The Princess Diaries

Click to Buy	Ratings Summary (Scored out of a maximum of five)
	Audio		Video
	Goodies		Interface
	Value

The Movie

This film, made in 2001, made mucho amounts of money for Disney, made
a star of Anne Hathaway, and reintroduced Julie Andrews to a new generation
of fans. It’s a sweet, kid-friendly film. Not many live-action films these
days are rated G, so that is a big plus for the film right off the bat.

Photo © Buena Vista Home Video

The Goodies

For starters, there are two discs in the set. One for the goodies and
one for the movie, right? Wrong. One disc per “viewing presentations.”
I am no DVD expert, but it seems like technology has advanced enough to
put both versions on one disc. As it stands now, one must play both discs
to see all of the extras in the set. I find that pretty annoying.

The fullscreen disc contains 8 deleted scenes introduced by Gary Marshall,
“A New Princess” behind-the-scenes featurette, and two music
videos. The deleted scenes are the most interesting aspect of this disc.
I love the way Marshall explains how and why they structured the movie
in its final form, and why a particular scene had to be cut. He held my
children’s attention for the whole segment; he never condescends to his
young audience but gives a terrific little discourse on film editing.

Disc Two contains the widescreen version of the film, outtakes and bloopers,
a featurette entitled “Livin’ Like a Princess“, a “sneak
peek” of Princess Diaries 2: the Royal Engagement, and two
commentaries: One with director Gary Marshall, and second with Julie Andrews
and Anne Hathaway. Both commentaries were interesting. Gary Marshall had
no problem filling up every second of audio explaining how each shot was
done, tidbits about the actors, chat about his kids and grandchildren
in the film, use of the movie soundtrack, and so on. He never stops commenting.
As in the deleted scenes extras, Marshall does an amazing job of talking
to a young audience on their level, never in a condescending way, and
explaining the whole filmmaking process.

Photo © Buena Vista Home Entertainment

The commentary with Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews was recorded as the
actresses were served a “proper English tea.” Some of the commentary
focused on what they were eating and drinking, with Andrews making comments
about her favorite teas, and identifying particular sandwiches they were
being served. I’m not sure how successful that gimmick was—there
are long silences in the audio to cover (I assume) chewing and gulping,
and many scenes are passed over in favor of taking another cucumber sandwich.
If you are a Julie Andrews fan, as I am, however, you will want to listen
to this soundtrack just to hear her off-the-cuff comments about her career,
her days with Mary Poppins, her relationship to her fans. ItÕs fascinating.

Anne Hathaway is very well-spoken for a teenager, but she (like most
people in her position, I’m sure) is still a bit amazed that she had the
good fortune to make her first movie with Andrews, and spends most of
the time relating how great it was working with the legendary actress.

The bloopers and outtakes extra is pretty standard; no Julie Andrews
falling in a lake or anything. Just actors rolling their eyes, and so
on. The “Livin’ like a Princess” featurette is a short explanation
about how real princesses lived, using odd cut-out graphics. My kids were
wholly uninterested.

Photo © Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

The Video, Audio and Interface

The widescreen version of the film is 1.85:1 formatted for 16×9 screens
and the fullscreen is 1.33:1 formatted for 4×3 screens. I trust that true
aspect ratio aficionados will be able to interpret what level of quality
this is; for the rest of us, it looks very sharp and clean. The Dolby
Digital surround sound is good for when Mandy Moore is lip-syncing on
the beach with no microphone in sight. The interface is pretty easy for
kids to navigate. I had to help my 7-year-old find the directorÕs commentary,
then find it again to turn it off. Other than that, she was able to work
the rest of the features.

The Final Evaluation

The retail price for this special edition is $29.00. Is it worth the
price, even if you have the original version? If your children are fans
of the movie, I think so. Parents should get their money’s worth with
the good amount of extras and excellent commentary contained in the set.
However, get ready for your kids to ask to see the Princess Diaries 2
soon after viewing the DVD due to the genius release strategy by Disney.
That’s not such a bad thing, either. As a parent, I’m happy to support
good G rated films that I can be comfortable watching with my kids.