What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this made-for-TV movie, while charming, is likely to feed the obsession of any little girls who are already fascinated by the marketing juggernaut that is the "Disney princesses" (ABC Family is a Disney subsidiary). Overall, the content is tame and appropriate for young grade-schoolers and up, but there are some monsters, so very young or those who have trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality might be frightened. But even the scariest creature, a three-headed reptile, isn't any more alarming than a dinosaur. It's worth noting that in order to show how crass one supporting character is, he makes a couple of brief comments that play on "gay" stereotypes.

Families can talk about the movie's argument that, at one time or another, every girl wants to be a princess. Kids: Is that true? What it is about being a princess that would be cool? Also, in this case, being a princess means helping those in need. Does that change your image of a princess? How? Families can also discuss how special effects are done, including computer animation. Which images are live-action, and which are a combination of live-action and animation? How can you tell?

Common Sense Media Review
William (Kip Pardue) is a lost soul, a trust fund kid with no direction in life. Then he meets mysterious, beautiful Princess Ithaca (Nora Zehetner) at her annual charity ball. When he accidently says exactly the right thing, Ithaca thinks he's the Searcher that she's been waiting for to help her with an important task. William, thinking she's just a little crazy, goes along with it. It turns out that Ithaca, a healer for mythical creatures, needs this Searcher to find the next healer (another orphan princess) within a few days so that she can pass her powers on.

There's something so charming and mostly innocent about this tale of searching for yourself and finding true love that the script's slight clunkiness and the somewhat shallow characterizations don't seem to matter. PRINCESS is a cotton-candy kind of movie, sweet and ephemeral in the best way. Though Zehetner's Ithaca is a little bit one-note, Pardue does a fabulous job as the lost soul. And, fortunately, this is William's story. So check your logic at the door and just be swept away by the fun of it all.

Other fun fairy-tale romances include Ella Enchanted, Enchanted, and The Princess Diaries.