fajrdrako | The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement...

I went to this movie because my friends wanted to go and it was such fun to see them having such fun.

And yes, I more or less enjoyed it, though not as much as I wanted to. One of my friends said she liked it because it was romantic, but it isn't my kind of romantic, so it didn't really work for me - even though I'm the biggest mushball romantic I have ever met. My fantasies, even at the most basic level, have never been of being a princess with beautiful clothes and a hairdresser. My fantasies were always of being an explorer or a wild Indian or a pirate or a sailor or a master of the sword.

I couldn't suspend my disbelief, try as I might. I laughed at some of the jokes but wondered why, when they appeared to be satirizing pseudo-European customs (no attempt was made to make any of it real or even vaguely realistic), all the jokes were American. Then I told myself to stop analyzing, the reasons were obvious and it wasn't the kind of movie you analyze, couldn't I just stop thinking?

Apparently not.

I wondered what Genovia reminded me of and then I realized. Disneyland.

The best thing: about it was the unexpected brief appearance of Stan Lee. Stan Lee! Who'd have guessed?

Every time John Rhys-Davies opened his mouth I thought of Gimli son of Gloin.

As in the first movie, I loved Hector Elizondo.

But I couldn't relate to Mia in the least. If I'd have been her, I'd have just declared Genovia a republic and have gone back to school.