The Princess Diaries

I have read this series probably about five times, because I love these books so much! I think one of my weaknesses in life is probably a Meg Cabot book.  I love her!! She is amazing!! I have probably mentioned that before, but I just never get tired of her books! I love her characters because they always have this great sense of humor.  The Princess Diaries  is definitely not an exception to this.  The series consists of probably about 15 books (including the mini novels in between), and has is the amazing story of Mia Thermopolis, a freshman in high school, learning she is the princess of a small nation called Genovia.

Now I know, almost every girl/woman has seen the Disney movie, based on the series.  Well, let me just tell you Disney RUINED it!!! BIG TIME!! I mean don't get me wrong, I love the movies, especially Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews, but I just wish they could have named it something else, and not made it based on the books.  The movies has sooo many differences, that it's so sad how badly they ruined them.  I thought it was funny that Meg Cabot's character, Mia, actually makes fun of the movies in a couple of the books, of course she doesn't mention that they were the Disney movies.

Instead of telling you what the books are about, because I will most likely be rereading the series again in the next couple of weeks and writing a few little things about them :); I have decided to compare the book to the movie, and show you all the differences.  Unfortunately, the second movie is pretty difficult to compare to the books, because NONE of those things even HAPPEN in the books!!!

How The Princess Diaries Series compare to the two Disney Movies:

1. The books take place in New York City, and the first movie in San Francisco
2. Fat Louis, Mia's cat, is not black and white (like in the movie), but orange.
3. Mr. O'Connell is Mia's Debate teacher in the movie, who gets together with Mia's mom, well in the books her mom and him do get together, but his name is Mr. Gianini and he is Mia's Algebra teacher!
4. Mia's best friend, Lily, does have a small TV show, but it isn't called "Shut Up and Listen" it's called, "Lily, Tells It Like it Is".
5. In the movie Mia's school's name is Grove High School, but in the books it's Albert Einstein Academy
6. Her father is not dead, like in the movies, he is perfectly alive, and only had testicular cancer, where he had to have chemo, which made him sterile, which is the reason why Mia is the only sole heir to the throne of Genovia.
7. Even though I love Julie Andrews, her character was nothing like in the novels.  The grandmother (or Grandmere, as Mia calls her) is mean in the books! She scares Mia all the time.  She only drinks Sidecars, has her eyeliner tattooed on, and has a miniature poodle whose hair falls out from all the stress of being with the grandmother.
8. In the movies, they do not mention that Mia has been in love with Michael, Lily's brother, since she and Lily became friends in the 1st grade; but in the books she has.
9. Overall, the story with Michael and Mia is very different.  All I am going to say is that Michael and Mia do get together (in such a CUTE way!!), and they do break-up, however, you must read the books to find out what happens, because it way surprise you.
10. In the second movie, Mia moves to Genovia, so she can take over the throne on her 21st birthday, well, the books only take place from Mia's freshman year in high school to her senior year, so she definitely doesn't celebrate her 21st birthday in them.
11. And since that last one isn't true, then you can probably figure out that there was nothing about her having to find someone to marry so she can officially take over the throne.
12. They left out many many characters in the movies, except of course, the ones I have already mentioned, as well as, Lana (Mia's enemy), Josh (Lana's boyfriend), and her body guard, (except in the book his name is Lars, not Joe)

There are probably many more, but these are the ones that I remember right now, and that stuck out the most for me.

So, I know I may sound a little bit to upset about this subject, but let's just say spending many nights during my high school years reading this series, has left me very sad that Disney had Disneynize such a great series!  It bums me out, and I wish someone could re due the movies and make them more similar to the books.
 
So that was my rant of the day...haha just kidding I am usually not this passionate about a lot of things, but when it comes to books and movies, I can get into some serious discussions ;).

Well, I almost have English class, so I better get going.  Hopefully, I will be finished very soon with that second book I was reading, so I can tell you about it. It's taking me a little bit, because it isn't really my favorite type of book.  It's kind of sci-fi, which isn't really my genre.  Well, anyway, have a great day! And I will write again soon!

The Romance Bookie :)