Anne Hathaway makes a cute San Francisco teen age preppie. The Zeitgeist demands that she dress and act like an iconoclast. She and her friends are rowdy, rude, unkempt. Her hair looks like it was attacked by a mad dog.
Then, it's discovered that she is heir to the throne of Genovia or Ruritania or Arcadia or someplace. She is visited by the queen, Julie Andrews, a warm personality who has brought innumerable consultants and factotums who are intent on turning Hathaway into the Princess she will become.
The director, Garry Marshall, does a good job. He's an Italian-American and must have gotten a kick out of Larry Williams as an uncredited hair dresser and make up artist named Prego Putanesco. As he trims her up, he remarks, "I love your eyebrows. We'll call them Frieda and Kahlo." Now, if this were a dumb movie made only for young girls barely into their growth spurt, would a joke like that have been included? (Hint: No.) I kind of enjoyed it. Nice shots of San Francisco in winter's rain.
The fairy-tale story is pretty damned hoary. (I think that's called iambic dimeter. The voices tell me to do it.) Yet the setting, the gags, and the animated performance of Anne Hathaway who has the sparkling grin of a toothpaste commercial, bring it all over the goal line.
Then, it's discovered that she is heir to the throne of Genovia or Ruritania or Arcadia or someplace. She is visited by the queen, Julie Andrews, a warm personality who has brought innumerable consultants and factotums who are intent on turning Hathaway into the Princess she will become.
The director, Garry Marshall, does a good job. He's an Italian-American and must have gotten a kick out of Larry Williams as an uncredited hair dresser and make up artist named Prego Putanesco. As he trims her up, he remarks, "I love your eyebrows. We'll call them Frieda and Kahlo." Now, if this were a dumb movie made only for young girls barely into their growth spurt, would a joke like that have been included? (Hint: No.) I kind of enjoyed it. Nice shots of San Francisco in winter's rain.
The fairy-tale story is pretty damned hoary. (I think that's called iambic dimeter. The voices tell me to do it.) Yet the setting, the gags, and the animated performance of Anne Hathaway who has the sparkling grin of a toothpaste commercial, bring it all over the goal line.