The Princess Diaries (G, 2001)

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is a shy 15-year-old who says, "My expectation in life is to be invisible, and I'm good at it." She dreams of kissing high school hunk Josh Bryant, and she'd like to be able to get up in front of the class to speak without going to pieces. Her sympathetic mother, an artist, her best friend Lilly (Heather Matarazzo), and her "baby," a beat-up Mustang she is having repaired, keep her going. Just before her 16th birthday, she gets a visit from her grandmother (Julie Andrews), whom she's never met. An even bigger surprise is the reason for the visit. It turns out that Mia's grandmother is the queen of Genovia, her late father was a prince, and that makes her a princess! Mia will have to get some fast princess lessons to get ready for the ball. That is, if she decides to accept the job -- which she's not so sure about. As she says to her mother, "Just in case I'm not enough of a freak already, let's add a tiara!" Things get worse when Lilly feels deserted and a couple of very public mistakes make Mia feel that she isn't up to the job. But this would not be a fairy tale if everyone didn't live happily ever after, so somehow everyone's wishes come true.

This is a great big luscious lollypop of a movie, terrific fun for girls of any age and for their families, too. It's a terrific movie for any age. It might not be of much interest to boys, though Hathaway is gorgeous (the least realistic part of the movie is the highly ineffective attempt to make her look like an ugly duckling), and there are some cool cars and very funny moments. But it's a wonderful story about growing up, finding ourselves, and taking chances, with lots of great things for families to talk about afterwards.

The queen's head of security (Hector Elizondo in another impeccable performance) quotes Eleanor Roosevelt's famous words, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." And Mia realizes that the important part of being a princess is not what it does for her, but what it makes it possible for her to do for others.