Jim On Film
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(c) Disney
The Princess Diaries (2001)--Mia Thermopolis is about as awkward as a teenager can get. She throws up when trying to give a speech, she looks funny in her retainer, and she doesn’t fit in at school. If that isn’t enough, her long-absent grandmother Clarice visits, only to tell her that she’s really a princess, and since her long-absent father has passed away, she’s the only one who can rule the country of Genovia.
Besides this clever plotline, director Garry Marshall seasons The Princess Diaries with hilarious characters and situations that hearken back to classic Disney comedies. There’s the next door neighbor who writes soaps, Mia’s adorable friend Lilly who is out to save the world one cause a day, an assistant principal who can’t stop fawning over the queen, and the list goes on.
Of course, it helps that newcomer Anne Hathaway is extremely talented and handles all the shades of her character to charming perfection. And then there’s Julie Andrews as Queen Clarice. Julie Andrews--enough said. Plus, there’s the hilarious Heather Matarazzo, the quirky Robert Schwartzmann, the charming Mandy Moore, Garry Marshall favorite Hector Elizondo, and the funny Caroline Goodall.
By definition, The Princess Diaries should have been a chick flick, but laughter is universal, and with clever direction, full of laughter it is. In fact, it had everybody laughing so much, nobody cared that it was rated G, and it was a smash hit.
(c) Disney
The Rookie (2002)--The Rookie carries on a tradition started by Walt himself--a compelling story with interesting characters that drags on for a little too long. Despite the length, this sort-of follow-up to the sports-themed success of Remember the Titans hits all the other notes perfectly. Dennis Quaid is perfect as high school teacher and baseball coach Jim Morrison who struggles to relate to his father and to get his baseball players to win. He promises the kids that if they start winning, he’ll try out for the major leagues to take advantage of his amazingly fast pitches. The team indeed kicks it into high gear, and Jim ends up trying out. Despite having kids at home to support and bills piling up, Jim leaves his teaching job to pursue his dreams, and it pays off when, at age thirty-eight, he finds himself pitching for a professional baseball team.
Sometimes people comment about a movie that, "Well, it was a feel-good movie," as if that is such a bad thing. The Rookie is indeed that, an inspirational feel-good movie set to teach that success has nothing to do with wishing upon a star but is earned through courage, hard work, and patience.
Yes, it is a sports movie; at least, that’s how Disney marketed it (connecting it to Remember the Titans), but in reality, it has very little to do with sports. We never get to really know the personalities on Jim’s high school team, and while we see that the Owls, as they are called, start winning, we are never caught in pulse-pounding, play-by-play action. The team is only as important as it relates to Jim’s promise to tryout. Once he makes it to the minor leagues, his life story remains center stage.
With an inspirational true life story of dreams coming true, The Rookie is proving to be the Disney division’s third new theatrical success this year (coincidentally, it is also its third new theatrical release this year). And a well-deserved (and G-rated) success at that.
With Disney finding success with its third G-rated live-action film of recent years (and that’s not including the animation-based Dalmatians films) and an apparently renewed commitment to releasing quality live-action films to theaters that proudly display the Disney brand, we can only guess what they have for us in the future. But with a promised sequel to The Santa Clause as well as a new adaptation of Tuck Everlasting and a prequel to The Black Stallion in the works, there’s hope that the Disney tradition will carry on with more success than ever.
What contemporary Disney films do you think are quintessential Disney? Discuss it on the LaughingPlace discussion board.
Shopping Links
- Cheetah: VHS • DVD
- Newsies: VHS • DVD
- Iron Will: VHS • DVD
- Angels in the Outfield: VHS • DVD
- Remember the Titans: VHS • Full Frame DVD • Widescreen DVD
- The Princess Diaries: VHS • Full Frame DVD • Widescreen DVD
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-- Jim Miles
Jim On Film is published every other Thursday.
The opinions expressed by our guest columnists, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future of Disneyland and the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted May 2, 2002
Copyright Jim Miles. Licensed to LaughingPlace.com.