The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagment (2004) * *

Directed by:  Garry Marshall

Starring:  Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo, Chris Pine, John Rhys-Davies, Heather Matarazzo, Callum Blue

I saw The Princess Diaries (2001) and it was a slight, predictable movie.    It performed well enough at the box office to produce this slight, ultra-predictable sequel which would only surprise someone who has never seen a romantic comedy before.    It isn't awful, it's just there.    Anne Hathaway is a beauty and an immense talent who would later win an Oscar for her performance in a movie musical, Les Miserables.    Julie Andrews in 1964 did the same thing with Mary Poppins.    Now, they are together again for this sequel.    As much as I enjoy them as actors, I wish they picked something else to star in and really shine.

To recap the first film, Mia (Hathaway) is a shy, awkward, but mostly normal San Francisco teenager who learns she is the heir to the throne of Genovia, which is in Europe somewhere.    Her very mannered grandmother Clarisse (Andrews) is the queen of Genovia and the mother of Mia's late father.    Mia's mother never told Mia her father was a prince.    After hemming and hawing, Mia accepts the title of princess and wins a boyfriend in the process.    In Part 2, Mia lives in Genovia and apparently the boyfriend from the first film is dumped.     She is decreed to have to marry within thirty days or relinquish the rights to the throne to Sir Nicholas (Pine), who is next in line after Mia and is awfully young to be a Sir.  

Nicholas and Mia get off on the wrong foot at a ball and spend the rest of the movie bickering with each other.    Mia secures a handsome fiancée in Andrew Jacoby (Blue), who is nice, but dull, and Mia has more chemistry with Nicholas anyway despite Nicholas' uncle's scheming to usurp the throne.   As is tradition with such romantic subplots, Nicholas and Mia soon realize they are in love, and Mia must dump Andrew, but then complications arise at the eleventh hour which may disrupt the whole affair.    Will Nicholas and Mia overcome these issues to marry?    If this question causes any amount of thought, then please watch a few teen romantic comedies before returning to this review.

I don't know where the fictional Genovia is supposed to be, but many of its citizens have American accents, with a few British or French accents thrown in for good measure.    The country itself seems to have a village for a capital and Mia, Clarisse, and company throw a parade through the village which looks like chintzy set decoration and is about two blocks wide.    There is even an orphan Mia befriends who looks straight out of a Dickens novel.     I could swear I saw the royal courtyard in previous movies like History of the World Part I.  

I have nothing against even the most predictable romantic comedies, as long as they at least try to bring fresh energy to the proceedings.    Princess Diaries 2 is by rote, and even its likable actors can't save it.