Home :: DVD :: Kids & Family :: Adapted from Books  

Adapted from Books

Adventure
Animals
Animation
Classics
Comedy
Dinosaurs
Disney
Drama
Educational
Family Films
Fantasy
General
Holidays & Festivals
IMAX
Music & Arts
Numbers & Letters
Puppets
Scary Movies & Mysteries
Science Fiction
Television
The Princess Diaries (Widescreen Edition)

The Princess Diaries (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $19.99
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 .. 36 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ah, I love this movie
Review: I am probably the least likely candidate for this type of movie. But I LOVE this movie. Is it because Robert Carmine is the hottest guy in the entire world? YES. But I like the other characters too. I don't really like Mia, I mean she's a prep wannabe. But Lily is just the coolest. I think because I'm like Lily, "Wait up, wait for me. Not you, I don't even know you." I mean she's the coolest. And Michael, ah Michael, is the sweetest and hottest guy ever. Except in Robert's band Rooney (featured in the film) he plays guitar and sings vocals. If you like indie I'd definately check Rooney out, they're awesome. I just wish there were more scenes featuring Robert. And the soundtrack is terrible, makes you wanna stick needles in your eyes. But anyway, I like this movie bunches.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Princess Diaries
Review: It's everything it promises to be and more. It's not predictable or boring. It's funny, refreshing, and a bit romantic. I loved it. I could watch it again and again. It's a wholesome film the whole family can enjoy.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Shut up.... Love Julie Andrews...
Review: So sad she does not sing anymore, but love her still.
My daughters LOVE this flick. Okay Hollywood, do young girls have to be kissing in movies. Wow, a whole lot has changed since the Anne of Green Gables era. (And I am not that old.)
Our family would like more great movies.
We enjoyed the show, and used price is cheaper here than previously viewed at the video store, not including shipping.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fun stuff
Review: The movie "The Princess Diaries" was so much different from the book! I loved the book, so I was very excited to see the movie. To my surprise, it was totally different! I actually liked the movie more than the book though, finding it to be more approperiate and lighthearted. In the movie, Mia Thermopolis is a gawky, funny looking fourteen year old girl. She thinks she has it hard enough as it is, having had her father die around three months ago. Not at all...her grandmother flies in right away from Genovia, for tea. During "tea-time" Mia finds out that she is princess of Genovia (the fictional country in Europe that her grandma runs), and she has to go to a fancy ball in a few weeks. Mia goes through a huge transformation and finds herself facing problems with her best friend Lilly, school, and her soon-to-be boyfriend Josh. This movie is hilarious, and much better than the book, because it's a clean, family movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: AWFUL! MINDLESS DRIVEL!
Review: THIS WAS NOTHING LIKE THE BOOK. This movie stunk. Literally. I was glad I watched my roommate's sister's copy of it. And to think that I actually wanted to see this horrible mockery of the book! Here's why I don't like this movie:

1. It took place in stupid California. The book was in New York for a reason..Mia felt at home there! And how are they going to cooperate things from the next few books in the next movies if it takes place in dumb California? (Why does just about every dumb Disney movie take place in California?)

2. Mia's grandmother. She was an evil, mean witch. Mia HATED her. With a passion. In the book, Mia's father tells her that she is the heir to the throne, not her grandmother. Mia does not like her grandmother. And her grandmother does not give her the option of getting out of being princess. Mia has no choice in the book.

3. Mia's father is dead. In the book he is alive and well, but unable to have more kids. The fact that he is gone in this waste of a movie is stupid.

4. Mia has no love interest in the book. She has a secret crush on her best friend's brother, and likes Josh, who isn't so sweet in the booj.

5. They messed up on Mia's friends. Her best friend in the movie is nothing like her best friend in the book. Mia does not go after her best friend's brother until the third book.

6. The portrayal of Mia's enemies. The cheerleaders in the book did not sing. They were just plain rude, although the one that was with Josh ended up hurt when he dumped her.

7. Even Fat Louie was messed up in this movie. He is supposed to be a bad, ill-tempered cat.

8. Mia is a vegetarian, and hopes to become a member of greenpeace. She goes to school in combat boots. In the book she does not have a retainer. Sure, she gets a makeover, but nothing like the one that happens in the movie.

9. Mia fights her grandmother more.

After seeing this train wreck, I should probably try to send thank you letters to whoever it was that made Lord of the Rings and harry Potter into movies, they did a noteworthy job when compared to this waste of a movie. Its nice though...Disney's leaders hailed my favorite book (the Bible) as fiction and made another mockery of my second favorite book (Tuck Everlasting)

When are they going to try to make a movie that resembles its book?

And, lastly, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PATHETIC LOSER MOVIT TO ANYONE.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Cute- but nothing like the book
Review: Okay this movie isn't all bad. It is something I can watch with my little cousin, but it is not the book. The book was a lot more interesting and I liked it a lot better, but I guess Disney didn't want a mean snob grandmother and a dad with testicular cancer in their G rated movie. And practicly none of the stuff in the movie is anywhere in the first or second book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A delightful movie!
Review: I may be a sentimentalist at heart and prefer sappy movies to violent movies, but as a grown woman I loved the movie The Princess Diaries based on the book by Meg Cabot. This was one of the most delightful movies I've seen in a long time and a welcome antidote to the current movie fare as well as national News. The cast, which includes Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo and Anne Hathaway as the unkempt young woman who becomes a princess, is absolutely perfect. And any opportunity to see Julie Andrews as the Queen and Hector Elizondo in the same movie is cause for a celebration. Some may even see Mr. Elizondo's role in The Princess Diaries as a bit similar to the one he played in Pretty Woman.

Mia Thermapolis is a young woman living in San Francisco with her mother who is an artist. She's a 9th graders who complains about being too tall, having curly hair, feels awkward around boys and worries that she may never be kissed by a boy. She doesn't' think her life could ever be more complicated until she meets an elegant woman who tells Mia that her father was the Prince of Genovia and that she is his heir and a princess. And this woman should know since she's not only Mia's grandmother but the Queen of Genovia. At this point the viewer may wonder why Mia never knew this before but I was so taken in with this film I didn't bother thinking about this for too long.

Now the fun begins as Mia must shed her 9th grade poor self- image and learns to become a princess under the tutelage of her grandmother and Hector Elizondo. Throughout the movie we are treated to wonderful scenes of Mia learning how to behave like a princess to dealing with her schoolmates who suddenly notice Mia, as they never did in the past. Perhaps my favorite scene is when Mia, after giving serious consideration to what her life will be like in the future, is presented to society as a princess by her grandmother.

This movie, which does differ from the book, is both appropriate for young adults and sophisticated enough to appeal to older audiences as well. And it really was so delightful to watch a movie with no violence, nudity or foul language. This is a one of a kind movie reminiscent of Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady who was originally played by Ms. Andrews and the musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Finally, this movie reminds one of what it was like to be a little girl wishing that would wake up one day to learn that she is suddenly a princess. Now I'm hoping another movie would be made continuing the story of Mia and her royal family. I'd love to know s how life is treating her as she flies off to Genovia at the end of this movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Modern Day Ugly Ducking Story.
Review: True beauty lies within. It's not just a cliche. It's one of the great truths of life. Stories, tales, myths, songs, poems, books, and movies love to explore the theme. It's the heart of stories like the Ugly Duckling and Cinderella. Garry Marshall's THE PRINCESS DIARIES (he directed and adapted it from the book; the book is much more vulgar) is one of the best newest adaptations of a story revolving around the truth that true beauty lies within. Mia is a fifteen year-old girl who's major goal in life was to become invisible. Then her forgotten grandmother pays a visit to San Francisco and Mia learns that she is the heir to the throne of Genovia. Mia has to choose whether to except her heritage or forsake it for the life she once knew. What follows is a voyage of discovery and growing up. Mia learns that things aren't always what they appear to be and that you can't judge a book by it's cover because true beauty lies within.

As for those who think the movie gives girls a negative example of life, saying that it perpetrates the idea that only "good looks" count, the message of the movie is the exact opposite. Mia doesn't want to dress and become like the cheerleading imbeciles at her school. She would rather remain as she is; a geeky girl with crazy hair and glasses unknown to most of the world, but loved by those who truly count. However, for the greater good, she becomes in appearance like what she most detests. In doing so, she remains true to herself and the virtue and beauty within radiate forth for all to see.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I'm a guy, and still thought it was okay!
Review: Is The Princess Diaries mostly a girl movie? Yeah. But my sister received the DVD for Christmas, so I figured why not? It was actually just a light-hearted little comedy, the Princess who doesn't know she is. Julie Andrews makes a good queen for the role, and Anne Hathaway is pretty good girl-turned-Princess too.

Actually, this movie didn't gain such high marks from me until my sister received the books of the same title at Christmas of the next year. WELL! I happened to pick 'em up during the confusion of Christmas morning, and my goodness. My opinion of Gary Marshall skyrocketed when I discovered that the books were filled with lots of cursing, tons of sexual references/discussions, and overall, a much more depressing story. (In that Mia was much more of a jerk, her friends jerks, her grandmother was a jerk, and her whole life was one big dysfunctional wreck)

I remember hearing Gary Marshall comment about how he'd wanted to make the movie more happy because, contrary to Hollywood's opinion, not EVERY teenager's life is filled with drugs, booze and darkness. Cheers to him for giving it a squeaky-clean makeover; it makes me want to go out and look up more of his works.

It's, I suppose, what a lot of people would call a "chick flick" or a "date movie", but in either case, even though I'm a guy, I thought it was a nice, happy, CLEAN movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very Disney, Very Sweet, Fun for All
Review: It's Pretty Woman for little girls! Ironically (or not) Gary Marshal directed this movie too. Still, even though the Cinderella plot is not originial, the movie is fun to watch and a good show. Julie Andrews is delightful as the Grandmother and I was reminded of why she was once upon a time the highest paid actor in all of Hollywood (that's counting both men and women). Mia, played by Anne Hathaway, is just your average nerdy fifteen-year-old suffering through private school when she learns that she is the heir to the Genovian throne. Hence the title, "Princess Diaries." The revelation requires Mia to learn how to act the princess part and this is the best part of the film - the princess lessons. Everything is wrapped up in a suitably happy Disney ending. The whole family will enjoy this film but young girls and grandmoms will love it.


<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 .. 36 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates