Princess Caraboo

Any film that brings Phoebe Cates 'out of retirement' is already great in my book. This woman is beautiful and talented and I wish she was in every film instead of Jennifer Anniston. Anyway, this is a delightful little fable that also features Jim Broadbent and Kevin Kline, both great comedians, supporting Phoebe Cates. Supposedly based on a true story, this little unseen gem is perfect for the whole family. Well done!

This film is a good story, and you do think more of it once it's ended than you might while watching it. One of the main points is that it is hard to be who you want to be. But it's also hard NOT to be who others think you are. Other than that, it's hard to talk about the actual story without influencing others viewing of it. I saw the film with no knowledge of it other than what was on the back of the video box. That's a good way to go into it. Mr. Gutch (Stephen Rea), the newspaper reporter, isn't who he wants to be. Mrs. Worral, the rich aristocrat who takes the Princess under her wing, isn't who she wants to be. The servants aren't allowed to be anything other than who they are supposed to be. Throughout the film, you see how the Princess inspires others- with jealousy, lust, greed, and also with admiration and love. Good story.

This story is set several hundred years ago. A mysterious girl who apparently speaks no English is found begging in the streets. The magistrate wants to put her in jail, but the wife of one of the prominent men of the city wants to take her home to stay with her. Several people are consulted to determine what language the girl speaks, including one language expert played by John Lithgow who is very funny (especially when he tries to speak various languages). The girl doesn't look Asian or Middle Eastern, but if she's faking it (as some suspect) she's doing a good job. She has a tattoo and strange religious customs that provide clues, though the language in which she writes is not known to anyone. It is decided that she is speaking a dialect from Asia.

When she does understand what is going on, she comes across as quite charming. Eventually, it is determined that she must be a princess, and her name seems to be Caraboo.

Phoebe Cates gave a performance worthy of an Oscar nomination. Whether her character did as well I won't say. You'll just have to watch.

I was worried when the movie wasn't funny at first, but the humor came in large doses after a while, and not the usual type of movie humor. This was quite a sophisticated film considering it often tried to be silly, and the costumes and the settings were very nice. The music was magnificent, whether highbrow classical or period music that sounded more like what ordinary people would enjoy.

Everything about this movie was well done, and while it's not normally the type of movie I would watch, I enjoyed it.

Phoebe Cates was very cute in the lead role of "Mary Baker/Princess Cariboo." The story was a nice one, too, with no complaints about inappropriate language or behavior.

Kevin Kline supplies many of the laughs, at least with me. I preferred him over John Lithgow or Jim Broadbent.

This is supposedly based on a true story but I am going to assume they took a lot of liberties with it. Nonetheless, it's a story and a decent for "the whole family," as the cliché goes. However, I think this is mostly appealing to females. I found it pleasant, but more of a "chick flick" than a guy's film. Thus, I doubt I would watch it again, especially knowing the surprise ending.

I definitely recommend this comedy-drama-romance for people who haven't seen it, and for most people who are not adult males.

"Princess Caraboo" is a wonderful, almost perfect film in the old-fashioned mode. It should have made Phoebe Cates a major star--but unfortunately (and mysteriously) she is still best known as the girl Judge Reinhold thinks about in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High".

The movie is based on the true story of a mysterious girl who convinced a bunch of 19th century upper British Class men she was an Oriental princess. I'll leave the question as to whether she actually is or not up for you to find out. The performances, writing and direction are uniformly first rate, even magical in that old movie way. Unfortunately, the filmmakers tacked on a completely unearned and unwarrented "romantic" ending that mars the film. Not only does the romantic pairing of two main characters stretch believability, it is also SO OBVIOUSLY tacked on after the fact that it disrupts the flow of the film, almost ruining what had come before. I can't tell you what the ending is without ruining what pleasure the film will bring you when you see it, but I can say that it doesn't even make sense.