Mediocre, At Best, Disney Sequel: The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement Is A Charmless Continuation Of The First.

The Good: Acting all around, Moments when the plot services the established characters.
The Bad: Replaces a smart, vibrant, socially-conscious young woman with a Disney Princess wannabe for most of the film, Ridiculous romantic comedy aspects.
The Basics: Five years after the original The Princess Diaries, Mia is prepared to take the Genovian throne when a Machiavellian plan forces her to marry within thirty days or lose the opportunity to be queen.


A few years back, I was traveling and I caught a movie on television that truly charmed me. It was The Princess Diaries (reviewed here!) and as I have made it through almost the entire library of Anne Hathaway's works, it seemed like it was about time that I went back to watch The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. My wife suggested we get it out of the way, despite her allegation that it was not all that good.

From the outset, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement underwhelmed me. When Chris Pine's name came up in the credits, I was psyched. I have seen so few things with the actor from the new Star Trek (reviewed here!) and I hoped he would show more promise than he did in Just My Luck. On the plus side, Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews almost instantly re-establish the chemistry they had in the first film.

On her twenty-first birthday, Princess Mia Thermopolis returns to Genovia where she has to dance with every eligible bachelor. After a series of disastrous meetings, Mia dances with Nicholas who is charming and an obvious potential mate for her. As Mia explores the castle, Viscount Mabrey makes moves in parliament to overthrow the monarchy using his nephew, Nicholas. As a compromise, Mia is given thirty days to marry a royal before she will forfeit the throne. When Nicholas and his uncle arrive to stay for the month, Mia is shocked to realize the young man she enjoyed dancing with is her competitor for the throne.

After looking through a presentation of eligible royals, Mia meets Andrew Jacoby and they have a quick courtship. The Viscount uses Nicholas to try to break the marriage up as Mia learns the lessons she will need to rule Genovia. Nicholas begins to drive a wedge between Mia and Andrew, which forces Mia to question what she is doing and why.

From the outset, the film lacks the charm of the first film and Hector Elizondo outshines Hathaway's entrance. The movie telegraphs itself from the instant Chris Pine enters. Pine plays Nicholas and he is the most confident potential suitor. Pine shines opposite John Rhys-Davies and Rhys-Davies manages to make a believable adversary. It is a role unlike the amiable sidekicks he has played before, like Gimli or Sallah.

The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement has more of a young woman's fantasy film than the first one. When Mia is introduced to her bedroom with a small mall-sized closet, the film takes a detour that feels somewhat inorganic. The movie seems like a pretty generic fantasy whereby Mia drools over jewels and other trappings of the crown. Moreover, Mia's character is mortgaged when she goes through the potential royal pool based only on photographs. For a character initially established as a young woman of principles, this is a severe step down. Moreover, when she makes contrived problems, like falling during tennis, to get Andrew to dote, the character takes an even more severe setback.

The movie goes into repetitive territory as Mia is given lessons in riding and how to use a fan. The montages of things like Mia practicing her archery are somewhat silly and there is a melodramatic quality to the film. For example, when Mia's riding attempt is sabotaged by the Viscount, she ends up being whiny in front of Nicholas and the moment does not read true to her original character. Instead of being strong, she complains to Nicholas and there is the implication of something more of a history between them than was actually presented in the movie. In other words, it is strange to hear her complain something to the effect of "you always do. . ." when they have not actually been around one another much.

Some of the best scenes in the film are actually between Viscount and Joe, Queen Renaldi's head of security. Hector Elizondo and John Rhys-Davies have great screen presence, so when they square off, the film has more weight than when the movie is preoccupied with Mia being a pretty typical young woman.

The moments when the film remembers who Princess Mia is supposed to be work well, like when she stops a royal parade to let local orphans become princesses for a day (which features Abigail Breslin. Unfortunately, moments like that are quickly countered by vignettes like the sleepover party. Sadly, the performances are unremarkable all the way around. Julie Andrews, Anne Hathaway, Chris Pine, Callum Blue and John Rhys-Davies all perform adequately, but they are given very little to work with that requires any subtlety or talent beyond what any have shown in anything else.

Ultimately, there is very little surprising about The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and on DVD the bonus features are pretty much what one expects, including deleted scenes, bloopers, and a "find your inner princess" game. None of the bonus features make the source material any better and this is yet another Disney sequel that can be passed by, though it is not actually awful.

For other Disney live-action works, please check out my reviews of:
Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Tron: Legacy
Oceans
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
Alice In Wonderland
Old Dogs
G-Force
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl
Tron

4.5/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here.

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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The Sound Of Music Is A Musical Anyone May Enjoy (Even Those Who Don't Like Musicals)!

The Good: Nice scenery, Funny, Good character development
The Bad: Direction, Somewhat predictable.
The Basics: A worthwhile Best Picture winner, The Sound Of Music tells a timeless tale of love, music and Nazi occupation set to a wonderful score.


It is amazing that for all of the movies I have watched, there are astonishing gaps in my cinematic education. As I sat down to watch The Sound Of Music for the first time - a somewhat astonishing feat given how many parodies I have seen and understood of the film - I realized two things. The first was that the film's director, Robert Wise, was best known to me for his film Star Trek: The Motion Picture (reviewed here!) and the second realization I had was that I've not seen Julie Andrews in anything save The Princess Diaries (reviewed here!). Yet, I approached The Sound Of Music with a fairly level temperament and few expectations.

Thus, it was a true delight to discover how much I came to enjoy The Sound Of Music. In terms of storytelling and character development, The Sound Of Music is remarkably tight and well-developed. Amidst the instantly-recognizable songs, the story develops as a fairy tale of sorts set in the 1930s as the Germans exert more influence over Austria. In addition to a very classic sense of storytelling - man falls for woman, villain pops up to challenge the lifestyle of the heroes - The Sound Of Music features an optimistic view of the world amidst changing times when innocence was hard to come by. The Sound Of Music is almost deceptive in its apparent simplicity and the true complexity of it only comes out in the later half . . . when the wartime story intrudes upon the love story.

Maria is a nun who has a musical obsession and a true delight in life. However, this leads her to be somewhat reckless and not truly fit in with the other nuns. She is given leave from the abbey to become the governess for the Von Trap family in Salzburg, Austria. There, she discovers five girls and two boys who need her guidance in the wake of their mother's death. The children of a sea captain, the children have lived a rigid life without his attention or affection. After gently chiding them for playing a prank on her, Maria begins to bond with the children by refusing to treat them like animals. Despite their various ages and needs, Maria makes the children feel loved by paying attention to them and offering them opportunities outside the rigid structure their father, including making them clothes from the curtains when the Captain refuses to get her fabric.

As the Captain and the Baronness work on their relationship, the Baronness becomes catty and eliminates Maria's position in the house when she suspects the Captain may have feelings for Maria. Maria leaves the household, but soon returns when the children are inconsolable without her. Soon after, the Nazis move in on Austria and the Von Trapp family is put into real peril.

The Sound Of Music is delightfully colorful and energetic, with wonderful color contrasts for the scenery that instantly transport the viewer to an enchanting world where it seems perfectly natural that the characters would break into song at any moment. And yet, the movie does not live in denial of the music that the characters break into. Captain Von Trap is characterized as a man so broken by the loss of his wife that he has lost music and the house has fallen quiet as a result. Maria, then, is the ideal character to come and rejuvenate the household and she fills exactly that role.

Despite the sense of simplicity that much of the film has, the characters actually develop and there is a decent sense of tension, especially at the climactic moments. Despite using young actors (and actresses), the acting is homogeneously wonderful, despite the unreality of characters breaking into song at a moment's notice. While the movie focuses on Maria and the Captain, characters like Lisle and her German boyfriend have integral roles and the relatively minor character of Ralph ends up having an important role.

What are more disappointing are the stylistic problems with the film. The realistic lighting in the dance number that puts Lisle and Ralph in the gazebo is problematic. It is not until it is lit with lightning occasionally that the scene is easy or enjoyable to watch. Instead, director Robert Wise trades realism - which leaves characters' faces obscured - for style and the comfort of the viewer. Similarly, during the classic song "Doe A Deer," the viewer is treated to the backs of all of the kid's heads to focus on Maria. Despite the beautiful backdrop, the movie has stretches where it is awkward to watch because of how Wise frames or lights the film. This is worse than the usual conceits of inorganic movement that comes with making characters dance in musicals. The movie has that, too (the children rocking back and forth on their knees in "Doe A Deer" comes instantly to mind), but the basic filming problems are worse in The Sound Of Music than the musical conceits.

On DVD, elements like obvious bluescreen shots are accented. Ironically, in cleaning up the print for DVD, shots like the background when the Captain is driving the Baroness back to his property look terrible.

Even the Captain has a decent character to him. He has moments when he is actually wit, like when he excuses himself from the company of Max and the Baroness and urges Max to step out of character and be charming. Despite his rigidity, the Captain has a sense of irony to him which is both refreshing and real. He is hardly monolithic and while he is stern, he clearly loves his children, he just does not know how to manage them (I suspect if I had ever been saddled with children, I would have ended up treating them like the Captain treats his . . . well, maybe without the whistle).

On DVD, the bonus features are surprisingly sparse. There is an audio commentary track and the option to play the film with the isolated score (without dialogue). This is remarkably lackluster DVD bonus features for such an acknowledged great film. No doubt as the film becomes re-released on Blu-Ray there shall be more robust DVD bonus features.

Unsuspecting as I was that I could enjoy The Sound Of Music, this becomes one of the few musicals I would ever want to see again (and not just for the flirtatious rendition of "Sixteen Going On Seventeen"). The movie is fun and a worthy addition to the cultural collective unconscious that great films have created.

[As a winner of the Best Picture Oscar, this film is part of W.L.'s Best Picture Project, here! Please check it out!]

For other musicals, please check out my reviews of:
Repo! The Genetic Opera
The Runaways
Corpse Bride

9/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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Shrek Forever After: Evidence That Some Franchises Are Built On Foundations Of Sand!

The Good: One or two amusing lines, Decent animation
The Bad: Entirely derivative and self-referential, A lot of gags fall flat.
The Basics: Disappointing, both in terms of vocal performances and plot, Shrek Forever After is the final nail in the coffin of this cinematic franchise.


Truth be told, I'm not big on the whole Shrek phenomenon. I saw Shrek and was moderately amused by it. Rewatching it made me quickly loathe it. So, I never saw the sequels. However, when I had the opportunity to watch the fourth installment of the series, Shrek Forever After, hoping that it might reinvigorate my interest in the series and animated films in general. It, alas, did not.

The main problem with Shrek Forever After is that it is stale, plain and simple. The good ideas have been done and now, Shrek (the franchise) is just circling the bowl hoping to suck up a few more millions as it does. Largely, the film is not funny and beyond that, it is so far from its original concept (i.e. turning fairy tales on their proverbial ears) that it is almost unrecognizable as clever. Instead, it is a group of juvenile jokes strung together by once-lovable characters.

In this installment, Shrek is living the happy home life with Fiona. While working the publicity circuit (he's a celebrity in the kingdom), he encounters Rumpelstiltskin, who tricks him into a "what if" scenario. This scenario has Shrek living life as if he had not taken up the mission to rescue Princess Fiona. Unfortunately, Rumpelstiltskin is a trickster and he tricks Shrek into never existing and Shrek finds himself in a Far Far Away where the trickster is the king. As a result, Shrek must pretty much recreate the rescue of Fiona.

Unfortunately for Shrek, Donkey is no longer an ally in this alternate universe and Fiona is far from being the helpless damsel in distress. Instead, ogres are hunted in Rumpelstiltskin's Far Far Away and Fiona leads the ogres who are hunted. As Shrek works to make Fiona love him and accept his kiss, Rumpelstiltskin works to put Shrek and his companions out of their misery.

Sadly, Shrek Forever After is entirely derivative. In many ways, it is just a rewrite of Shrek and the result is hardly original. Moreover, the jokes seem especially juvenile with fart jokes and similar body humor jokes ruling the movie. It falls flat. Moreover, the star appeal in Shrek Forever After seriously brings the work down. The first Shrek was released when Mike Myers was arguably at the peak of his popularity. Since then, he has faded into b- or c-list actors and all this Shrek installment does is help illustrate why.

The reason, arguably, is because Mike Myers, while he has many good qualities, has largely one type of humorous delivery. He's good at scrunching his face up and making outlandish voices and he's decent at deadpanning the ridiculous. In Shrek Forever After, he makes his absurd voices and he deadpans lines that would otherwise be ridiculous. But we've seen it before. We've seen it from this actor in virtually everything he's ever been in. This installment of Shrek provides us with nothing truly new from Mike Myers.

To be fair, it's not all of Myers' fault. The script from Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke is especially weak and turns on the notion that fans will be amused by the "alternate universe" versions of popular characters. But they wear thin, like the fattened up Puss In Boots and the twisted way Rumpelstiltskin manipulates those under his command. And just as Myers is not used in any different ways, Eddie Murphy disappoints as Donkey. Murphy is exceptional at doing manic voices and here he does just what we've heard him do many, many times before.

Even Cameron Diaz does not do anything different with her voice to make the alternate incarnation of Princess Fiona in any way remarkable.

At least the animation is decent. Shrek Forever After has great coloring, a fun sense of movement and a very comical sense of physics to it that at least makes it visually easy to watch.

Ultimately, Shrek Forever After will hopefully be The Final Chapter because this episode feels far more like it is recycling the best jokes left out of prior installments. Unfortunately, that does not add up to an enjoyable or even interesting film.

For other animated film reviews, please check out:
The Sword In The Stone
Wonder Woman
Planet 51

3/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page, which is available by clicking here!

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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A Fun Fairy Tale, The Princess Diaries Entertains All Audiences (Especially Anne Hathaway Fans!)!

The Good: Decent acting, Interesting characters, Charm factor
The Bad: Very predictable plot and themes.
The Basics: Far more fun than my rating might suggest, The Princess Diaries pairs Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews in a family-friendly fairy tale about a girl who discovers she is a princess.


It is a rare thing that I sit down and watch movies where the intended demographic is the eight to seventeen females, but for Anne Hathaway, I find reasons to make an exception. It is only because I am a bit of a fan of the works of Anne Hathaway, then, that I sat down and took in The Princess Diaries, one of her early cinematic endeavors and arguably the production that made her a household name for most of the United States. With her wholesome looks and actual ability to act, Hathaway erupted into the collective unconscious as one of the greatest talents of her generation, even if the movie was a pretty silly, predictable fairy tale of sorts.

The Princess Diaries gets a generous seven in my rating system. Objectively, this is a fairly average film brought up by decent acting and effectively milking the viewer with its charm. It might well be one of the best films for young people in recent memory, but it is still very predictable and utilizes a few too many conceits of movies for young people (like giving Mandy Moore the opportunity to sing).

Mia Thermopolis is an outsider at her private school in San Francisco who dreams of her first kiss and yet is so shy that she throws up rather than give an oral presentation in front of her public speaking class. She spends her days being run over by her socially conscious friend Lilly and doing her best to blend in or go unnoticed. One day, her paternal grandmother comes to visit her in San Francisco with news that turns her world upside down; her father was the crown prince of Genovia, a small European nation on Spain's border. With his death, Queen Renaldi calls Mia into service as the rightful heir to the throne and the fifteen year-old girl decides to give being a royal a trial run.

Mia's life is then split between keeping her secret at school, made more difficult after she gets a makeover, and being prepared by Renaldi to assume the mantle of being a princess with lessons in etiquette, politics and Genovian customs. But soon Mia's secret is out and the boy she has pined for at school notices her, ostensibly to glom onto her fame. Mia is faced with several decisions that illustrate her changing priorities as she makes the transition from schoolgirl to princess.

The Princess Diaries is pretty much the classic fantasy virtually every girl has at one point or another in their lives; the desire to be transformed from plain to princess. Given how classy and established Anne Hathaway has become since, it is almost hard to imagine how well she pulls off plain. Anne Hathaway convincingly plays Mia as a disheveled, bumbling schoolgirl who is suddenly thrust into the world most girls only dream of. What the film illustrates quite well is how impractical such a transformation would be for virtually anyone who actually is a common girl.

Moreover, The Princess Diaries is packed with charm and it is decent at illustrating consequences to the actions of the protagonist. When Mia is outed, she begins to see that coming from a royal bloodline has responsibilities, not just perks. The "fish out of water" aspect of a girl going from anonymous to a public figure is handled well with humor that will reach all audiences. The makeover of Mia may seem more obvious now - given that it seems much harder to hide the natural beauty of Anne Hathaway rather than bring it out - but it is handled quite well. Almost unrecognizable with her bird's nest hair and squinting at the outset of the film, Mia's transformation is exactly what fairy tales and girl's dreams are made of.

But not lacking in entertainment for adults, The Princess Diaries is smart enough not to make the transformation easy. Instead, Mia's instant reaction is to run from her destiny and this creates an interesting, if predictable, character arc for her. As well, it provides the story with a necessary aspect of a mentor and that comes in the form of Queen Renaldi, who is performed by Julie Andrews. Rather incredibly, this is actually the first film I have ever seen with Julie Andrews, but it is easy to see why she is lauded as a master of her craft. She lends a dignity and humanity to Renaldi and knows the precise balance to play in each scene.

Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of The Princess Diaries for adults is reveling in the subtext of the relationship between Queen Renaldi and her head of security, Joe (played by Hector Elizondo). Just as Renaldi becomes the mentor for Mia, Joe serves as a sounding board for Renaldi's thoughts and ideas and that she relies upon his counsel at key moments is refreshing and deeply human. But the relationship between Mia and Renaldi dominates the movie and Andrews and Hathaway play off one another perfectly. Andrews manages to cede some of the stage to her young costar and Hathaway holds her own opposite the venerable actress. The two use each scene they are together to explore a different emotional resonance and the film works because Mia is not simply learning how to be a princess, Renaldi is learning how to be a woman again and not just a queen.

For all of the enjoyable practical elements that turn the traditional fairy tale into something much more realistic - especially Mia's reluctance - The Princess Diaries is still remarkably predictable and follows a very obvious series of conflicts and resolutions that lead Mia to learn her valuable lessons and become a responsible adult. The thing is, the film is also a teen movie with unrealistically good looking guys and girls, all of whom are privileges and most of whom are blandly young. Mia deals with cliques and pines for the jock as opposed to the good guy who is clearly interested in her. As a result, there are scenes with parties, snobs and a musical number with Mandy Moore, who plays one of Mia's opportunistic peers.

What The Princess Diaries does best, though, is remind viewers just how fun such universal fantasies as the rags-to-riches story can be by both challenging and presenting that story. The reluctant or unfit princess-to-be makes the transformation that much more incredible and enjoyable and the movie certainly is intended to remind viewers of all ages that anything is possible.

The acting in the film is good, but the cast is loaded to make it a sure-fire win in that department. Hathaway has great on-screen chemistry with everyone (save, ironically enough, her male lead). It is especially noteworthy that Hathaway gives costar Heather Matarazzo, who plays Mia's best friend Lilly, dominance in the scenes where Lilly is being pushy. Hathaway appears to be a gracious actress who is able to let others take a scene when it is appropriately theirs to take.

In the end, there is nothing really bad about The Princess Diaries other than that it is completely obvious. Still, this is the stuff our collective unconscious is built upon and it is pleasant to consider Anne Hathaway joining such greats as Julie Andrews there.

For other Disney live-action works, please check out my reviews of:
Tron: Legacy
Oceans
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
The Last Song
Alice In Wonderland
G-Force
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl
Tron

7/10

For other film reviews, please visit my index page!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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Light On Charm, The Tooth Fairy Is Just Plain Dumb And Disappointing.

The Good: ?, It provided something in theaters for kids other than Alvin & The Chipmunks?!
The Bad: Lame plot, Terrible acting, Banal character development, Not funny, No charm
The Basics: Not funny, not original and completely obvious and predictable, The Tooth Fairy is not fun for adults or children.


When it comes to children's movies, it takes a lot to impress me. These days, I think children are treated like stupid simpletons and the only way I usually go to see films geared toward them is when I can get into free screenings. In the case of The Tooth Fairy, I am glad that was how I saw the film and it's pretty sad when I come to the conclusion that I wouldn't see it any other way. Even sadder is watching people walk out of the free screening. If you can't keep the free audience, you've got a true loser of a film on your hands. In the case of The Tooth Fairy, it wasn't just adults who were departing the theater early in disgust; kids there seemed similarly disappointed in it and one can already see pundits penciling this one in on their “Worst Films Of 2010” list.

The Tooth Fairy follows in a long tradition of strikingly uninspired movies geared toward children which are cliché, boring and hardly as funny as the writers will think. Like many similar films, it trades on a single premise and sets itself up for an obvious moral which most children who will be watching a PG film will already know. Why? Kids are not as stupid as adults think they are. Unfortunately for viewers, The Tooth Fairy leaves little to consider because it is a ridiculously simple premise executed in a simple fashion which fills out its time with generic jokes which might be included in any of a hundred similar films. In fact, outside the initial fish-out-of-water reversal that puts Dwayne (“The Rock”) Johnson in a tutu, The Tooth Fairy is a collection of mediocre physical comedy jokes which aren't very funny at all.

Derek is a cocky, rude hockey player who is most known around the league for knocking teeth out of the heads of his opponents. He has a good life doing that, but he is short with people around him and when he responds to a little girl, Tess, shortly, he is sentenced to do a week's community service as a tooth fairy. By telling Tess there is no tooth fairy, he is condemned by Lily to perform that task in his area. Outfitted with fairy wings (which are not enough to support him), a tutu, and a wand, he must visit local homes at night collecting teeth and granting wishes, learning in the process how to be a better person.

Blech.

Just blech. That's a trained professional opinion, too.

The Tooth Fairy is predictable, startlingly unfunny and filled with homogeneously familiar performances. For example, Julie Andrews seems to bring a level of dignity to the film with her mere presence as the divine administrative agent, Lily, but the role is little more than a rehashing of her deadpanning role from The Princess Diaries. She plays the straightman well, but it is nothing we haven't seen from her before. Similarly, fans of Seth MacFarlane who may have seen previews for this played ad nauseam during MacFarlane’s Sunday night animated shows on Fox will be gravely disappointed by his role in this. MacFarlane is particularly unfunny and his schtick seems so familiar that one wonders why he bothered to participate in this movie.

As for lead actor Dwayne Johnson, The Tooth Fairy is pretty much what one expects from an ex-wrestler. Johnson has acting abilities (I've seen it in things like The Southland Tales), but he does not illustrate any of his quality here. Instead, he roughs up players like a wrestler early in the film, does physical comedy well within his grasp in the middle and then softens for the predictable kindness only the most dim viewers will not see coming from the earliest frames of the film at the end. There is nothing original or even interesting about this performance in The Tooth Fairy.

On DVD, The Tooth Fairy is enhanced by a commentary track, which is not at all entertaining and sneak peaks. There is also a singalong function and a featurette on the training center scene. This is not enough incentive to buy this otherwise unimpressive movie on DVD.

In the entirety of this short film, I laughed zero times, which is pretty bad for a film that is supposed to be funny. But if you've seen the movie poster and the image of Dwayne Johnson in a tooth fairy costume, you can pretty much guess the character arc of the film and the lack of development in it. You, at least, have the opportunity to avoid the disappointment that I did not. The Tooth Fairy is a predictable lemon from start to finish.

For other children's movies, please check out my reviews of:
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Despicable Me

2/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.




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