Christmas 2020 Reviews: Day 8 - A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018)

Today we are returning to the world of A Christmas Prince with the second film in the trilogy: The Royal Wedding. Set one year after the first film ended, Amber and Richard (again played by Rose McIver and Ben Lamb) are preparing to get married, although frustratingly for the pair, it doesn't seem like their wedding day will be what they want it to be.

Additionally, the people of Aldovia don't like Richard as their King, as the kingdom has been losing money ever since he was coronated. It isn't Richard's fault though. Can Amber use her journalist skills to work out the truth of the situation?

A random, petty note to begin with perhaps, but I don't see why they called all of these films "A Christmas Prince" when Richard is coronated as King in the first one, meaning he is a King in all the others. I suppose they weren't expecting the films to be successful enough for a sequel, or maybe Prince just sounds more romantic?

There isn't as much plot in this one, which is probably the reason why it is, in my opinion, the weakest in the trilogy. It isn't a terrible film, but it's quite plodding at times. However, there is a lot more Christmas in this one, and everyone seems more settled in their roles. It's like they know it's cheesy, but they know not to play into it too much, as that would make it cringe-inducing. They strike a nice balance though, as it isn't played so seriously that you would want to make fun of the casts efforts. It's well directed, and acted all round.

Out of the all the films in this series, this is the only one where I predicted a key revelation, which felt like a bit of a shame. In terms of the overall plot, I wish they had given Richard a bit more to do, as I like Ben Lamb in this role.

Additionally, I found Amber's plot very bland. It's the story you see in every outsider-in-a-palace plot - the palace wants to do things their way, but she wants to do things her way instead, and break the rules.

Once again, one of my favourite parts of this film is Princess Emily. I really like this actress, and here, they pair her up with an equally good male actor her age, who Emily has a crush on. Normally I'm not a fan of child romances onscreen because it can be quite awkward, but these two are really cute together and they do a good job of making it feel natural. There is one odd scene where Emily gives a speech to Richard that is so grown-up and well-constructed that only a character on paper could say it, no real person ever would. I don't care how good her private education is (which granted, can't be that great because Amber was able to get away with being her tutor for as long as she did). You could have the best education in the world and still not speak like that naturally, because it isn't a human way of speaking.

There's also a new character called Mr Zabala, who I liked. He's a butler I believe, and he's very kind with a lovely speaking voice, but unfortunately, he isn't given very much to do really. However, it's hinted that he might be partnered up with someone for the next film, so hopefully that will be built on.

Speaking of new characters, one I was far less keen on was Sahil, played by Raj Bajaj, Sahil is an obviously gay, Indian designer who is very flamboyant and talks about himself in the third person all of the time. He was really grating to watch, and I dreaded his every appearance in a scene.

They choose to bring back Simon, the villain from the first film. I actually like this actor, he's charismatic and has a good rivalry rapport with Emily, but I was very confused as to what they did with his character here. They introduce him in a fishy way, with him claiming to be reformed after his actions in the last film, but he continues to act suspicious. The film then decides to create a flirtation between him and one of Amber's friends, Melissa. Their bond forms far too quickly, considering everything that happened in the last film, and the fact that he's still a suspicious character. I found this pacing to be very off.

It's worth noting that they change the actor for Amber's dad Rudy, here. I like this new actor. His New York accent is so strong that I found myself willing for him to yell out "I'm walking here!" at some point. I was very disappointed when that didn't happen. He's charming, if perhaps a little over the top at times. Compared to Sahil though, he's discreet. However, this character receives something at the end of the film, which I won't give away, but it is ridiculously over the top. There's no way he would actually be given this thing, and it clearly only happened to show that the royal characters accept him. They could have just had the Queen hug him to achieve the exact same thing though.

This one was boring and too melodramatic at times. One of the main plot points is that Amber is upset that she has been told by palace staff that she isn't allowed to run her blog anymore, because it exposes the royal family too much, and she's upset about this. It just feels a bit shallow to me. These films border between guilty pleasures and so bad that it's good, but this is the only one in the trilogy that doesn't feel like either of those to me. If you like the series, you might like to watch this and see these characters again, although in my opinion, it's the one you're least likely to revisit.

THE SCOREBOARD

Would I recommend this film? If you liked the first one enough to be happy with a sequel existing, then this will be fine for you. If you want something memorable with substance though, this isn't for you. It's probably the weakest in the trilogy.

Christmas quote of the film: "The people of Aldovia demand a magnificent Christmas tree to make them proud."- Princess Emily

Film rating: 4/10