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Anyone who read my review of the original Princess Diaries DVD review would know that I enjoyed the movie. So now we have the sequel on DVD and to be honest, while I still enjoyed the performance of the leads, the story had none of the charm that made the original such a hit.
In The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, we find Princess Mia (Anne Hathaway) 5 years later, graduating from college. Upon graduation, she returns to the kingdom of Genovia to replace Julie Andrews and take her rightful place as Queen. The problem this time around? There's some dink in parliament (John Rhys-Davies) who wants to block her coronation so he can place his nephew (Chris Pine), who just happen to be next in line after Mia, on the throne as King of Genovia. The only way Mia can get the crown is to marry in 30 days. Hence, the "Royal Engagement" part of the title. So, Mia goes about the business of a wedding, but soon learns a little about herself and what it really means to be a leader. Throw in a few cameos (Raven, Spencer Breslin and director Garry Marshall come to mind) and you get a bit of a fun movie, but like I said, one that isn't nearly as fun or entertaining as the original.
As with any Garry Marshall-directed movie, you're gonna find his audio commentary and usually he'll introduce a series of deleted scenes. That's no different here. For the audio commentary, he teams with Julie Andrews. The two seem to have a good time together, although they seem to spend a little too much time narrating the story rather than giving an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie. As for the deleted scenes, Marshall goes solo in his introductions, which for me, were the main draw. He's a funny guy!
For a making-of featurette, we get "Making a Return Engagement". Let me get a little off track here. One thing that really bothers me about Disney DVDs is when they pump their own talents. We used to get Hilary Duff videos and cameos by stars from the Disney Channel - and it bugs me. I hate being marketed to. So when Raven appeared in the movie, naturally, I rolled my eyes. I hate so much that they created this role simply as a marketing device to show off one of their TV talents. Give me a break. Please. So, on top of this, we get Raven hosting the "Making-Of" feature with a brief musical interlude half-way through where we have to listen to her try to sing. Arrrggh. It's just so manufactured. Do I really have to be subjected to this?! Anyways, this pretty much ruined any enjoyment for me. For those who care, they throw in the odd interview with the cast and filmmakers. As well, there's a brief musical appearance by Lindsay Lohan for any fans out there. And at least she had the good sense to only lend her music and not her opinion.
The disc's only other featurette is titled "The PD2 Makeover". Here, we go behind-the-scenes with Anna Curtis, Anne Hathaway's stand-in. Frankly, she was much more entertaining than Raven. Why not give her the "Making Of" feature?? For the remaining extras, there's a blooper reel, a music video by Kelly Clarkson (who looked nothing like I remembered from American Idol) and a "Find Your Inner Princess" personality quiz.
Overall, this was a pretty big disappointment, despite the fact that I really wasn't expecting much to begin with. I still enjoy and respect the work of Garry Marshall, and it was nice to see Anne Hathaway again, who was just as pretty as she was the first time around, even though her picture on the disc's cover would suggest otherwise. I just won't be rushing to check this one out again anytime soon. And, you can only hope they won't make the mistake of making another sequel.
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