The Princess Diaries

Warning - This Review Contains Spoilers - Spoilers Section Will Be Warned Ahead Of Time

Rating - ⭐⭐1/2

"Mia Thermopolis is pretty sure there's nothing worse than being a five-foot-nine, flat-chested freshman, who also happens to be flunking Algebra.

Is she ever in for a surprise.

First mom announces that she's dating Mia's Algebra teacher. Then Dad has to go and reveal that he is the crown prince of Genovia. And guess who still doesn't have a date for the Cultural Diversity Dance?"

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The Princess Diaries is a YA contemporary novel by Meg Cabot and is the first entry in the series of the same name.

Hmmm, this was not the experience I was expecting to have going into this. My expectations of this book were 100% rooted on the movie, and my enjoyment of it was also 100% affected by the movie. There was so much in the movie that I enjoyed, so when I started reading the book and realized how much creative license the movie took, my enjoyment level plummeted. Below is why in-depth with spoilers.

Overall though, the movie was a much more enjoyable experience.

Spoilers Ahead

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First of all, the fact that Mia is way more of a teenager in the book is very apparent. This can be seen through the fact that her character arc is half 'I'm going to be a brat and complain about everything,' and half 'oh my god look at teenage heartthrob Josh.' I was not here for either of those aspects. There was also the fact that Mia was very judgemental and kind of slightly racist... When she met Paulo and she thought 'you're in America, your name is Paul and not Paulo' just rubbed me the wrong way.

Second of all, the changes the movie made to other characters and their relationship with Mia was for the better. Her relationship with her mom was less apparent in the book since it focused more on her relationship with Mia's teacher. Mia's relationship with her grandmother was also something that had less impact in the book. In the book, she already knew her grandmother and boy could she be wicked. The movie definitely made the right choice by making her and Clarice have a more personal and sentimental relationship. The fact that the father is alive in the book too hindered on the relationships between the characters. I feel like he just didn't really add much to the story since he wasn't a strong father figure.