Review: The Prince & Me 2 (2006)
Onto film two in The Prince & Me quartet, and I am about 95% sure that they photoshopped the actress who replaced Julia Stiles in the role of Paige here to look like her for this poster, to trick the few poor people who liked the first film:
Julia Stiles as Paige:
Kam Heskin, the new actress, who plays Paige in these next three films:
At the very least, they edited her eyes to be brown instead of Heskin's natural blues. What is happening with Paige's hair colour in the poster though? The front of it looks blonde-brown, but the back part past the crown almost looks ginger. I don't think there is any royal family that approves of dip dying.
Ah, look at that. Already over a hundred words used to moan about the poster. Let's see how I get on with the actual film.
Seeing as I bought the DVD for this one (not that I watched the other one illegally online, honest!) let's look at the blurb of that to help me with the synopsis here:
Paige and Edvard are still in love, but their relationship is now under threat (let's hope that's more believable here than in the last one). An old law has been found in Denmark, ruling that a Prince cannot marry a commoner such as Paige if there is an eligible royal female to be found. When the Princess they find turns out to be Edvard's childhood friend Kirsten, will Paige and Edvard manage to stay faithful to their relationship?
Firstly, I laughed out loud when Edvard's actor was credited as "Luke Mably - The Prince and Me" on the DVD box. It's like the marketing team were screaming and pointing "Look! We managed to bring back one of the actors from the last film! See? SEE?!?!" Also, it's not a great start when you don't have any role credits for your leading actress, and the one that the male lead gets is the prequel to this film.
Let's just get into it, shall we? It's only 93 minutes this time, which is approximately ten minutes less than the first one at least. Here we go:
Actually, I do have one more point to make before I review the film. The DVD I have shows a film trailer for just one film, and that film is The Prince and Me, the first one. I don't think this will be doing the second film any favours. It doesn't do the first film any good either because I now know I could have just watched the trailer and had the exact same experience I had when watching the film, just blissfully shorter.
Anyway, on to my opinion of The Prince and Me 2, and my opinion is:
It's not very good.
It's a bit of a weak start start when the film's box says The Prince and Me 2 The Royal Wedding while the title card on screen reads Prince and Me II: The Royal Wedding. Consistency in the title, if not the actors, would have been somewhat appreciated at least.
In this film, Paige is still training to be a doctor, but she is also now engaged to Edvard, whom she is supposed to marry in three weeks time from the films start. She additionally now lives in Denmark full time, and seems to be thriving in the eyes of the public and royalty. Unfortunately, an old law has resurfaced stating that Edvard cannot marry a commoner such as Paige, and should marry someone with royal blood. It just so happens that the man who found this law is also the father of the only eligible lady to possibly fill this role, Edvard's childhood friend Princess Kirsten. While the King and Queen try to find a way to resolve this law, Paige must fight Kirsten's efforts to sabotage her relationship with Edvard while adjusting to life in Denmark.
Paige is difficult to understand in this film, as is the way everyone responds to her. She can walk down the street without security, yet paparazzi follow her closely. She is referred to as the Crown Queen, but would actually have the title of Queen Consort. Of course, I'm going by British rules, and in Denmark it might be different, but considering everyone's English accent, I think it's okay to stick with the British way of doing things.
The worst scene in the film caused me to to look away from several times throughout because it was so embarrassing and deeply uncomfortable to watch. In it, Paige wears a dress to an important event that Kirsten bought for her, but it turns out that the dress has been covered with itching powder. Before this revelation, we have to endure Paige being awkward by rubbing herself against or with anything in attempt to scratch the itch away. It's not funny and I just felt horrible for poor Kam Heskin the whole time. All she probably wanted was to do her job, and to play a Princess should be quite nice. Instead, she's reduced to making weird sex faces when she's happy with where she's scratching:
The biggest flaw of this scene is that it highlights one of the largest faults of the film: Luke Mably. Mably plays Edvard, as he did in the last film. It becomes gratingly clear with each passing scene that he does not want to be there, and he seems irritated with Kam Heskin's Paige the entire time. Even when the two have quiet scenes alone together where they are supposed to be affectionate, Mably looks like a child at school who was told to look after the new kid, and although he's being polite, he clearly doesn't want to. His presence also makes me feel like I am watching an entirely different film, where he just happens to be one of the actors. His Edvard here seems different to the one he played in the previous film. None of the film seems to continue from the first one at all.
I even feel odd referring to The Prince and Me as "the first one", because although my opinion of the two films is relatively similar, they don't seem to be companion pieces, apart from the subject of royalty and the ability to offend Danes (but we'll come back to that in a bit). Things that are forgotten from the first film include:
Edvard's father was ill in the first film, implied to be even terminally so. This was why Edvard had to become King. In this film however, his father is completely fine.
Edvard had a little sister in the first film, who the film wanted you to believe was close with Edvard, but here she isn't even mentioned and never appears.
Edvard and Soren seemed to be close friends in the first one, here they barely even have a scene alone together.
Julia Stiles' Paige was a bit rougher. She had short hair and wore trousers, wasn't too fashionable. You believed she grew up helping work on her family's farm. Kam Heskin's Paige is always beautifully made up and wears a lot of pink. She looks preppy now, which is fine, but it's a transition we never got to see.
The first film ended with Edvard saying he would wait for Paige to finish her degree and wait for her as long as she wanted him to, but it seems she moved to Denmark for him anyway.
Paige had lots of female friends in the first film, but they are never mentioned here (although they did very good things for her, including help Paige pay for her first visit to Denmark). Here, she has one male friend called Jake, and their friendship is a bit of a surprise to witness. It isn't clear if he is supposed to be English or Danish.
One consistent feature is how the films manage to be offensive to Danish people with their portrayal of them. If you would like to go into this, I encourage you to search through the reviews on IMDb from the Dane's who have viewed this film.
The supporting actors in The Prince and Me 2 were mostly weak and forgettable (although Jonathan Firth as Søren was a welcome choice, as he brings a sweet earnestness to the character), but my least favourite was Clemency Burton-Hill as Kirsten, who was painfully over the top. Her final scene was also a somewhat unsettling one. To help give Edvard and Paige more time to banish the law that forbids them to marry, Kirsten is kept as far from her wedding day as possible. Fully made up and in bridal gown, Kirsten endures being locked inside her room, falling from what is at least the second floor in the building when climbing out of the window and then is thrown off of the horse she stole from a royal carriage. She makes it to the church as a mess, but she is too late. Her father tells her this, and carries her away as she screams at Edvard that she loves him. Everyone in the church then takes a moment to chuckle at her when they are gone.
This doesn't sit well with me. Yes, Kirsten was a villain who deserved an unhappy ending, but there was no satisfaction for me from that here. Not once did I believe that Kirsten loved Edvard, nor do I think she was supposed to. Yet, she screams this love for him so desperately, it was like watching a mentally unstable person doing so, which at that point, I suppose Kirsten definitely is. I don't find this funny though, nor do I mean for it to be in my trying to depict it here. If a deranged woman burst into a wedding I attended and started screaming at the groom that she loved him until she was dragged away, I can't think of anyone who would laugh at that. People would be stunned into silence, or at the closest to laughing I can think of, start quietly gossiping about it. If Kirsten had told Edvard that she loved him and it was clear that she was lying, that still wouldn't have been particularly funny, but it makes more sense. Kirsten's end should leave the viewer with the sense of "Good riddance," towards her. The ending they actually gave her made me feel deeply uncomfortable, and it was on my mind until the credits started to role.
Despite all of this, I personally preferred this film to the first one, although I know from a critical view that as a film, it is weaker than its predecessor. This was a surprise to me too.
For a start, as much as I like Julia Stiles as an actress perfectly well, and Luke Mably certainly had better chemistry with her, I actually preferred Kam Heskin in this role. Perhaps it was to do with her being written differently from the previous film. Here, Paige seems more like an American Sweetheart than That Gal From The Ranch that Stiles' Paige was. It's not bad though. Having Paige be a bit more naive and sweeter in this way works in making the character wanting to fit into the royal lifestyle to be a part of Edvard's life that way, more believably so than the previous Paige.
I also prefer Paige's friendships here. She is friends with one good guy called Jake from her university class, and the pair sincerely seem to react well to each other. He is instantly more memorable than any of Paige's friends from the previous film, who as I stated above, are never mentioned here. Does he have better chemistry with Heskin than Mably does? Well, that would be my only problem with this dynamic.
There is a scene where Paige and Jake are left alone together while Paige is upset. Most films would have Jake make a sexual advance on Paige here, which would be received in horror by her and hopefully the audience. Instead, Jake gives Paige an innocent hug. Later on, he also recruits friends of his to help him and Paige find an old law that dismisses the one saying Edvard should marry Kirsten. Together they succeed in finding it, but unfortunately Jake and his friends only get a quick "Thanks" and no invitation to the wedding they just saved.
There is nothing else to say about this film. As much as I enjoyed Kam Heskin's performance (apart from the terrible itching powder scene), I do not think this film has given me enough motivation to want to watch it ever again. If you loved the original The Prince and Me, then I think you will want to skip this one, as it has barely anything in common with it's predecessor.
THE SCOREBOARD
Chick Flick Check List Elements: 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 18, 23, 26, 50, 55, 56,
Total: 11
Is this really a chick flick or will men like it too? This is a definite chick flick, despite not quite passing the Chick Flick Checklist test. There are probably more men than women who would dislike it.
Would I recommend this film? No.
Quote of the film: If I can't find a quote from the film I find relevant, I would normally quote my own general reaction to the film. However, this film is so bland, I have nothing from either end to offer.
Film rating: 2/10
