The Princess Diaries: Book vs Movie

The film, The Princess Diaries was free on Netflix, and I watched it as a mindless movie when I was not feeling well. Of course, it was sappy and ridiculous and went how I thought it would. But then I realized that there was book.

So, I went looking for it, found it, and read it because I was very curious, and I knew it would make a great book vs movie post for our book vs movie series.

First off, I have to say that I liked the movie better. Is that alright to even say? I can’t remember the last time I said that a movie was better than the book.

The reason I liked the movie better is that it had less junk in it. It was cute story about this girl who learns she’s a princess and has to try to figure out how to live with it.

The book though has a lot of drama, and Mia, as it is written in diary form, discusses a lot of things like sex, life, feelings, and family drama, which I could do without.

The father is also alive in the book while in the movie he died. The grandmother is also sweeter in the movie while in the book she is rather cynical and mean.

In the book, you are reading it from Mia’s eyes, and in the movie, the viewers can see another side of grandma, which Mia doesn’t always see. I do like Mia’s body guard better in the book though.

There are also different events in the book, like the dance is different and such. Michael is also different. In the movie he is a lot nicer to Mia, and it is definitely more obvious in the movie that he likes her than in the books.

Mia is also older and a bit wiser in the movies than in the books. Her mother is as well.

I could go on and on about the differences, but I think that the movie is worth watching if you love princess romances movies and haven’t seen it. To me though, the book wasn’t that great, and you can probably skip reading it, unless you enjoy those kind of books.

My full review of The Princess Diaries book is here. 

I would love to hear your thoughts. Have you read the book or seen the movie? Which one is your favorite?