1. Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway return as Queen Clarisse and Princess Mia.
Often in a sequel, the original cast does not return. But thankfully, we get to see the queen and the princess we came to know and love in the first movie reign supreme again.
2. Chris Pine and Callum Blue.
Mia is engaged to Andrew Jacoby (Callum Blue; pictured left above) for a considerable portion of the movie. When he realizes that he and Mia may not love each other, he tells her that he will still marry her because he knows that she will make a great queen and he wants to give her the chance to rule. However, the silver lining comes when it is heavily implied that Mia winds up with Lord Nicholas Devereaux (Chris Pine; pictured right above) after she amicably ends her engagement to Andrew at the altar.
3. Even in his first film, Chris Pine won our hearts.
Long before he became Captain James Tiberius Kirk in the Star Trek reboot, Chris Pine won our hearts as Lord Nicholas Devereaux, the potential King of Genovia. In the end, he confesses his love to Princess Mia and had every girl wishing for their very own Lord Nicholas.
4. The potential fiancée slideshow.
When Princess Mia had to choose a husband, she gets to go through a slideshow of potential suitors. Between the ineligible to the downright hilarious, the slideshow had everyone picking favorites.
5. A princess never chases a chicken.
I think the picture does this point enough justice.
6. Mattress surfing.
The ramp, the mattresses, the music. This scene had so many little girls wanting to grab mattresses and go surfing. It was made even more awesome when Julie Andrews had a line that was a reference to her time as our favorite magical nanny, Mary Poppins ("Oh no, but I have done a lot of flying in my time").
7. Raven and Julie Andrews singing together.
The song that Asana (Raven) and Queen Clarisse sing at the bachelorette party is one of the highlights of the movies. You take one of the greatest actresses of all time and pair her with an amazingly talented young singer and you get one of the most beautiful duets. Plus, we never knew we needed Julie Andrews singing to a pop/hip-hop mix until it happened.
8. Mia's maids, Brigitte and Brigitta.
Brigitte and Brigitta are adorable rays of sunshine throughout the movie. They are always around (whether Mia wants them to be or not). They make the perfect pair. But they also know when to give Mia exactly what she needs, like alone time with Nicholas or a cover when she is trying to sneak out of the palace.
9. Queen Clarisse and Joe.
In the first movie, you could not miss the relationship between the Queen and her head of security. Everyone shipped them. Then, in the second movie, there appeared to be trouble as the Queen was preparing for Mia's wedding and coronation. But everything is OK in Genovia. The Queen and Joe take the opportunity of Mia calling off her wedding to get married themselves.
10. Nicholas professing his love to Mia.
The day of her coronation, Princess Mia is sitting in the throne room contemplating her future as queen. As she is questioning herself, Nicholas comes in and requests an audience. It is then that he professes his love for the queen-to-be and inquires as to if the future queen loves him too. Mia and Nicholas then share a kiss and it leaves everyone with the belief that the two are basically together.
11. The coronation.
The coronation was the culmination of all of the action in the movie. It is the moment that we had been waiting for. The scene is so packed with emotional moments that it is hard to keep a dry eye. First, when Mia begins her walk down the stairs, the security team says "The sparrow is taking off," to which Queen Clarisse's assistant says "The eagle is flying for the last time." The tears start there and continue as we see Nicholas standing proudly looking at his future wife becoming a Queen. Joe and Clarisse are the adorable newlyweds off on the side. And the Genovian national anthem, which we all knew by heart and sang proudly, plays.
I will forever love this movie. It is everything that I could have asked for in a sequel and more. But more importantly, the movie ultimately shows that if you stay true to yourself and keep your faith and hope, then you can accomplish so much more than you ever dreamed would be humanly possible.
