Folks, you have no idea how excited I was to get back into this series of films. After all, how could I possibly forget the adventures of whatshisname and whodoyamacallit. Wonderful characters with brilliant personalities who I couldn’t wait to get back in touch with, full of wonder and the magic of Christmas in my heart. Of course, I’m being facetious. While the first film in this series is not the worst, I have seen this month I still didn’t like it at all, and the idea of coming back for two sequels didn’t exactly fill me with joy. But I am nothing if not open-minded, and who knows, maybe The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020) would be a wonderful surprise. The film again follows Stacy, now a princess, and Lady Margaret (both played by Vanessa Hudgens) with the latter now being heir to the throne of her home country, Montenaro. This forces her and Kevin (Nick Sagar) to split up, but Stacey believes they are meant for each other. She then uses Margaret’s coronation to attempt to get the two back together, but her duties keep the two from having any time to speak about their issues. And so, Stacey and Margaret decide to switch again to give Margaret the time to speak to Kevin, while her cousin, Lady Fiona (also played by Vanessa Hudgens) attempts to take the throne by pretending to be Margaret.
So, is this film better than the first one? That is a hard no. However, it is far more memorable, but not for the reasons it would probably want to be memorable for. I will say, that if you are a fan of the first film you will probably get something out of this one. It remains very saccharine and unapologetically Christmas themed, with a whole montage of them decorating the palace for Christmas very early doors. The result of that montage is ridiculous, with them completely transforming this huge palace in a matter of errors, but to point that out would be nit-picking and I am above that. The performances for the most part (we will get to that) remain fine and suit the tone of the film, and the film remain light-hearted in nature. As a result, fans of that first film are likely to enjoy this one also. I can’t say I did; in fact, I had my head in my hands questioning most of my life decisions leading me to this point. But there was one moment in this film that I loved. It has absolutely nothing to do with the film, but it was something that came out of nowhere and completely took me by surprise. This is when Margaret is walking down the aisle for her coronation and the song ‘Zadok the Priest’ is played. This is apparently the song played at the coronation of British monarchs and so its use here is not surprising. But it just so happens that the Champions League anthem is closely based on this song, and at first, I thought it was the Champions League anthem. Not only did it make that scene infinitely better, but the idea of Charles being coronated to a song that is so close to the Champions League anthem is hilarious to me.
Now, most of my criticisms of this film are similar to that of the first film. Mainly that is so sugary sweet in its tone, aggressively unfunny, and dances around the idea of conflict without really having any satisfactory conclusions to any of it. That last part is the most interesting in this film as it is no way near as egregious as in the first film. It still doesn’t have any genuine conflict that goes anywhere, with most issues being resolved super quick. But this film does at least have a proper villain in the shape of Lady Fiona and her entourage. And yet, despite my criticism of the last of conflict in that first film. It turns out that conflict is not this series strong point. If you are going to be giving us villains like this, I’d rather you just remain an easy watch romantic film with almost no conflict at all. The characters of Lady Fiona and her entourage are some of the most obnoxious characters I have seen in a film in so long. Anytime they were on screen I just wanted to turn the film off. They were so aggravating, painfully unfunny, and exaggerated to a point where it is just ridiculous, in a film where the general premise is ridiculous, to begin with. And it seems as though these characters may be returning for the third film in this series. Pray for me.
It is looking very likely that this trilogy will go down as one of my least favourites in cinematic history. I don’t think these films are acutely terrible and I could understand certain people enjoying them as easy watches, but they do nothing for me. At least this film was so bad that it had some elements that will stick with me, but that is hardly a compliment. That third film is just around the corner and I am dreading it.
Comments