The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020)

 

As a royal, you’re expected to sacrifice everything for your country. Happily ever afters are not expected. Your country comes first.

Since “The Princess Switch: Switched Again” is a Christmas movie though, everything works out in the end.

“Switched Again” is another harmless Christmas film. Netflix continues to try and compete with Hallmark. It is also the second original Netflix Christmas sequel.

To recap: In “The Princess Switch” Stacy from Chicago and Duchess Margaret of Montenaro (both Vanessa Hudgens) switched places with one another after discovering they looked alike.

Duchess Margaret wanted to live a normal life no matter how brief. She falls for Stacy’s best friend and Stacy falls for Margaret’s fiancé. They both ultimately lived happily ever after with the men they truly love after confessing the switch. 

In “Switched Again” not only does Hudgens play Stacy and Margaret, but a third character as well. Fiona is Margaret’s cousin. There is a lot of Vanessa Hudgens in this movie. That’s not necessarily a bad thing by any means. What it does mean is an even more ridiculous plot than the first.

“Switched Again” takes place about a year after the first. Stacy is trying to navigate a life of royalty often at the expense of Prince Edward (Sam Palladio). Margaret and Stacy’s best friend Kevin (Nick Sagar) ended the first film in a relationship. It is revealed that Margaret is now in line for the throne after the King’s death. This new revelation caused Kevin and Margaret to break up as it caused a strain in their relationship.

You can probably already guess how it ends. Margaret and Stacy switch places again to give Kevin and Margaret a chance to spend time together. That’s how it worked in the first film and it was bound to work again.

Fiona has a plan of her own. Though she is royalty, she is presumably no where near becoming  queen and has lived a life of such excess luxury that she has run out of money. Fiona plans to take Margaret’s place at the coronation, then writing herself a huge check before leaving the country.

This would obviously never work in real life. While she was planning on releasing Margaret after writing the fraudulent check, Fiona still would be the only suspect in the crime and thus eventually caught.

This is a film though and a Christmas one at that. No point in trying to make sense of it.

Hudgens is the main focus of the film. Prince Edward and Kevin are hardly in the film. Vanessa Hudgens isn’t bad in the roles (minus the British dialect), but the magic and Christmas charm of the first one is missing. The only thing that makes this a Christmas film is that Margaret is getting coronated on Christmas Day. 

Like the first film, there’s nothing wrong with this film. It’s a nice distraction from what’s going on in the world. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s fun. It’s a harmless way to entertain yourself.

You can watch “The Princess Switch: Switched Again” on Netflix.