To the untrained eye, Mia (Anne Hathaway) is a pretty adolescent. To the harsh critics of Grove High school, San Francisco, she is a bushy browed, frizzy haired freak.

Okay, so she falls more into the DMs and blue nail varnish camp than the Valley girl-cum-cheerleader one, but then again the warped views of teen culture usually makes for an excellent subject in films.

When her long lost Grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews) visits from Genovia (an unknown European principality) she reveals to Mia that she is heir to the throne. She must be trained in order to come out to the public.

The odds are stacked against her. Her low self-esteem argues, "just in case you're not enough of a freak already, let's add a tiara". Her right-on best friend Lilly thinks she's defecting to the other side, but she gradually learns to "eat, sleep, talk and stand like a princess".

Fans of the silvery legend Julie Andrews will be glad to know her signature voice and ever-so-English charm remain the same. Throw in some icy tongued, stereotyped teens and a sub-plot love story, and you end up with something very watchable.

But the real starlet is Hathaway. Director Garry Marshall has discovered an on-screen presence as remarkable as the one he found when he was casting for Pretty Woman a decade earlier. The fledgling Tinseltown sweetheart has a comparable wide, shiny toothed grin and infectious giggle as multi-million dollar star Julia Roberts.

For all the delights of the make-over, the moral is somewhat dodgy. While Princess Fiona in Shrek finds happiness in being ugly, and Bridget Jones discovers love while staying podgy, in this yarn, being richer and better groomed equals happiness and a boyfriend.

Fun to watch if you ignore the schmaltz.

Popcorn rating 4/5

review by ALEX KASRIEL

December 18, 2001 12:29