A Christmas Prince 2: not the royal wedding you want to watch

It’s the most wonderful time of the year to curl up with a mug of hot chocolate, look at the falling snow, and watch a Christmas movie.

Netflix has recently began to try to beat the Hallmark Channel at its own game-making the cheesiest Christmas romance movies possible. Netflix began the competition last year, when it released A Christmas Prince. The movie was met with mostly positive reviews, and many were overjoyed when Netflix announced a sequel would be released this year.

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding picks up about a year after the last movie left off (349 days to be exact). The main character Amber, played by Rose McIver (Once Upon a Time, iZombie) is still engaged to King Richard of Aldovia, played by Ben Lamb (Now You See Me 2, Divergent). She is preparing to fly to Aldovia, where she will marry Richard and become Queen of Aldovia. Though she is excited for the move, she asks the question so overused by those in fictional royal movies - “Will I still be myself once I am crowned?”

Once Amber and her father make it to Aldovia, they are met with a range of issues, from economic problems in Aldovia to the stress surrounding planning a royal wedding. While Amber’s fiance is apparently kept too busy by Aldovia’s economic issues to spend time with her, she does not get much alone time, as she has to work with her ultra-traditional wedding planners to get any say in planning her own wedding.

After watching the first A Christmas Prince, I was thrilled to learn it was getting a sequel. I personally love Hallmark movies (the cheesier, the better). The original A Christmas Prince had all the cheesy goodness of a Hallmark movie-only with a Netflix logo-and was a solid 10/10 in my opinion.

To put it nicely, this movie fell short of my expectations.

There were plenty of little issues, like how there was clearly a low wardrobe budget. Who has a royal wedding without a tiara? The set for the wedding scene was also lackluster. Considering the movie centered around a royal wedding, the actual wedding was visually boring and wasn’t a huge part of the movie.

Including the economic problems of Aldovia within the plot was another problem. I understand that the economic problems of Aldovia were meant to help create a storyline, as well as have an impact on other parts of the movie. However, I was expecting (and wanted to see) a movie about a royal wedding, not on an economy in decline with a royal wedding thrown in.

My biggest issue was how Amber and King Richard spent zero time together. One would assume an engaged couple would want to spend time together, but King Richard made zero effort to spend time with his fiance. The actors didn’t have much chemistry, and it was hard to believe Richard and Amber really were in love.

Honestly, I got more enjoyment mocking the movie than I did from actually watching it. Making fun of just how bad the movie was was actually very enjoyable.

I also enjoyed watching Richard’s younger sister, Emily, as she continued to have a main role in the movie. Despite being a young princess, she was able to make a huge impact on the plot by figuring out the source behind Aldovia’s economic issues. This sets a great example for any young girls watching this movie, by displaying a princess who is able to do more than wave to crowds.

Overall, I would recommend this movie if you’re looking for a movie to make sarcastic jokes about as you watch. However, if you’re looking for a satisfying sequel to the first A Christmas Prince, you’re better off just rewatching the original.