Today is one special day as director Garry Marshall turns a ripe and active 68. Marshall is synonymous with TV shows like “The Odd Couple,” “Happy Days,” “Laverne and Shirley” and “Mork and Mindy” and the film “Pretty Woman.” He’s also the brother of director Penny Marshall (“A League of Their Own”).

In recent years, it has been difficult to find a movie to be entertained by without feeling guilty or forgetting about it in one way or another. He is one of the few directors from the revolutionary times of the 1970s that is still producing good solid entertainment. He was the man behind two perfect hits, 1999’s “Runaway Bride” and 2001’s “The Princess Diaries.”

“Why are they perfect?” you ask. In an average and conservative mindset, perfect entertainment has the ability to reach intellects of all ages without being condescending or flying over people’s heads, while still remaining pleasant and transcending the competition to be universally well-liked. The last part causes some problems for “Bride,” but that’s easily addressed.

That film was easily criticized for not being as good as “Pretty Woman,” and unjustly so. “Pretty” was about a hooker and a businessman in L.A. “Bride” was about a big-city journalist in a small-town falling for a small-town tool shop girl. Hooker vs. shop girl, there’s no way these could be similar movies.

Marshall took sharp scripts, a hand-picked slate of actors, and mixed them together in a magic that’s more engaging and properly sweet in “Bride.” Stars Richard Gere and Julia Roberts play off each other in a love-hate relationship so well, real-life romantics would dream of such to happen to them. There’s no joke, whether by content and/or execution, that would be considered distasteful to any audience, or unworthy of a solid chuckle.

That same quality exists in “Diaries,” particularly when a teenager tells a chauffeur that he looks like Shaft. You only need to know that such a named character exists in pop culture cinema, and it’s instantly funny to realize that Hector Elizondo, sporting black sunglasses and a suave black leather jacket and suit, does look like Shaft.

The film follows Mia Themopolis (Anne Hathaway) in her transformation from teenage outcast to Princess of Genovia. Her recently deceased father was Prince of Genovia, so she’s the rightful heir and now next in line for the country’s royal family. It addresses the experiences of love, growing up and opening one’s mind to new things, both from a young and old standpoint. Mia’s grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi (“Mary Poppins” herself, Julie Andrews), prepares her for a new life, and Mia reminds her of a simpler and more important part of life outside of royalty.

“Diaries” could have been in danger of being too “Disney” (it is, after all, a Disney movie) or too feminine. But the script is intelligent and insightful enough to maintain any adult’s attention span and be an enriching experience for youth without being boring or preachy. Hathaway, Andrews, and Elizondo (as the royal chauffeur) come together theatrically like The Three Tenors do musically; they do a great service to Marshall’s direction and charmed audiences to the tune of $108 million. No blood or busty beauties involved in this, nor “Bride.”

The magic apparent in both movies is something the older generations of moviegoers miss, and something the younger generations missed out growing up on. But thanks to Marshall, his “Bride” and his “Princess,” both groups can finally have something to stand and cheer for. Happy Birthday!