Books vs Movies
Movies that are better than the books: #1
Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t watched the movie, go watch it! If you haven’t read the book… you won’t miss much… Proceed!
Right off the bat, I’m going to say that this will not be my typical book review where I usually give a summary of the book with my thoughts and reactions to parts that I found interesting or integral to the story. As you might take a guess on the title above, I prefer the movie adaptation than the book itself, thus there will be a lot of comparisons between how the story was portrayed and interpreted in the film versus how it was originally written in the book.
The Princess Diaries (book) was published on May 30, 2000 by Meg Cabot and was turned into film, which was produced by Walt Disney Pictures, the following year. Through a quick google research, the book’s target audience are for young adults, which make sense as when I’m currently reading it now, in my late 20’s, I find the book too childish compared to the elegant adaptation of the movie.The book series, referencing from the author’s website, had already published its last volume, Volume X: Princess Forever, in January 6, 2009. So, I hope there’s a good chance we’ll be getting The Princess Diaries Part 3? (Finger’s cross)
I was 9 years old when I saw the movie The Princess Diaries in Disney Channel, starring Anne Hathaway who played Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldi (Reynaldo in the books, but Reynaldi sounds more French and suave to me) or Mia Thermopolis as the lead character, and Julia Andrews as Clarisse Marie Grimaldi Renaldi, Queen of Genovia (She’s only considered as a “princess dowager” in the books. Is there any difference? (Google was not helpful) in Disney Channel.
The first thing I noticed is the style of how Mia was depicted quite differently from the way she writes in her diary. In the movie, much like in the book, the tale was played out in the first-person perspective, meaning we see and experience what Mia writes in her diary. Though in the film, there’s a mature feeling to it, a deeper sense of awareness and more substance to the lead character, as maybe Disney is targeting not only young adults (I remembered my mom, age 50 around that time, liking it too and even now it's still one of my go to comfort movies. ). In the pages , hmm again maybe because I’m old, I find it too immature, but the tone does fit the image of a 14 year than the older version Mia in the movie.
You know the pattern where majority of Disney Princesses’ have only one or no parent at all to make the audience/readers more sympathetic towards the Princess? If you didn’t know, now you know. 😊 That was not actually the case with book Mia. Mia’s princely father, Artur Christoff Phillipe Gerard Grimaldi Renaldi, heir to the throne, is well alive, bald, and Testicular cancer free. I think it was a good idea to kill of (sorry for the blunt words) Mia’s father to add more emotion and mystery to the story. I find book Philippe to be arrogant, flighty (he has many girlfriends) and privileged. He is a strong contrast to the silent loving presence in the movie Philippe. And I actually don’t like the idea that book Philippe was the who spilled the beans to Mia in a very calloused way.
“Shut up! “
To the astonished Queen Clarisse was iconic, comical and one of the most unforgettable lines throughout the movie. What disappointed me more was that the revelation took place in an impersonal high-end hotel, Palm Court and not the private, semi-palace like mansion with the different language “Get off the grass!” yelled at you in a full volume speaker in the film.
Book Mia’s reaction to the big secret feels a bit too selfish, vain, petty, and dragged out. I get that she has insecurities, as most teens do. But the simple
“I’m still waiting for normal body parts to arrive"
In the movie will have sufficed and brought out the clumsy but charming sauciness out of Mia’s character.
I also prefer of how Disney has chosen Queen Clarisse to handle Mia’s rejection of accepting the fact that she was a princess as well as how she helped Mia prepare herself to the new role. Who could forget the funny princess lessons on how to wave properly, the funny faces behind the fan, the correct way of sitting to falling down to the ground (tuck one ankle behind the other), the changing from sock to pantyhose in the car, the Hermès scarf restrainer and knock-the-wind out of your dance partner dance move?
In the book, it was written in a most boring way and it annoys me of how Philippe and Helen Thermopolis, Mia’s mother, kept on bugging Mia to talk even it’s obvious she wanted time for herself to swallow the truth. Speaking of Helen, I’ll be biased again and would rather prefer movie Helen. She’s more human and compassionate towards Mia’s princesshood journey. As for book Philippe, he tells Mia to treat everything as a “ job” and offered her a sum of money ($100 a day) which will be donated to Greenpeace as a compromise so that Mia will agree in becoming a princess, proving my view of him as a less lovable character.
I still remember the sweet moments Mia spent with her prim Grandmother (Grandmère in the books) around San Francisco. Didn’t we laugh hard when Queen Clarisse arm wrestled in an arcade? Felt a bit skeptical that she wouldn’t throw up when Mia introduced corn dog to her for the first time? And finally, weren’t we impressed by how quick witted the queen is in weaseling out of trouble when they got into a car accident? Ahh, good times. While in the book, the queen was not described as someone classy, smart and even approachable. Book gradma is difficult and…a diva queen. Imagine her with tattooed eyelids, a heavy smoker (Mia jokingly speculated it was due to smoke suffocation that her Grandpa died), called Mia poulet (means hooker) and have a lot of prejudices. One example is when Mia recalled a dinner party where one woman wasn’t served Foie Gras because she had a baby out of wedlock. Mia thought it as hypocritical as she had a granddaughter who was born out of wedlock (Yes, in the book Mia’s parents never married).
Some of the characters that I also liked more in the movies are Lilly Moscovitz, Michael Moscovitz, Paolo (the stylist) and Joe (Lars in the book).
Book Lilly Moscovitz took a long time to make up with Mia after the latter wasn’t able to come and give support to her TV show, Lilly Tells It Like It Is. So, their friendship wasn’t much as endearing compared to the film. I mean, if you can’t say true friendship with a secret handshake with spitting involved, I don’t know what would.
Book Michael Moscovitz was no better. He was there, but wasn’t? I don’t know how to describe his presence in Mia’s life in the book. He tutored Mia with Algebra as she was flunking it, he is the Computer Club treasurer, a secret guitar genius- but I think he still lacked substance. Movie Michael, who is a pianist, vocalist, mechanic, and had an addiction to M&M’s (Who could forget the M&M’s topped pizza? ) which built his character really well. He was a constant, loyal and supportive knight who always have a knack of showing up when Mia needed help the most.
You might ask why I have chosen to write Paolo here when he only played a very minor role. For me, in the movie at least, he was the catalyst to Mia’s new chapter in life as royalty. He was like her fairy godmother with an outlandish personality.
“You have thick hair, like a wolf”
Still cracks me up when I see the memes. Book Paolo was kept to a very minimal description and Mia’s epic transformation was...not epic at all, borderline uneventful.
Finally, Joe or book Lars, described as a typical gun-toting, macho bodyguard with no essence at all. I think Joe, although also considered as a minor role, played an important part in the whole movie. He was the father figure in Mia’s life, an avid shoulder to lean on for Queen Clarisse (secret lover and future husband), and an all-around dependable guy. He was the patient dance partner of Mia (I wonder how many times he was either stepped on or got wind knock out of him?) and he was one of the few true believers of Mia and he persistently looked for her that rainy Genovian Independence Day Ball.
Just a side note, I want to mention a character I like in the book that wasn’t in the movie. Her name is Tina Hakim Bata. She was deemed to be weird as she has a bodyguard hanging around her all the time in school and when Mia and Lilly wasn’t talking to each other, it was she who Mia shared a table with during lunch times. They became friends and when Mia was forced to have Lars to guard her in school, their friendship even grew stronger as they both feel the disadvantages of being born with a silver spoon in your mouth. It was actually on Tina’s behalf that Mia shoved an ice cream cone to Lana Weinbergel’s cheerleader’s outfit not Jeremy’s. It was because of her, Mia was able to open the door of self-actualization.
Speaking of Lana and Josh Ritcher (Josh Bryant in the movie) I also like the movie counter parts too, although they were shown as a stereotypical ditsy cheerleader-jock.
To end this post, I just want to share what really let me down most that book Mia had already been to Genovia several times during the holidays. It took the grand surprise moment. And… not once did she ever go to any balls! She never danced and had a fairy tale moment with Michael (they did dance in a lousy school dance but was not at par in the movies) and most importantly Mia didn't have that difficult decision in accepting/renouncing the throne. I’m not sure if this will happen in the rest of the Princess Diaries series but I’m sure I won’t be reading the next nine books.
Have you read the book or watched the movies? Which did you prefer?
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