Christmas 2020 Reviews: Day 6 - The Princess Switch (Switched Again) (2020)

Last Christmas, I reviewed the 2018 made for Netflix film The Princess Switch, which starred Vanessa Hudgens as two strangers named Stacey and Margaret, who happened to look identical, and decided to swap places with each other for a few days for each others benefit. It was a sweet, cheesy romantic flick that wasn't overly memorable, but charming nonetheless. Two years later in 2020, the sequel The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again came out to answer the question no one was asking: what if there were three Vanessa Hudgens' instead of just two?

In The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again, we're back with all of the characters we saw last time, but two years have passed, and things have changed. Kevin (Nick Sager) and Princess Margaret (Vanessa Hudgens), who got together at the end of the first film, broke up six months prior to the start of this film, and neither of them are happy about it. However, Margaret is about to be coronated as Queen of her country Montenaro, which complicates things even further. Meanwhile, Stacey (Vanessa Hudgens again) has been embracing life as a Princess, and has been taking her royal duties very seriously. While she's focused on that though, her husband Prince Edward (Sam Palladio) is left feeling neglected, and wondering what he's done wrong for Stacey to not want to spend time with him. They, along with Kevin and his daughter Olivia, go to visit Margaret and to help her prepare for her coronation. Stacey conspires with Olivia to get Kevin back with Margaret, but a couple of people get in their way, one of them being a third lookalike, Fiona (yet again played by Vanessa Hudgens) who is Margaret's greedy cousin.

This sequel is the definition of "If you liked the first one, then you'll like this one." This is not a fantastic film, but it is a very good sequel, as the tone and characters all continue in a way that feels very natural from the first. There are some nods towards Christmas, the most heavily during a scene where everyone works together to decorate the castle for Christmas while "Underneath the Tree" by Kelly Clarkson plays, and a nice animated sequence in the beginning, which also reminded us of the events from the last film. Otherwise, making hot chocolate or giving toys to orphans is mentioned a couple of times, but you could easily cut Christmas out of this film without it affecting the plot. The previous film did succeed in more presenting a festive tone, but that's one of the only differences.

The other main difference is quite a big one. I don't like to make a fuss about child actors (contrary to my A Very British Christmas review) but they changed the actress who plays Olivia, Kevin's daughter, and to me, it was very distracting. Mia Lloyd gives a fine performance as the new Olivia, and I wish I could just comment on that alone, but there's something that feels quite important to talk about, especially after everything that has happened this year.

In the first film, Alexa Adeosun played Olivia, and she was African-American. However, Mia Lloyd is a mixed-race actress, so her skin is distinctly lighter than Olivia's previously was. It's a rather jarring change visually, but with the Black Lives Matter movement hitting so much harder after the tragedies this year, I really think we could have done without a popular film aimed at young girls lightening the skin of a black character. True, it's not as bad as if they had just replaced her with a white actress (which would also have made no sense, considering her dad in the film is black) but it still sits awkwardly with me.

However, I did enjoy this film in purely guilty-pleasure fashion. The humour is a bit juvenile, as are some of the dilemmas the characters face, but I suppose the ideal audience for this is tween girls.

The breakup between Kevin and Margaret never really made much sense to me. They don't go into much detail as to why they broke up, and when they're reunited, there's no awkward tension between them, which I think you would have with someone the first time you saw them in a while, even after a good breakup. There are no stakes in this breakup really. Neither of them did anything wrong, and Kevin was happy to change his life to be a part of her royal one, just as she enjoyed being a "peasant" with him. The chemistry is just too good, and neither of them are really affected by their breakup. Olivia doesn't even really seem affected, she's just kind of annoyed that they broke up and wants them back together.

They try to bring in another guy, Antonio (played by Lachlan Nieboer) as a potential threat to the relationship, as he has feelings for Margaret. However, he and Hudgens as Margaret have no chemistry. There's a scene where Stacey stumbles into the room while they're having a conversation in the dining hall, and I was confused as to why she was so awkward with them, as if she had found them having sex right there on the table. Apparently it was because of the overwhelming chemistry she had felt between them, but I didn't see that at all. If anything, Antonio had better chemistry with Hudgens when she was Fiona.

The plot between Stacey and Edward could have been interesting, but the way it's handled just makes Edward seem a bit pathetic, and goes to show that Stacey isn't a very good listener. However, their chemistry together is nice too.

As for the whole idea that Stacey and Margaret wanted to switch places again... it's laughable. Predictable and laughable.

Yet somehow, this film and its cast manage to be so darn charming that I don't care and enjoyed myself. Yes, you could probably cut this film down to 60 minutes and not really feel an impact, but I enjoyed sitting back and letting this 90 minute journey unfold. It's light, fluffy and occasionally ridiculous, particularly when it comes to Fiona's sidekick characters. The cast all seem happy to be there and comfortable with each other. There's also a cameo from a couple in another Netflix Christmas romance series, but we'll look at that tomorrow.

Hudgens' English accent is still bad though, and considering the reaction it received in the last film, I'm amazed they decided to make Fiona English too.

If you like a Christmas film without much substance, that looks pretty, and is just a bit of fun, you'll like this. However, I am learning this winter that there are an abundance of chick flicks that meet this criteria. It would be nice to be challenged in some way by a film,

Amazingly, a third instalment in this series has been announced. How many lookalikes will that one have? All I'll say is that Stacey was talking to Edward about having babies in the future, so I can only hope the new lookalike will be a baby with Vanessa Hudgens' face photoshopped over the baby's, à la Twilight. That would be glorious.

THE SCOREBOARD

Would I recommend this film? Yes, why not?

Christmas quote of the film: "Minions, I need more champagne." - Fiona

Film rating: 4/10