In this contemporary fairy-tale, nerdy, klutzy, frizzy-haired Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is about to celebrate her 16th birthday when her free-spirited, single artist mother (Caroline Goodall) casually mentions that her grandmother is coming to San Francisco to meet her for tea. That's odd because Mia's never met her late father nor his mother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews) of Genovia, a tiny, mythical principality between France and Spain. And when shy, wide-eyed Mia's told she'll inherit the throne, she's torn between curiosity and terror. Guided by Andrews and aide-de-camp (Hector Elizondo), Mia's lessons in prim, proper Princess behavior generate smiles and a few chuckles but her transformation from ugly duckling into swan comes as no surprise. Heather Matazarro scores as Mia's social-activist pal, but it's venerable Julie Andrews who commands attention, particularly in a sequence in which she cleverly "knights" a policeman and the conductor of the trolley-car into which Mia has accidentally crashed her Mustang. Despite Gina Wendkos's lame, predictable script, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Princess Diaries" is a refreshing if schmaltzy, silly 6 - and a sequel is already planned.