THE PRINCESS DIARIES

Directed by Garry Marshall

Starring Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway

Playing at Cinemark 12

Disney generally has a good track record with family films — if they are of the animated variety. Even at their most formulaic, the studio has rarely produced an animated film that was outright bad (with the exception of glum, dour “historical” fiascoes like “Pocahontas” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”). The story is different with its live action contributions. Tepid, juvenile and built from form pre-packaged notions about “family value,” these films are designed for the people who don’t care if a movie is good, as long as nothing bad happens.

Which makes “The Princess Diaries” a welcome exception. It’s the rare Disney live action movie that doesn’t feel as if a Windows screenwriting program hacked it out. Yes, it’s predictable. But it’s also smart, funny and charming, a quality lacking in many of the vanilla constructs the studio has always released.

The story plays on every little girl’s fantasy of being a princess, which makes it an ideal movie for little girls. But it is also plays well for the entire audience, peppered with little quips that adults will get even if children don’t (such as when a pair of bushy eyebrows are referred to as “Frida” and “Kahlo”). It may be G-rated, but I’m not ashamed to say I really liked it.

Mia Thermopolis (luminous newcomer Anne Hathaway) is an awkward 15-year-old who lives in a boho, redesigned firehouse in San Francisco with her single, artistic mother. She hangs out with her friend Lily (Heather Matarazzo), who hosts a cable access talk show, and is good at “being invisible.” One day, she gets a visit from her paternal grandmother (Julie Andrews), who turns out to be the queen of a small European country called Genovia. Mia is the princess and the only living heir to the throne after her father dies. The family didn’t want her to find out until she was eighteen, but circumstances lead everyone to reveal the truth. The country’s future may be in jeopardy if Mia doesn’t claim her royal title.

Everything that happens is easy to predict. Mia agrees to take “princess lessons,” but doesn’t have to take the throne unless she wants to. Word gets out at her snooty prep school, and soon she’s hanging with the cool kids (including pop singer Mandy Moore), unaware that Lily’s brother (Robert Schwartzmann) likes her. Her life falls into disarray and soon she’s ready to chuck the whole princess thing.

What makes the movie sing is the fact that everyone involved tries to lift the movie above its flaws. Director Garry Marshall reigns in his penchant for broad humor and schmaltziness (prevalent in films like “Dear God” and “The Other Sister”), while writer Gina Wendkos gives the screenplay an intelligence most children’s films lack (surprising considering Wendkos’ last screenplay was for the facile “Coyote Ugly”). But even with their contributions, “The Princess Diaries” could’ve been one of those films that are unbearable without the right actors. Marshall hires reliable comic stalwarts like Hector Elizondo and Larry Miller for supporting roles, and Matarazzo is in fine form. But the awards go to the leads. Andrews makes a wonderfully regal queen and Hathaway is a real find. She has the Julia Roberts smile, the same vulnerability and the same comic timing. She just might be our generation’s Julia, and the next Hollywood princess.