部电影充满了生气——安德鲁斯扮演的女王；安妮·海瑟薇扮演的外孙女；卡罗琳·古多尔扮演的米娅的母亲；还有哈克特·埃利桑多扮演的皇室助理；以及成功扮演米娅密友的希瑟·马特拉佐。而剧中米娅生活中的男孩就显得十分普通了。
从容的节奏加上并不花哨的制作，《公主日记》倒更像是迪斯尼拍的传统老片。当众多电影为了吸引年轻人而不断发起视觉冲击波和流行浪潮时，导演加里·马歇尔却向我们讲述了一个连端庄的吉尼维亚女王也鼓掌认可的故事。
值得一提的是，这部影片就观念上来说，并不落伍。二三十年前，米娅会因为典型的美国价值观如民主独立而最终放弃王位。但与之相反，2001年的米娅则抓住了这个机会。一个中产阶级的女孩能有机会获得如此大的权利和影响，甚至能让世界都听她的，还有比这更妙的事情吗？