Once upon a time among the steep hills of San
Francisco, an accident-prone four-eyed
10th-grader with frizzy hair was rescued from
her lonely existence in a firehouse by an
elegant queen who turned the nerdy klutz into
a perfect princess with the gracious wave of
her royal hand. The divine Julie Andrews
lowers her impeccable standards to appear in
this sugar-coated, trite scenario as the
Queen of Genovia, who informs her San
Francisco granddaughter that she is the only
remaining legal heir to the throne. Thus,
newcomer Anne Hathaway gets a CoverGirl
makeover, attends demure school for dummies,
and achieves instant popularity among the
A-crowd teenagers all before the
revolutionary Independence Day ball.
Regardless of the recycled fairytale premise
and the nonsensical casting, director Garry
Marshall still provides basic entertainment
for the young target audience with a bit more
inspirational merit than the moronic
galumphing apes and dinosaurs of late.