Dec 3

Dec 3 A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

A year after winning the heart of her handsome prince, it’s finally time for Amber’s royal wedding. But with Aldovia’s economy in tatters, her fiancé to blame, and the palace fixated on proper protocol, all is not well in the kingdom. Will Amber stay true to herself and her journalistic instincts…or will her meddling put her crown at risk?

Christmas Prince Royal Wedding.jpg — Christmas clichés:

Opens w/ City Scene
Deceased Parent
Cute, Precocious Child
Sleigh Ride
Playful Food Fight
They Play Piano!
Surprise! Xmas Lights
Ends w/ Kiss or Ring

Our Thoughts

We expected much more fanfare for the sequel to last year’s “A Christmas Prince.” It wasn’t Very Merry, but we appreciated its cheeky merits and understood its viral popularity. So when Netflix seemed to promote the lovely “A Princess Switch” on social channels or holiday promotions far more than this flick, we got a little nervous.

How bad could it be?

That is a dangerous question to ask.

We meet up with Amber Moore (Rose McIver, sterile and stiff) one year since her engagement to the now-King of Aldovia, Richard (Ben Lamb, even stiffer). She’s officially moving across the pond to start her life as Queen and plan her Christmas Day wedding, blogging her every narcissistic thought. But actions like blogging or questioning the somewhat-offensive Wedding Planner are frowned upon. Amber’s only respite is Richard’s sister, Princess Emily, the Cute, Precocious Child…err…Tween and her tagalong father, who has been recast and seems to have joined the Mafia since the last film.

Additional conflicts arise when the undermining cousin, Simon, rocks a newsboy cap and wants to be accepted back into the family. And when the King’s aptly titled “Modernization Initiative” seems to be bankrupting the country (but no one wants to look into the books except Amber!), the wedding is in jeopardy.

Did we forget to mention it’s almost Christmas? Well, so did the screenwriters.

The lack of Christmas aside, the movie has many flaws. Amber’s dad, Rudy, is basically the Jar Jar Binks of the film: he ruins every scene he’s in with ever-changing accents and threats to beat up royals. The cinematographer invested far too much in cameras on strings, overusing the zoom-in feature and creating some dizzying climatic moments.

We can’t tell if the creators wanted the movie to be honest or Vaudeville. If they had leaned into one, our ratings might have changed. But when you have a background track of deep bass mixed with pounding drums that indicates “This is an evil character,” it’s hard to balance that creative choice with the sweet side story of Princess Emily having a crush.

Don’t bother with this one. Unless you adored the first and have to see where it goes, you’ll leave unsatisfied and desiring some real Christmas cheer.

Rob's Final Take: Not Very Merry
It’s such a shame that so many Netflix-ers will think that this garbage pile is representative of the Christmas movie genre. Don’t believe it! There’s a whole big world out there.

Jess's Final Take: Not Very Merry
It’s not campy enough to be fun and not Christmas-y enough to be taken seriously. You can do better. We believe in you.