I read today that the reason they killed off the dad was because they wanted more screentime/influence/lines for Julie Andrews. The author's response was basically: Julie Andrews?? Yeah, kill him!
I do think its ironic though, in both films (now mind you, I have not read these books) that while her grandmother and her mom are both very strong influences in Mia's journey and her transformation from clumsy, shy teenager into a beautiful, strong Princess, it is her father who really inspired her to accept her crown. She was ready to run away from it all until she found his letter and it was only after hearing her father's wisdom that Mia accepted her role. And then in the second movie, she was told she has to get married in order to become Queen....there is a moment in the throne room where she looks up at her father's portrait before telling her grandmother that she is going to do whatever it takes to become Queen.
Yup. I read the entire series and Lilly was genuinely horrible. She was selfish, self-righteous, mean... Actually, by the end of the series Mia had befriended Lana (the blonde, "mean girl") and she was a much better friend than Lilly ever was.
Maggie K Uh...what? Really? I‘m pretty sure I don‘t remember that from reading the series...maybe it’s been too long. I do remember her befriending some rich girl with a bodyguard that wasn‘t in the movie though...
***** well technically they are the same sicne you know knowing it was a book and not knowing it was a book is just whose side are you on...in this case i am on the side of did not know this was based on a book, or that there was a book series or that there were more then one movie in this series
@@zzdaweirdo1120 Wide-tooth combs and lots of detangling spray. If you have curly hair, it is best to not touch it between showers. Detangle in the shower and do a detangle spray spritz and comb after the shower while its still wet to help it not curl into knots. Then try not to mess with it, and especially don't comb. Thats when it becomes frizzy and messy and you need to get it wet again to fix it.
As someone who read the entire Princess Diaries series, I can say that I certainly see where you are coming from when you say Mia is a reductive stereotype, and the books have their fair share of shallow artifice. However, when I was 13 this book was amazingly relatable. When you're a young teenage girl you hate everything about your body and your life. Every social situation is a test of your self-worth. School dances, friend drama, crushes... The Princess Diaries really captured that with a humorous spin. Mia does eventually grow up and change but the whole series successfully captures what it is like to be that age. The books are not deep and thought-provoking, but they are valuable and relatable to young girls.
Doesn't mean they're great stories. That's like saying Bella is relateable in many ways. Just because it's nostalgia talking doesn't mean their good, nor bad. It just means you remembered them. I'm not saying your opinion is invalid. What I'm getting at is that teen drama isn't a good format. That's why everyone saids it needs to stay in high school, because it's nothing but bullshit statements on both ends of the argument.
I find these books relaxing. After I've finished reading a book based on someone's experiences duiring Rwandan genocide or Mao's cultural revolution, it's nice to read light books like this where main character has no real problems.
Eh, I disagree. I was a young teenage girl once and I HATED Mia. I disliked things about my life, yes, and my appearance, and I hated trying to figure out social things - but not to this extent. I was self-absorbed like all teenagers but never that bad...I didn't like her then and didn't like her now. I have no patience for books full of terrible characters, that's what real life is for.
Can I say I never related that much with Mia. She was just the poor, poor woman whose grandmother was the very concept of a toxic grandmother - but had the glamour "justification they're royals, so it's okay her grandmother dictates everything a nearly-adult girl must wear and do". Even as a teenager, I rage quit the books because even poor, middle-class me with the WORST notion of self-esteem knew the grandmother/granddaughter dynamic was horribly toxic. I just wanted to call the social security on the woman, even just it was just fiction. The movies kind of soften that ,because hey, it's the same woman who played Maria from Sound of Music and Mary Poppins!
the movie is actually an adaptation of the first 3 books and mia definitely gets better as it goes on. towards the end of the series she ends up bringing democracy to genovia. mwg cabot actually wrote it at first as kind of a joke about how much of a brat she was as a kid and tried to sell it as a book for adults to read and just cringe but the princess thing was added at the suggestion of her publisher and they sold it as a teen novel. and yes mia does eventually go into therapy and they do discuss her dependence on the diary. it's kinda interesting how pretty much everything you mentioned eventually gets addressed in the books. they get meta and talk about the disney adaptation as a biopic that was made and how they made all these weird changes.
yea as silly as the books are i will forever love it and they are even more re-readable than the movies are rewatchable. Sure, the things she complains about are not important, but there are plenty of books complaining about important things, I just wanna relax and read about a teenage girl sometimes. And as you said she matures a lot + it's not like she only cares about shopping and boys she is a HUGE advocate for wildlife preservation, brought democracy to genovia, is a very vocal feminist etc. The books were kinda ahead of their time
The character of Mia Thermopolis does actually go to a therapist later on in the book series. So actually yeah, your right on that front. In the later books she grows up a lot becomes an adult with mature interests and concerns. Mia's ongoing feud with her grandmother is a central plot point in the series and it was utterly ridiculous that they changed everything around I'm cast Julie Andrews.
The only major difference I can remember is that Stanley was described as being very overweight at the start of the book and lost the weight due to the hard labour of hole digging, but the director didn't want to have to put a young actor through such rigorous physical changes, and since the weight wasn't integral to the plot, they just decided to go with a thinner Stanley from the beginning.
I think it's also the Anne Hathaway effect. She's one of my favourite actresses but whenever she's in an adaptation, the writers take the title, the very basic concept and then send the book into the stratosphere. Eg. Ella Enchanted, the Devil wears Prada, the Alice Books etc.
Shanster Goodheart I think Alice is excused purely because it's intended to be a sequel to the original story. I'm actually quite fond of the first Burton Alice in Wonderland but I'm in the minority there.
One of my favourite things about the book is how much I learned from it! As somebody who WAS the target audience, I learned Algebra, French, how to use a dinner fork and a surprising amount of political science from these books. Also, you’re exactly right about the character growth - I’ve read them all, and one of the most remarkable things is how Meg Cabot makes the character grow up (and how perfectly she gets the voice right in the romance novel ‘Mia wrote’).
She's 14 in the first book and it's always meant to give her room to grow and change. I do know that she struggles a lot with maturity for a number of books there. But she DOES change. And I think if Cabot had started with a fully mature girl at the beginning there would be nowhere to go- especially for the amount of books she ended up writing.
Frankly, from the description, it looks like Brienne of Tarth went to high school in modern California and had a crusty punk for a friend. Couldn't wait for the bit when she would skewer her fiance with her big-ass sword.
Actually, the suggestion of a diary to be kept by Mia is given to Mia's mother from a therapists' suggestion. Also they leave out and its not mentioned that Lilly and Michael's parents play a bigger role in the books as they are psycho analysts as well. I loved the Dr. Moscovitzs how they sometimes made things uncomfortable for their children and Mia when trying to analyze them.
I’m probably being overly defensive because this book was my favorite when I was a tween and so I’m super nostalgic about it but Mia did have a personality in the book. She struggled with asserting herself but was aware of that and interested in self improvement ( she mentions Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and reflects on her attempts to achieve self actualization), she was interested in creative writing ( later in the series she publishes a fiction novel), she’s invested in animal rights( she only agrees to her father’s bribe when he tells her that he will donate the money to green peace ) and she cares about her friends ( she throws the ice cream at Lana to defend Tina). Mia definitely spends a TON of time talking about basic teenage girl things, but I don’t think she’s exactly a blank slate.
This book was a huge part of my middle school years. Throughout the series Mia struggles with a highschool crush, growing up, family problems, royal responsibilities, a period in time in which she goes through a severe depression, getting rid of the monarchy/principality of Genovia, and becoming a decent adult. It's really best read as a series in which to experience. Also I like how it subverted the "Makeover now she's popular thing" It actaully made her feel worse about herself for a time being
I think every makeover made her feel miserable. Except the one when she is depressed and cant feel a thing. I love books 8, 9 and 10 the best for that.
TreClaire Why does it matter that much that he wasn't the target demographic? Just because something is written with a teenage girl in mind it doesn't excuse poor writing, the over use of tropes, or plot holes (I'm not saying the book had those things, though it definitely had the second, I'm just throwing them out as an example). Should standards be lowered for books targeted at teenage girls?
The target audience shouldn't matter. Good is good, bad is bad. Not that it wouldn't be nice to have a woman that likes girly things review this but reviewers tend to be male or not like girly things.
I don't think this is about "lowering your standards" at all. Scope of entertaintment is really vast, and just because two people like movies/books/music does not guarantee that they would like the same types or genres. There is just too much to choose from. I have loved and cherished the Princess Diaries book series as a teenager but have not read it since. Yet, I would still maintain that it was good literature based on my opinion then, even if I do not enjoy it now if I ever decide to pick up reading it again. My point is, a piece of entertainment could be definitely only relevant to a niche audience but that does not make it unworthy.
true but there are a lot of good horror movies out there but i would not discribe them as good because i dont like the genre. just because its good doesnt mean people wont have a problem with it.
+NeverlandHunter The quality of a book is not purely objective - there are subjective elements, which can counterbalance or reinforce the more objective aspects. If a stereotypical teenage girl reviewed some literary classic and pointed out that it was full of dated and obscure vocabulary, that it neglected or minimised the role of the working classes in the smooth functioning of the upper class society the book focuses on, and that the entire plot rested on two characters never effectively communicating with each other until (almost) too late (though probably not phrasing her objections in quite those words), her objective criticisms would not invalidate the novel's classic status - she's not in the target audience (to be fair, the original target audiences for most classics are long dead) so she perceives the negatives more clearly and gives them more weight. Put it another way: teenage girls have different standards, and a book can meet those without also meeting a literary critic's standards - and vice versa. Also, there is a known phenomenon where a mainstream critic happens upon a work of genre fiction, and, because they are unfamiliar with the genre, their review ends up making that fact painfully clear to anyone who is - pointing out accepted tropes of the genre as unique flaws, and praising the originality of tired old genre cliches. If you want an example shibboleth from the science fiction genre, ask a critic or reviewer their opinion of the use of a sheet of paper and a pencil to explain hyperspace jumps or wormholes - in case you're not familiar with the genre, the standard explanation takes the paper and pencil, marks two dots some distance apart on the paper, points out that traveling from one to the other along the surface of the paper is a long way, but! - and here the paper is folded or bent so that the dots touch - by folding space through some higher dimension, the trip can be made (almost) nothing. If you're not in the target audience, and you aren't familiar with the genre, then that matters - it means you're not qualified to comment on some of the most important/relevant aspects of the work (the ones that will/won't appeal successfully to that target audience) and you're not equipped to judge it in the context of its genre. That's why it matters.
I loved these books as a kid. I was unusually tall, from a single parent family, flat-cheated, frizzy haired, generally unnoticed and had only one friend. So I was so invested in all this stuff 😭 I even had an evil grandma who preferred to speak French. I thought these books were written for me. I don't think I'll try re-reading now though 😂
I think one reasons why Mia acts the way she does and puts her self down lot is because of the impact of her childhood because when she was little her dad wold have different model girlfriends. One we things that are not good it has it lowers our self-esteem if my dad was a Prince that had supermoe girlfriends andI would have low lowself soesteem as well
I loved the books as a preteen girl and was very disappointed by the movies, especially the second one. Something I must say is that although I understand that you did not have the strengh to read all of the books, they really do get better and more serious, and the story is just generally much better when you view it as a whole. Mia's personality definitely improves as the series go on. She finds herself, the author allows her to be a bad person and make mistakes, so her character doesn't stay a Mary Sue all along. The bad cheerleader girl turns out to be not so bad after all, she grows as a person to the point that she and Mia actually become friends in the last few books. The issues with Lilly and her controlling nature are dealt with in a realistic way, the age gap with Michael and all the problems that come with it make major plotlines. And finally, yeah, that's right, Mia actually makes important decisions that affect the future of her country and family. Also, something that you didn't mention but bothered the hell out of me is how they left out the fact that Mia and Michael were both huuuge nerds and how they bonded over that. Obviously, Michael didn't get to have much of a personality in the movie due to the limited screentime, but for the love of God, why did they change that little personality and information about his interests that we got completely for no reason? Let Michael be a nerdy boy who's really into science and sci-fi franchises goddamit. And then they made him disappear from the plot entirely in the second movie even though he and Mia supposedly just started dating at the end of the first one. He deserved better is all I'm saying.
It's a nice flick, whoever cast the movie did a great job of getting actors with chemistry who gave the roles personality. It might be a bit of a generic feel good movie but I like it too. I read the books cause I liked the movie and the movie is definitely better. The books are kind of obnoxious (the characters are more exaggerated and annoying in the book)
I remember reading the books after I saw the movie. Mia's obsession with Lifetime t.v. movies was hysterical, as well as her rants about why Anne of Green Gables and Our Town are awful. It was also funny to read Mia's constant bitching about being flat, when Movie Mia was very much not.
That's a good point. And Narnia wasn't exactly changed as much as, say, The Little Mermaid either. Holes and Narnia were both prodiced by Walden Media.
Dustin Compton -- It's been a while since I read the book, but if I remember correctly, the only major difference is that the protag is heftier at the start. There's also a couple things that may not have been directly stated in the movie but are implied.
That apparently has a legal reason why they made the change. Shia was more than willing to gain weight and lose weight, but child labor laws prevented him from doing so as he was under 18 when they made the movie.
Fun fact: Mia did see a therapist in one of the books. Why, you may ask? Because her boyfriend broke up with her, which (obviously 🙄) made her fall into such a deep depression that she didn’t leave her bed for a week. The therapist is also a cowboy.
Arthur Yates-Butler I scrolled down looking for someone who asked this. i totally agree, love the book, don't hate the movie but couldn't have been much different!
I know this is an old video but, I thought it worth mentioning in case you were unaware ('cause you might find it interesting) that most likely the main reason the character of Joe was created for the movie (as opposed to the less-memorable book version, Lars) has to do with the actor playing him. The director of "The Princess Diaries", Garry Marshall, made a tradition of casting his friend, Hector Elizondo, in every single one of his movies. Literally, any movie he directed he made sure had a part for Elizondo in it. So, for "The Princess Diaries", I can guess that the character of Lars was beefed up to become Joe in order to give Hector Elizondo a more significant role to play in the film.
I was just a tad disappointed to see just how infuriated you were at the book here. I've always had a soft spot for the book series, probably cause I read it at a very young age, and was always infinitely amused by the portrayal it gave of teenagers and their self-absorbed natures. I don't know whether this means anything to you or not, but Mia does get better as a character through the many, many installments in the series, maturing and getting over herself little bits at a time, just enough to remain engaging while not being as frustratingly irritating as she is in the first one. There's even a scene in the very latest book (released many years after the main series ended), where a much older Mia goes through her old diaries and is appalled at how much of a narcissistic asshole she was as a teenager, even commenting on how much unnecessary angst she had over her underdeveloped breasts.
I did actually read the book as a kid. When I saw the movie, I didn't know they were the same thing. Though I admire the movie just for being "nice", the books do expand upon the politics and why it matters. The second movie especially ignores this and it comes off as shallow.
haven't read the book myself but the pages and pages of self loathing sound accurate to the teenage girl mind, and if you cried out of despair just reading it, imagine feeling that for the whole of adolescence
I was a comfortable fan of the two ‘Princess Diaries’ movies as a kid. So when I came across outfit at the library, I thought it’d might be a nice read. I didn’t even make it two full chapters in. So, the book was rated 7+, and I was about 11 at the time. Within the first handful of pages, the book brought up the subjects of testicular cancer, stalkers with foot fetishes, and having to where two condoms when sleeping with the school hottie because of how many STDs he had probably accumulated. At 11 years old, I was ready to deal with none of these topics. And 7 years later, I still uncomfortably blush when thinking about it. If you ask me, that book *NEEDED* the Disney treatment to be deemed 7+
Seriously! It was an older teen book and I'll never forgive my elementary school for carrying that book but not allowing us to read Bridge to Terrabithia because of language!
I honesly thought the quality of your videos would decline after the Harry Potterathon, but you proved me wrong. You are one of the few RUclipsrs I know that puts their heart and soul into their videos!
Yeah but... I read the book, it doesn't lend itself well to a film without a lot of changes. Its more episodic with no real overflowing narrative. And I can't get over Mary Poppin's being a bitch. I just can't, she wouldn't be endearing on film if she was like the book version. Well we got to start a new counter. The amount of times Julie Andrews softened a book role for the film version.
I feel like with the Princess Diaries you have to be a 14 year old or younger to really empathize with the books. I first read the books was I was 11 and thought “oh wow she has such big girl problems to deal with.” I reread it at 14 and was like “I totally get you Mia, everything you’re complaining about is 100% legit” and then I reread them at 25 and was like “aww that’s cute, she’s so weird and neurotic.” That being said, I still purchased and devoured the latest one (published in 2015).
The book series remains very near and dear to my heart. It got me through my awkward formative years and introduced me to one of my favorite writers. But I readily accept that it is far from perfect.
I read these books a really long time ago, but I always liked the movie just a little bit better. One thing I thought you'd find amusing is that the later books incorporate the films in an amusing meta way. Mia talks about how someone released a totally inaccurate film about her life and comments on the weird changes. Also if you think the grandmother is a psycho in the first book she gets worse. At one point she tells Mia and her friends that Jane Eyre is the only acceptable romantic role model and that they should all hold their men at arms length if they want to be in control of their relationships. This is also accompanied by the suggestion that compromise is weakness.
i used to be really super shy. my journal basically was the only thing I communicated with. so I would write everything that happened to me as it happened. The princess diaries is painfully accurate considering Mia is who she is. I go back and read my old journals and it's a world of cringe. I think other avid journal keepers can vouch for that. memory is a fantastic editor. diaries are the film before it hits the edit room. and most teens are concerned with everything in regards to their social life, because social structure is actually a real danger when you're trapped with the same people for years and see them every day. I thank God that I'm an adult now, and that my life isn't so bad that I need my journal as much. now I keep one but just do breifing summaries of the week.
I loved this book series as a teenager myself but yeah I became aware as I was reading it that Mia was a whiny little twit at times. Mind you I personally thought this gave her more personality in the book than the other way around where she's just generically mostly nice if a little socially awkward. Her vegetarianism and animal activism thing did at least give her quirks along with her obsession with Jungian Psychology via Lilly's parents. I personally found her blander in the movie.
I was obsessed with the books when I was a teen. I cut my hair short, wore combat boots, and even started writing a diary to be like Mia. I related to her a lot and they inspired me to write my own stories. Shoot nearly two decades later and Mia's influence is still seen in my life. I wish they would make a series that follows them more closely because they're (as a whole) better than the movies. And not just because I'm a die hard Mia X Michael shipper. The character arcs are great. Not to mention the fact that they're more diverse. But yeah even I, Mia's number one defender, has said "Mia shut up" a few times. That's kind of the point, though. They weren't written to be profound change the world kind of books, they're just fun coming of age rom-coms. That all being said I will always hate disney for taking a top tier robot building chatterbox nerd and making him into mr awkward m&ms.
i used to be obsessed with the princess diaries. its so comforting and means a lot to me if u kind of view it as a satire and laugh at her while understanding her issues. the later books are much better up until the sixth one. i used to have the first page of the second one memorised lol
I was going to say that they probably moved the setting to SanFran because of a certain tragedy that happened that year, but the movie was released in the summer prior so idk
PLEASE tell me someone asked him to do the Hunchback of Notre Dame! I don't have any money to give him, but if I would that is definitely my dream review XDD And I don't care which one of the HUNDREDS of movies he uses. I mean, I would like the comparison to the Disney one, but they're so entirely different that I don't really know how he'd do it. And none of the other movies are perfectly accurate. The closest I've found is the 1986 animated film, but the animation is depressing, and the ending is still a happy one, not TOO dissimilar to Disney's version.
Problem is? The original book was over 1000 pages long, and the hunchback doesn't even get mentioned until halfway through the book. I would hate for Dom to have to suffer through that to make a video.
I feel like way too many writers reduce teenage girls into Cares Too Much About Boys and Is Insecure About Body. Look, I get it, puberty sucks and you're surrounded by other teenagers also experiencing it. At the same time, we do care about other things? We have hobbies??? I had 6 diaries growing up (ages 12 to 15) and I think I mentioned boys 3 times in all of them and I never talked about my body at all. Maybe this is just a matter of cultural difference though
I haven't read the book, but I believe that Genovia is a principality in the book and located between France and Italy, akin to Monaco, while Genovia in the film is a kingdom between Spain and France, akin to Andorra.
I read another of Abbot's books that became a Disney Channel movie (Avalon High) and honestly I preferred the movie even though they Changed so much of the plot.
It’s been awhile since I read this book and a few of the sequels. First of all, I absolutely loved Lars for being threatening in a funny way. Second, as an angry teenage Jew who’s mom is a therapist, I hated Lily. Third, Mia helped me realize that being internally unhappy didn’t make me a terrible person.
In the later books, the author pokes fun at the movie by referring to the inaccurate “documentary” based on Mia’s life. And she does get more involved in Genovian politics as she gets older
3 years late, but actually they age Mia up rather than aging Michael down. He was a senior while she is a freshman. In this case they have him a senior while she is a junior, being 16 rather than 14. Not a huge difference, but I do think that aging her up made a difference in the story telling, and made the relationship more appropriate
I know that the movie has issues and I always loathe the “girl ditches glasses and is gorgeous” trope BUT this movie is too charming and too nostalgic for me to hate on. Also Julie Andrews.
She only does the superfluos things of being a princess and the political problems are not mentioned not even once? Well, props to the book and movie for realism.
My 9yo girl loved the movies and got the audiobooks from the library. THEY ARE NOT NOT NOT FOR KIDS THAT YOUNG! She had been listening to them for a couple of days before I thought I would bond with her by listening to them together. Lordy! Every third sentence is about body shaming herself or others or about sex. Nothing graphic, but also not appropriate for a nine year old.
I only know this from the wikis because I never made it that far in the series, but later Mia actually finds one of her ancestors had made Genovia a democracy but died before it could be implemented, and is faced with telling the truth and having her father lose the throne or knowing they shouldn't have it and are lying to a whole country. (Also apparently the author had complaints about the immaturity of her writing style so it is tackled later with Mia's english teacher telling her so, and the style improves, or so I read.)
This was really enjoyable! I haven't read or seen this one, but I love the format of these videos! It's also great to see things roll along after the Harry Potter-athon.
When I read this, I was the target audience, and I remember liking it. I will say that I felt like Mia's personality developed more through the books, but I could understand why someone might like the movie more. She takes on the role of being a princess more in the books than the movie once she gets over herself, but that does take a few books.
I mean the book doesn't age well since it was made in the late 90s early 2000s, but I find the books entirely funny since it's meant for the young adult audience about girls coming of age story and puberty. there's a lot of mature stuff in the books but in an adult funny way since sometimes we find ourselves identifying it at times (at least for me.) I do love the film since it had its charming moments that were kind of better than the books, but the change was obviously for kids and family over young adults and teenagers and that's the only downside to that.
Great video. It's also cool that even though this is a requested video and something you clearly had trouble fully being involved with the material you still did a full on video - A lesser tuber would have just phoned it in
To people saying Mia did have a choice in the books: yes and no. I mean if you look at a real life royal family, let's say the royal family of England, you have one of the kids like Harry. Harry as a child didn't have a choice. When he reached adulthood, he was allowed to officially give up his titles and renounce everything, but he didn't have that choice until adulthood. Meaning Mia, until she's 18, also doesn't have that choice, and most of the books take place before her adulthood. And even then, by the time you're an adult, the public knows you, even if you renounce everything once you become an adult, in the eyes of the public, you will always be that royal figure, and now added on with judgement from some for renouncing your title. I mean Harry's wikipedia page still lists him as Prince Harry, despite the fact that he gave up this title, and in official protocol is now supposed to be referred to as Harry, Duke of Sussex. In a sense, yeah, Mia doesn't have a choice, even when she reaches adulthood because even if she renounces her title, she can never go back to being a normal person with a non-existent public perception and a normal life.
Honestly, from a more critical perspective than "This is just what they changed," I think it's really great that this movie took the framework of the book and actually made some really interesting characters out of characitures and gave these characters positive relationships and gave everyone much more /agency/.
Being that i was five when the first movie came out, i obviously saw it before reading the books. I absolutely love that they were different. They are enjoyable in their own ways. but SPOILERS!!!! I absolutely love that she ended up with Michael at the end of the book series.
ah this brings back memories. Just so your aware , yes, mia does get a personality in the later books. By the end of the series she like matures into her own adult person. (take it as a grain of salt cause I did finish the series as an older teenager)
Fun fact, I started listening to the princess diaries on audiobook when I was a kid so it was back when audiobooks were still taped you listened to in the car, and at some point my mom switched it out for some other bubble gum teen book and I didn’t notice
i love how he said 'see a therapist ur too dependent on this diary' because as far as i can remember she does actually do that because several people call her out on it
I was obsessed with the book series when I was a teen even though I could hardly empathise with Mia. It was cool to see her "grow up" throughout the books. ALSO. FAT LOUIE!! NO BORIS??
I read today that the reason they killed off the dad was because they wanted more screentime/influence/lines for Julie Andrews. The author's response was basically: Julie Andrews?? Yeah, kill him!
I came to comment the same thing
That sounds like Meg Cabot, she also did Avalon High, all her books EXCEPT princess diaries are guilty pleasures for me.
I do think its ironic though, in both films (now mind you, I have not read these books) that while her grandmother and her mom are both very strong influences in Mia's journey and her transformation from clumsy, shy teenager into a beautiful, strong Princess, it is her father who really inspired her to accept her crown. She was ready to run away from it all until she found his letter and it was only after hearing her father's wisdom that Mia accepted her role. And then in the second movie, she was told she has to get married in order to become Queen....there is a moment in the throne room where she looks up at her father's portrait before telling her grandmother that she is going to do whatever it takes to become Queen.
I hope she enjoyed the checks as she only got two movies out of her books.
Same hahaha 🤣
"Lilly, the best friend, is toned down a bit for the film[...]"
Jesus Christ, that's horrifying.
yep. She's totally completely obnoxious and self righteous in the whole series.
Yeah, I hate her. Almost every single thing she does is the opposit to what a friend would do.
Oh god.......
Yup. I read the entire series and Lilly was genuinely horrible. She was selfish, self-righteous, mean... Actually, by the end of the series Mia had befriended Lana (the blonde, "mean girl") and she was a much better friend than Lilly ever was.
Maggie K Uh...what? Really? I‘m pretty sure I don‘t remember that from reading the series...maybe it’s been too long. I do remember her befriending some rich girl with a bodyguard that wasn‘t in the movie though...
he should add a new counter "people who knew there was a book"
***** well technically they are the same sicne you know knowing it was a book and not knowing it was a book is just whose side are you on...in this case i am on the side of did not know this was based on a book, or that there was a book series or that there were more then one movie in this series
Well yeah, even I couldn't believe Die Hard was a book originally.
I was the opposite actually, I read the books in middle school, about a year before I actually saw the movie
Hathaway with curly hair looks like how I imagined Hermione to look like in the Harry Potter books.
Good video.
me too
Exactly. THIS is unmanaged bushy curly hair. I know, this was my hair until I learned about using the right products and avoiding brushes
@@fightingfaerie Avoiding brushes? Then how do you get rid of knots? (I'm genuinely curious, because my hair knots like crazy)
@@zzdaweirdo1120 Wide-tooth combs and lots of detangling spray. If you have curly hair, it is best to not touch it between showers. Detangle in the shower and do a detangle spray spritz and comb after the shower while its still wet to help it not curl into knots. Then try not to mess with it, and especially don't comb. Thats when it becomes frizzy and messy and you need to get it wet again to fix it.
@@fightingfaerie Mmnk, I will have to try that. Thanks. :)
As someone who read the entire Princess Diaries series, I can say that I certainly see where you are coming from when you say Mia is a reductive stereotype, and the books have their fair share of shallow artifice. However, when I was 13 this book was amazingly relatable. When you're a young teenage girl you hate everything about your body and your life. Every social situation is a test of your self-worth. School dances, friend drama, crushes... The Princess Diaries really captured that with a humorous spin. Mia does eventually grow up and change but the whole series successfully captures what it is like to be that age. The books are not deep and thought-provoking, but they are valuable and relatable to young girls.
Doesn't mean they're great stories. That's like saying Bella is relateable in many ways. Just because it's nostalgia talking doesn't mean their good, nor bad. It just means you remembered them. I'm not saying your opinion is invalid. What I'm getting at is that teen drama isn't a good format. That's why everyone saids it needs to stay in high school, because it's nothing but bullshit statements on both ends of the argument.
AnimeKandy27 and don't forget the trashy romance novel Mia wrote!
I find these books relaxing. After I've finished reading a book based on someone's experiences duiring Rwandan genocide or Mao's cultural revolution, it's nice to read light books like this where main character has no real problems.
Eh, I disagree. I was a young teenage girl once and I HATED Mia. I disliked things about my life, yes, and my appearance, and I hated trying to figure out social things - but not to this extent. I was self-absorbed like all teenagers but never that bad...I didn't like her then and didn't like her now. I have no patience for books full of terrible characters, that's what real life is for.
Can I say I never related that much with Mia. She was just the poor, poor woman whose grandmother was the very concept of a toxic grandmother - but had the glamour "justification they're royals, so it's okay her grandmother dictates everything a nearly-adult girl must wear and do". Even as a teenager, I rage quit the books because even poor, middle-class me with the WORST notion of self-esteem knew the grandmother/granddaughter dynamic was horribly toxic. I just wanted to call the social security on the woman, even just it was just fiction. The movies kind of soften that ,because hey, it's the same woman who played Maria from Sound of Music and Mary Poppins!
the movie is actually an adaptation of the first 3 books and mia definitely gets better as it goes on. towards the end of the series she ends up bringing democracy to genovia. mwg cabot actually wrote it at first as kind of a joke about how much of a brat she was as a kid and tried to sell it as a book for adults to read and just cringe but the princess thing was added at the suggestion of her publisher and they sold it as a teen novel. and yes mia does eventually go into therapy and they do discuss her dependence on the diary. it's kinda interesting how pretty much everything you mentioned eventually gets addressed in the books. they get meta and talk about the disney adaptation as a biopic that was made and how they made all these weird changes.
yea as silly as the books are i will forever love it and they are even more re-readable than the movies are rewatchable. Sure, the things she complains about are not important, but there are plenty of books complaining about important things, I just wanna relax and read about a teenage girl sometimes. And as you said she matures a lot + it's not like she only cares about shopping and boys she is a HUGE advocate for wildlife preservation, brought democracy to genovia, is a very vocal feminist etc. The books were kinda ahead of their time
The character of Mia Thermopolis does actually go to a therapist later on in the book series. So actually yeah, your right on that front. In the later books she grows up a lot becomes an adult with mature interests and concerns. Mia's ongoing feud with her grandmother is a central plot point in the series and it was utterly ridiculous that they changed everything around I'm cast Julie Andrews.
Holes was a Disney book adaption that was surprisingly accurate to the book
NeilSonOfNorbert That's because Holes was made by Walden Media, and the movie was written by the same person who wrote the book.
I remember being impressed by the adaptation as a kid. You made me want to look up Holes on TV tropes, it's been ages since I thought about Holes.
the music bugged me, but it wasn't terrible
The only major difference I can remember is that Stanley was described as being very overweight at the start of the book and lost the weight due to the hard labour of hole digging, but the director didn't want to have to put a young actor through such rigorous physical changes, and since the weight wasn't integral to the plot, they just decided to go with a thinner Stanley from the beginning.
They also left out the part about the two different translations of the song but that's kind of a minor point.
I think it's also the Anne Hathaway effect. She's one of my favourite actresses but whenever she's in an adaptation, the writers take the title, the very basic concept and then send the book into the stratosphere. Eg. Ella Enchanted, the Devil wears Prada, the Alice Books etc.
Believe me when I say that Anne Hathaway being in not Alice in Wonderland is the extreme least of that films issues.
Oh I know, if anything she's a tiny saving grace but it is odd the correlation between her and almost completely unfaithful adaptations.
Thats an interesting take which i sort of agree makes sense.
Shanster Goodheart I think Alice is excused purely because it's intended to be a sequel to the original story. I'm actually quite fond of the first Burton Alice in Wonderland but I'm in the minority there.
Les mis
One of my favourite things about the book is how much I learned from it! As somebody who WAS the target audience, I learned Algebra, French, how to use a dinner fork and a surprising amount of political science from these books.
Also, you’re exactly right about the character growth - I’ve read them all, and one of the most remarkable things is how Meg Cabot makes the character grow up (and how perfectly she gets the voice right in the romance novel ‘Mia wrote’).
Although she seems to have lost this voice by the latter books. The series died aftet book 10
She's 14 in the first book and it's always meant to give her room to grow and change. I do know that she struggles a lot with maturity for a number of books there. But she DOES change. And I think if Cabot had started with a fully mature girl at the beginning there would be nowhere to go- especially for the amount of books she ended up writing.
Frankly, from the description, it looks like Brienne of Tarth went to high school in modern California and had a crusty punk for a friend. Couldn't wait for the bit when she would skewer her fiance with her big-ass sword.
@@yudithcaron8053 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
2:54 Ironically she does see a therapist in one of the later books!
The therapist was great
Actually, the suggestion of a diary to be kept by Mia is given to Mia's mother from a therapists' suggestion. Also they leave out and its not mentioned that Lilly and Michael's parents play a bigger role in the books as they are psycho analysts as well. I loved the Dr. Moscovitzs how they sometimes made things uncomfortable for their children and Mia when trying to analyze them.
@@rachelmills5774 Wait wasn't her name Amelia in the movie?
Yes in both the books and movies her name is Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi. But she never really wants anyone to call her Amelia.
@@rachelmills5774 Oooh ok, thank you sm, I was really confused hahaha
I’m probably being overly defensive because this book was my favorite when I was a tween and so I’m super nostalgic about it but Mia did have a personality in the book. She struggled with asserting herself but was aware of that and interested in self improvement ( she mentions Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and reflects on her attempts to achieve self actualization), she was interested in creative writing ( later in the series she publishes a fiction novel), she’s invested in animal rights( she only agrees to her father’s bribe when he tells her that he will donate the money to green peace ) and she cares about her friends ( she throws the ice cream at Lana to defend Tina). Mia definitely spends a TON of time talking about basic teenage girl things, but I don’t think she’s exactly a blank slate.
This book was a huge part of my middle school years. Throughout the series Mia struggles with a highschool crush, growing up, family problems, royal responsibilities, a period in time in which she goes through a severe depression, getting rid of the monarchy/principality of Genovia, and becoming a decent adult. It's really best read as a series in which to experience.
Also I like how it subverted the "Makeover now she's popular thing" It actaully made her feel worse about herself for a time being
I think every makeover made her feel miserable. Except the one when she is depressed and cant feel a thing. I love books 8, 9 and 10 the best for that.
Not to mention, Genovia in the book was a principality, much like Monaco. There was no Queen; Clarisse was the Dowager Princess.
I really appreciate how heavily you emphasized that this wasn't for you, male reviewers all to often neglect to even mention that
TreClaire Why does it matter that much that he wasn't the target demographic? Just because something is written with a teenage girl in mind it doesn't excuse poor writing, the over use of tropes, or plot holes (I'm not saying the book had those things, though it definitely had the second, I'm just throwing them out as an example). Should standards be lowered for books targeted at teenage girls?
The target audience shouldn't matter. Good is good, bad is bad. Not that it wouldn't be nice to have a woman that likes girly things review this but reviewers tend to be male or not like girly things.
I don't think this is about "lowering your standards" at all. Scope of entertaintment is really vast, and just because two people like movies/books/music does not guarantee that they would like the same types or genres. There is just too much to choose from. I have loved and cherished the Princess Diaries book series as a teenager but have not read it since. Yet, I would still maintain that it was good literature based on my opinion then, even if I do not enjoy it now if I ever decide to pick up reading it again. My point is, a piece of entertainment could be definitely only relevant to a niche audience but that does not make it unworthy.
true but there are a lot of good horror movies out there but i would not discribe them as good because i dont like the genre. just because its good doesnt mean people wont have a problem with it.
+NeverlandHunter
The quality of a book is not purely objective - there are subjective elements, which can counterbalance or reinforce the more objective aspects. If a stereotypical teenage girl reviewed some literary classic and pointed out that it was full of dated and obscure vocabulary, that it neglected or minimised the role of the working classes in the smooth functioning of the upper class society the book focuses on, and that the entire plot rested on two characters never effectively communicating with each other until (almost) too late (though probably not phrasing her objections in quite those words), her objective criticisms would not invalidate the novel's classic status - she's not in the target audience (to be fair, the original target audiences for most classics are long dead) so she perceives the negatives more clearly and gives them more weight.
Put it another way: teenage girls have different standards, and a book can meet those without also meeting a literary critic's standards - and vice versa.
Also, there is a known phenomenon where a mainstream critic happens upon a work of genre fiction, and, because they are unfamiliar with the genre, their review ends up making that fact painfully clear to anyone who is - pointing out accepted tropes of the genre as unique flaws, and praising the originality of tired old genre cliches. If you want an example shibboleth from the science fiction genre, ask a critic or reviewer their opinion of the use of a sheet of paper and a pencil to explain hyperspace jumps or wormholes - in case you're not familiar with the genre, the standard explanation takes the paper and pencil, marks two dots some distance apart on the paper, points out that traveling from one to the other along the surface of the paper is a long way, but! - and here the paper is folded or bent so that the dots touch - by folding space through some higher dimension, the trip can be made (almost) nothing.
If you're not in the target audience, and you aren't familiar with the genre, then that matters - it means you're not qualified to comment on some of the most important/relevant aspects of the work (the ones that will/won't appeal successfully to that target audience) and you're not equipped to judge it in the context of its genre.
That's why it matters.
I always pictured book Grandmother as Izma...
aurielMoon that is... strangely accurate
Hahahahaha that's very true
Except Izma is still nicer.
Hahaha as soon as I heard his description of her I came here to say "Book grandmother looks like Yzma??" But you were three years ahead of me 😂
Scary beyond all reason?
I loved these books as a kid. I was unusually tall, from a single parent family, flat-cheated, frizzy haired, generally unnoticed and had only one friend. So I was so invested in all this stuff 😭 I even had an evil grandma who preferred to speak French. I thought these books were written for me. I don't think I'll try re-reading now though 😂
I think one reasons why Mia acts the way she does and puts her self down lot is because of the impact of her childhood because when she was little her dad wold have different model girlfriends. One we things that are not good it has it lowers our self-esteem if my dad was a Prince that had supermoe girlfriends andI would have low lowself soesteem as well
I loved the books as a preteen girl and was very disappointed by the movies, especially the second one. Something I must say is that although I understand that you did not have the strengh to read all of the books, they really do get better and more serious, and the story is just generally much better when you view it as a whole. Mia's personality definitely improves as the series go on. She finds herself, the author allows her to be a bad person and make mistakes, so her character doesn't stay a Mary Sue all along. The bad cheerleader girl turns out to be not so bad after all, she grows as a person to the point that she and Mia actually become friends in the last few books. The issues with Lilly and her controlling nature are dealt with in a realistic way, the age gap with Michael and all the problems that come with it make major plotlines. And finally, yeah, that's right, Mia actually makes important decisions that affect the future of her country and family.
Also, something that you didn't mention but bothered the hell out of me is how they left out the fact that Mia and Michael were both huuuge nerds and how they bonded over that. Obviously, Michael didn't get to have much of a personality in the movie due to the limited screentime, but for the love of God, why did they change that little personality and information about his interests that we got completely for no reason? Let Michael be a nerdy boy who's really into science and sci-fi franchises goddamit. And then they made him disappear from the plot entirely in the second movie even though he and Mia supposedly just started dating at the end of the first one. He deserved better is all I'm saying.
Like it was so disappointing seeing the movie, after reading the book I love the book please do better this book deserves justice.
this was a bit of a guilty pleasure for me as a kid lol
Same. I really liked Julie Andrews as the Queen.
Gola245 She played catwoman in the last nolan Batman movie.
Yes she did, and honestly I don't think it was deserved. She can sing very well, I'll give her that.
It's a nice flick, whoever cast the movie did a great job of getting actors with chemistry who gave the roles personality. It might be a bit of a generic feel good movie but I like it too. I read the books cause I liked the movie and the movie is definitely better. The books are kind of obnoxious (the characters are more exaggerated and annoying in the book)
Same - it was one of the first books I read in English, rather than the translation (I felt so smart... :') )
I remember reading the books after I saw the movie. Mia's obsession with Lifetime t.v. movies was hysterical, as well as her rants about why Anne of Green Gables and Our Town are awful. It was also funny to read Mia's constant bitching about being flat, when Movie Mia was very much not.
I personally always loved how in later books she talked about the movies and how much they got wrong about her life.
Yessss and she may have influenced how much I dislike Anne with an E. Ahahahahabab
0:29 Hey now, Holes was one of the most accurate adaptations I've seen. Author writing the screenplay and everything. It was Disney.
Huh, I was gonna ask about that, as I'd really enjoyed the movie and wondered how the book compared.
That's a good point. And Narnia wasn't exactly changed as much as, say, The Little Mermaid either.
Holes and Narnia were both prodiced by Walden Media.
Dustin Compton -- It's been a while since I read the book, but if I remember correctly, the only major difference is that the protag is heftier at the start. There's also a couple things that may not have been directly stated in the movie but are implied.
That apparently has a legal reason why they made the change. Shia was more than willing to gain weight and lose weight, but child labor laws prevented him from doing so as he was under 18 when they made the movie.
Ooh, now I gotta watch it. Never watched the movie, but I loved the book when I was in elementary school.
Fun fact: Mia did see a therapist in one of the books. Why, you may ask? Because her boyfriend broke up with her, which (obviously 🙄) made her fall into such a deep depression that she didn’t leave her bed for a week. The therapist is also a cowboy.
Would you ever do Stardust by Neil Gaiman?
Arthur Yates-Butler I scrolled down looking for someone who asked this. i totally agree, love the book, don't hate the movie but couldn't have been much different!
Yes please do Stardust!
2:46 Well I now know the image that will be in my nightmares for a while.
Speaking of Diary books, perhaps a weird request but...could you maybe do a Lost in Adaptation on Diary of A Wimpy Kid?
Yes that would be a great one to do.
Oh god yes!! That was my childhood!
YAAAAS
Dew it!
Him calling the M&Ms on the keyboard Smarties was the best part of this vid
I don't even care about The Princess Diaries, yet I love everything about this video.
Especially that opening :'D
Oh man that opening... I've been raging about the Artemis Fowl adaptation since I saw the trailer and this... this really helped me.
I know this is an old video but, I thought it worth mentioning in case you were unaware ('cause you might find it interesting) that most likely the main reason the character of Joe was created for the movie (as opposed to the less-memorable book version, Lars) has to do with the actor playing him. The director of "The Princess Diaries", Garry Marshall, made a tradition of casting his friend, Hector Elizondo, in every single one of his movies. Literally, any movie he directed he made sure had a part for Elizondo in it. So, for "The Princess Diaries", I can guess that the character of Lars was beefed up to become Joe in order to give Hector Elizondo a more significant role to play in the film.
Cool! Hector Elizondo is an excellent actor.
I read the princess diaries as a pre-teen and I loved it soooo much.
Reading it now, I still love it. It's hilarious to me.
Read this as a teenaged girl...absolutely LOATHED it.
Loved the movie.
Holy shit is there a single movie I've watched that isn't an adaptation ?
lol probably not
DafuqImmaDoing "Star Wars"?
DafuqImmaDoing "Alien"?
Well played sir. Well played.
Indiana Jones, E.T, Ghostbusters, Lilo & Stitch, Kung Fu Panda, Everything from Pixar
I was just a tad disappointed to see just how infuriated you were at the book here. I've always had a soft spot for the book series, probably cause I read it at a very young age, and was always infinitely amused by the portrayal it gave of teenagers and their self-absorbed natures. I don't know whether this means anything to you or not, but Mia does get better as a character through the many, many installments in the series, maturing and getting over herself little bits at a time, just enough to remain engaging while not being as frustratingly irritating as she is in the first one.
There's even a scene in the very latest book (released many years after the main series ended), where a much older Mia goes through her old diaries and is appalled at how much of a narcissistic asshole she was as a teenager, even commenting on how much unnecessary angst she had over her underdeveloped breasts.
I did actually read the book as a kid. When I saw the movie, I didn't know they were the same thing. Though I admire the movie just for being "nice", the books do expand upon the politics and why it matters. The second movie especially ignores this and it comes off as shallow.
haven't read the book myself but the pages and pages of self loathing sound accurate to the teenage girl mind, and if you cried out of despair just reading it, imagine feeling that for the whole of adolescence
I was a comfortable fan of the two ‘Princess Diaries’ movies as a kid. So when I came across outfit at the library, I thought it’d might be a nice read.
I didn’t even make it two full chapters in.
So, the book was rated 7+, and I was about 11 at the time. Within the first handful of pages, the book brought up the subjects of testicular cancer, stalkers with foot fetishes, and having to where two condoms when sleeping with the school hottie because of how many STDs he had probably accumulated.
At 11 years old, I was ready to deal with none of these topics. And 7 years later, I still uncomfortably blush when thinking about it.
If you ask me, that book *NEEDED* the Disney treatment to be deemed 7+
Cherry Bomb Studios I totally agree
Seriously! It was an older teen book and I'll never forgive my elementary school for carrying that book but not allowing us to read Bridge to Terrabithia because of language!
i found them in the school library when I was 8 and became obsessed despite obviously not understanding a lot of that stuff
I honesly thought the quality of your videos would decline after the Harry Potterathon, but you proved me wrong. You are one of the few RUclipsrs I know that puts their heart and soul into their videos!
the intro has me wheezing ; same can be said for Disney remakes of Disney originals
You need to do The Hunchback of Notre Dame compared to the disney version or Mary Poppins
Yes please to Mary Poppins
Yeah but... I read the book, it doesn't lend itself well to a film without a lot of changes. Its more episodic with no real overflowing narrative. And I can't get over Mary Poppin's being a bitch. I just can't, she wouldn't be endearing on film if she was like the book version. Well we got to start a new counter. The amount of times Julie Andrews softened a book role for the film version.
arent all the animals slightly scared of her in the books
79.03.13
Yeah they are.
if he does do Mary Poppins he needs to include how Saving Mr Banks is a H U G E L I E Travers was so much more meaner and bitchyer
I feel like with the Princess Diaries you have to be a 14 year old or younger to really empathize with the books. I first read the books was I was 11 and thought “oh wow she has such big girl problems to deal with.” I reread it at 14 and was like “I totally get you Mia, everything you’re complaining about is 100% legit” and then I reread them at 25 and was like “aww that’s cute, she’s so weird and neurotic.” That being said, I still purchased and devoured the latest one (published in 2015).
The book series remains very near and dear to my heart. It got me through my awkward formative years and introduced me to one of my favorite writers. But I readily accept that it is far from perfect.
I read these books a really long time ago, but I always liked the movie just a little bit better. One thing I thought you'd find amusing is that the later books incorporate the films in an amusing meta way. Mia talks about how someone released a totally inaccurate film about her life and comments on the weird changes.
Also if you think the grandmother is a psycho in the first book she gets worse. At one point she tells Mia and her friends that Jane Eyre is the only acceptable romantic role model and that they should all hold their men at arms length if they want to be in control of their relationships. This is also accompanied by the suggestion that compromise is weakness.
Lainey R. I hoped someone would mention the meta thing
So what you're saying is that the grandmother looks like the main villain from Emperor's New Groove.
Hearing you list out all those book details is giving me waves of nostalgia
Sandra Oh’s portrayal of the suck up headmistress is great though😂😂😂😂😂
i used to be really super shy. my journal basically was the only thing I communicated with. so I would write everything that happened to me as it happened. The princess diaries is painfully accurate considering Mia is who she is. I go back and read my old journals and it's a world of cringe. I think other avid journal keepers can vouch for that. memory is a fantastic editor. diaries are the film before it hits the edit room. and most teens are concerned with everything in regards to their social life, because social structure is actually a real danger when you're trapped with the same people for years and see them every day. I thank God that I'm an adult now, and that my life isn't so bad that I need my journal as much. now I keep one but just do breifing summaries of the week.
One of the few occasions where I liked the film more than the book
If I do the experiment, do I have to throw the book? Am I not allowed to use external help, like a sling or a catapult?
You can use a rocket ship it wont make a difference...
I don't think even Terence can think of a spell to make that thing fly closer to the movie.
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-(continues for eternity)
Well Holes is an exception to that probably the only accurate Disney adaptation
Kyle Campbell huh, I'm sure the Dom will find something. I would love to see him discuss that one
She actually does see a therapist later in the series!
I loved this book series as a teenager myself but yeah I became aware as I was reading it that Mia was a whiny little twit at times. Mind you I personally thought this gave her more personality in the book than the other way around where she's just generically mostly nice if a little socially awkward. Her vegetarianism and animal activism thing did at least give her quirks along with her obsession with Jungian Psychology via Lilly's parents. I personally found her blander in the movie.
I was obsessed with the books when I was a teen. I cut my hair short, wore combat boots, and even started writing a diary to be like Mia. I related to her a lot and they inspired me to write my own stories. Shoot nearly two decades later and Mia's influence is still seen in my life. I wish they would make a series that follows them more closely because they're (as a whole) better than the movies. And not just because I'm a die hard Mia X Michael shipper. The character arcs are great. Not to mention the fact that they're more diverse. But yeah even I, Mia's number one defender, has said "Mia shut up" a few times. That's kind of the point, though. They weren't written to be profound change the world kind of books, they're just fun coming of age rom-coms.
That all being said I will always hate disney for taking a top tier robot building chatterbox nerd and making him into mr awkward m&ms.
i used to be obsessed with the princess diaries. its so comforting and means a lot to me if u kind of view it as a satire and laugh at her while understanding her issues. the later books are much better up until the sixth one. i used to have the first page of the second one memorised lol
I was going to say that they probably moved the setting to SanFran because of a certain tragedy that happened that year, but the movie was released in the summer prior so idk
ah! i,m so glad to hear the classic lost in adaptation theme again!
PLEASE tell me someone asked him to do the Hunchback of Notre Dame! I don't have any money to give him, but if I would that is definitely my dream review XDD And I don't care which one of the HUNDREDS of movies he uses. I mean, I would like the comparison to the Disney one, but they're so entirely different that I don't really know how he'd do it. And none of the other movies are perfectly accurate. The closest I've found is the 1986 animated film, but the animation is depressing, and the ending is still a happy one, not TOO dissimilar to Disney's version.
Rory Turing I've watched three versions of Hunchback of Notre dame and none of them where 100% faithful to the story especially the ending.
That book had me like this :-o for days. I couldn't believe how much Disney had changed it!
Problem is? The original book was over 1000 pages long, and the hunchback doesn't even get mentioned until halfway through the book. I would hate for Dom to have to suffer through that to make a video.
To be honest Lindsay Ellis kinda covered why the adaptations aren’t like the book and why it’s not really a major point to the book either
This once was my favorite book... I about died laughing when I saw you act out the scene of Mia writing in front of Lily. 😂
The entrance to the video was so clever and funny 🤣 I gave a thumbs up immediately
Smarties??! SMARTIES??!!! Those are M&M's, son.
I feel like way too many writers reduce teenage girls into Cares Too Much About Boys and Is Insecure About Body. Look, I get it, puberty sucks and you're surrounded by other teenagers also experiencing it. At the same time, we do care about other things? We have hobbies??? I had 6 diaries growing up (ages 12 to 15) and I think I mentioned boys 3 times in all of them and I never talked about my body at all. Maybe this is just a matter of cultural difference though
I haven't read the book, but I believe that Genovia is a principality in the book and located between France and Italy, akin to Monaco, while Genovia in the film is a kingdom between Spain and France, akin to Andorra.
I cannot believe I just found your channel. Love your work. Please never stop making videos
I read the books in middle school, trust me she doesn't get better. Movie is better
Well yeah. I have yet to find something Julie Andrews couldn't improve. Seriously you gotta read her autobiography. Really interesting.
Amanda Johnson Did anything from the movie come from later books?
I read another of Abbot's books that became a Disney Channel movie (Avalon High) and honestly I preferred the movie even though they Changed so much of the plot.
You, sir, have just earned yourself a subscriber. Congrats on gaining my royal audience.
>Says he's not the target audience multiple times
>Proceeds to rip the film apart like a passionate fan of the book because Disney movie
It’s been awhile since I read this book and a few of the sequels. First of all, I absolutely loved Lars for being threatening in a funny way. Second, as an angry teenage Jew who’s mom is a therapist, I hated Lily. Third, Mia helped me realize that being internally unhappy didn’t make me a terrible person.
In the later books, the author pokes fun at the movie by referring to the inaccurate “documentary” based on Mia’s life. And she does get more involved in Genovian politics as she gets older
Im so glad all the Harry Potter is done! I was really looking forward to some fresh content. Thanks for these amazing videos.
3 years late, but actually they age Mia up rather than aging Michael down. He was a senior while she is a freshman. In this case they have him a senior while she is a junior, being 16 rather than 14.
Not a huge difference, but I do think that aging her up made a difference in the story telling, and made the relationship more appropriate
As a tween, I loved those books. I hold very fond memories of them. And that is why I will never read them again!
I loved the science lesson at the beginning
Me too, it’s hilarious 🤣🤣
I know that the movie has issues and I always loathe the “girl ditches glasses and is gorgeous” trope BUT this movie is too charming and too nostalgic for me to hate on. Also Julie Andrews.
She only does the superfluos things of being a princess and the political problems are not mentioned not even once?
Well, props to the book and movie for realism.
I suggest you watch the second movie regarding that...
Trust me, don't subject yourself to the 2nd movie!
The second movie barely scratches the surface of royal politics, but in general it's of course the fantasy of being a Princess that's the focus.
I can think of one Disney adaptation that that experiment doesn't apply to:
Holes.
I'd love to see you do a Lost in Adaptation for Pride and Prejudice, IIRC there's a tv series from 1995 and a movie that came out in 2005.
My 9yo girl loved the movies and got the audiobooks from the library. THEY ARE NOT NOT NOT FOR KIDS THAT YOUNG! She had been listening to them for a couple of days before I thought I would bond with her by listening to them together. Lordy! Every third sentence is about body shaming herself or others or about sex. Nothing graphic, but also not appropriate for a nine year old.
Honestly, any time hollywood adapts Meg Cabot they get it wrong to an embarrassing degree as well as spoil future book threads.
This one got a thumbs up just from the intro. Good one, Dom
I only know this from the wikis because I never made it that far in the series, but later Mia actually finds one of her ancestors had made Genovia a democracy but died before it could be implemented, and is faced with telling the truth and having her father lose the throne or knowing they shouldn't have it and are lying to a whole country. (Also apparently the author had complaints about the immaturity of her writing style so it is tackled later with Mia's english teacher telling her so, and the style improves, or so I read.)
This was really enjoyable! I haven't read or seen this one, but I love the format of these videos! It's also great to see things roll along after the Harry Potter-athon.
Only now I realize that the science experiment the Dom made in the beginning was proven by Artemis Fowl
When I read this, I was the target audience, and I remember liking it. I will say that I felt like Mia's personality developed more through the books, but I could understand why someone might like the movie more. She takes on the role of being a princess more in the books than the movie once she gets over herself, but that does take a few books.
Me: *Sees intro and thinks about #DisneyAdaptPercyJackson * Oh no disney don't mess this up again.
Every time I need a quick giggle I just think, "Nerpy McDorkface," and I giggle uncontrollably
actually... private California school? totally has a ton of money.
The movie is also a love letter to Pretty Woman! Explains some of the casting choices/small things like the ‘palate cleanser’ moment
I mean the book doesn't age well since it was made in the late 90s early 2000s, but I find the books entirely funny since it's meant for the young adult audience about girls coming of age story and puberty. there's a lot of mature stuff in the books but in an adult funny way since sometimes we find ourselves identifying it at times (at least for me.)
I do love the film since it had its charming moments that were kind of better than the books, but the change was obviously for kids and family over young adults and teenagers and that's the only downside to that.
Great video. It's also cool that even though this is a requested video and something you clearly had trouble fully being involved with the material you still did a full on video - A lesser tuber would have just phoned it in
To people saying Mia did have a choice in the books: yes and no. I mean if you look at a real life royal family, let's say the royal family of England, you have one of the kids like Harry. Harry as a child didn't have a choice. When he reached adulthood, he was allowed to officially give up his titles and renounce everything, but he didn't have that choice until adulthood. Meaning Mia, until she's 18, also doesn't have that choice, and most of the books take place before her adulthood. And even then, by the time you're an adult, the public knows you, even if you renounce everything once you become an adult, in the eyes of the public, you will always be that royal figure, and now added on with judgement from some for renouncing your title. I mean Harry's wikipedia page still lists him as Prince Harry, despite the fact that he gave up this title, and in official protocol is now supposed to be referred to as Harry, Duke of Sussex. In a sense, yeah, Mia doesn't have a choice, even when she reaches adulthood because even if she renounces her title, she can never go back to being a normal person with a non-existent public perception and a normal life.
Honestly, from a more critical perspective than "This is just what they changed," I think it's really great that this movie took the framework of the book and actually made some really interesting characters out of characitures and gave these characters positive relationships and gave everyone much more /agency/.
I like the new "what they added" section. Your Hunger Games and Harry Potter reviews needed that.
Nitro Indigo mocking jay part 2 had it
No it didn't...
Nitro Indigo whatch it again because it did one of the mocking Jay's had it at least
the opening to this was beautifully accurate.
Being that i was five when the first movie came out, i obviously saw it before reading the books. I absolutely love that they were different. They are enjoyable in their own ways. but SPOILERS!!!!
I absolutely love that she ended up with Michael at the end of the book series.
ah this brings back memories. Just so your aware , yes, mia does get a personality in the later books. By the end of the series she like matures into her own adult person. (take it as a grain of salt cause I did finish the series as an older teenager)
I appreciate that the story goes against the "free spirit parent is cool" cliche. Mia's lucky she didn't turn into a drug addict to cope.
Fun fact, I started listening to the princess diaries on audiobook when I was a kid so it was back when audiobooks were still taped you listened to in the car, and at some point my mom switched it out for some other bubble gum teen book and I didn’t notice
Please do v for vendetta or perks of being a wallflower
Sarah Walter perks of being a wallflower would be awesome :)
i love how he said 'see a therapist ur too dependent on this diary' because as far as i can remember she does actually do that because several people call her out on it
I was obsessed with the book series when I was a teen even though I could hardly empathise with Mia. It was cool to see her "grow up" throughout the books. ALSO. FAT LOUIE!! NO BORIS??
"The whole way through!"
You woke my cat.