Guess who’s back. Back again. Yep, it’s Vanessa Hudgens in yet another Princess Switch movie. This one is The Princess Switch 3: Romancing The Star. I’m not sure if the title is supposed to be a play on the 1984 movie Romancing The Stone but if it is, I’m not sure how many people will get the reference.
Queen Margaret (Vanessa Hudgens) and Princess Stacy (also Hudgens) are co-hosting a Christmas charity event. The Vatican agrees to loan them the Star of Peace, a relic that was once carried by Saint Nicholas himself. When the Star of Peace is stolen, the lookalike royals turn to Margaret’s cousin, Fiona (also Hudgens), to help them steal it back.
While there is a little switching going on in this movie, it is almost completely focused on Fiona. Both Margaret and Stacy dress up as Fiona for different reasons. Margaret to distract one of Fiona’s old boyfriends while Fiona helps her childhood friend, Peter (Remy Hii), steal back the Star. Stacy to attend Fiona’s hearing to review whether the community service she must complete thanks to her actions in The Princess Switch 2 has been enough or if she needs to serve more.
On one hand, I kinda hate the Fiona character. Not only is she a terrible person but, in this movie, both Margaret and Stacy do a horrible job impersonating her. I’m not sure why anyone believed they were the blonde bombshell. On the other hand, this movie gives Fiona a sad childhood back story. We see why she is how she is, though it didn’t make me feel particularly sympathetic toward her. It seems that Peter was in a similar situation to her and, while he has a bad side too, he is a better person than Fiona.
Where most Christmas movies focus on the romance part of the story, The Princess Switch 3 is more of a heist movie. They spend a lot of time planning the heist and preparing for the heist and then executing the heist. Everything else is a minor sub-plot. It did make for a nice change in the Christmas movie scene. I just wish it didn’t involve Fiona and her two stupid lackeys.
If you have already watched the other two movies in the series, you’re going to watch this one. Even if I tell you not to, I know you will. I wish the movie had a little more depth to it but it is what it is. It’s not a terrible movie. A little annoying maybe, but not too bad. And it does leave a little door open for a fourth movie. I just hope they leave Fiona at home for that one.