Written by: Shonda Rhimes
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Heather Matarazzo, John Rhys-Davies, Héctor Elizondo, Julie Andrews
Rating: [4/5]
While monarchies have lost their power in actual governance in Western culture, they still carry plenty of relevance to the people living in the nation whether they want to admit it or not. While The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement takes place in the fictional Genovia, this journey for our lead character to get the throne and power promised to her comes with its obstacles and on this journey we get a bout for love and honor that exponentially supersedes its predecessor.
Having graduated from college and living in Genovia full-time in hopes of ascending to the throne, Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) has a new challenge set before her to officially have the crown placed on her. This includes the reality that she must get married in 30 days as Genovian laws state no Queen can rise without a husband. A big challenge for anyone but one that has her needing to joust with her mind and heart.
With all of the pageantry and privilege that comes with being a royal, the reality of duty’s importance above personal feelings remains one that always gets in the way. With the prospect of her losing out on the crown because of her marital status feels ridiculous but ultimately dictates the laws means Mia needs to judiciously select someone appropriate to marry, but also hope that someday she can grow the feelings she seeks with that individual. She battles this while also having the individual trying to take her throne, Nicholas Deveraux (Chris Pine), poking around hoping to further complicate the situation for her.
Coming off the smashing success of The Princess Diaries, this sequel moves towards a more mature Mia now six years older than she was in the previous film. No longer caught up in all of the nonsense high school drama to dealing with the drama at court. Now instead of bullies trying to minimize her because of the way she looks and acts, she now has these politicians essentially doing the same thing but with her suitability to lead as the monarch of this nation. Certainly larger stakes and that helps elevate this film beyond the first film, alone, but that’s before we get into the beautiful emotional journey Clarisse endeavors (Julie Andrews) along with Mia.
Just as Mia seeks to lock in her ascension, Queen Clarisse prepares for what life will be when she no longer sits as the leading monarch of the nation. She has to handle this tumultuous situation in trying to thwart the attempts of those trying to take Mia’s place while also having to contend with her granddaughter’s known clumsiness. All the while she has a decision to make on what her personal romantic love life looks like with Joe (Héctor Elizondo) as their hinted romance in the first film seeks to have a more public proposition by the gentleman. Plenty for this character to go through and of course Julie Andrews does magnificently well in this feature. She serves as the counterbalance to all of the silly and overly dramatic things happening with Mia where Clarisse stands as this anchor of grace and reality that grounds this entire film. We see the ways Mia has rubbed off on her and it further makes this character such a vibrant one.
As Mia prepares for her wedding it does make for a funny observation about the obviousness of the intended audience for this feature and this occurs specifically at her bachelorette party. Usually, we have an idea of how these parties go even in the tamest and it’s a bit silly a 21-year-old Mia elects to mark the occasion by having a slumber party with princesses all over the world who happen to be younger than her. It plays into the larger wish fulfillment of this film in granting audience members a dream of what it would look like to hang out with a princess and the fun that could be had mattress suriing, which looks very fun I have to admit. One cannot imagine that evening would not necessarily capture what most 21-year-olds would want to do on their supposed last night of freedom, but it’s all part of the charm of this feature.
Through all of its comedy and politicking, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement carries a distinct power in the way it captures this story of duty and love where we have a character acquiescing to the bigger picture but also making her own mark. We see a story of someone trying to have it all even when the rules would not allow Mia to grow in ways that make her unrecognizable compared to the girl we saw in the first film. She’s no longer a teenager but a fully grown woman and that comes across well in this feature. Compounding that with the beautiful moments she shares with Queen Clarisse, especially with the final flight of the Eagle, this film knows what it’s doing and did it well.
Films with Josh 