‘The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star’ (2021) Review

The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star Synopsis: When a priceless relic is stolen, Queen Margaret and Princess Stacy enlist the help of Margaret’s cousin Fiona teams with a man from her past to retrieve it, with romance and resulting in a very unexpected switch.

The Princess Switch 3 finds Stacy and Margaret planning a Christmas festival together. They receive the “Star of Peace” from the Vatican and place it among the festival’s Christmas tree. But when a thief enters the palace and steals it, the two women turn to Margaret’s cousin, Fiona, to find it. Fiona seeks the help of Peter, an old friend and flame who once worked for Interpol. Along for the ride is, of course, Prince Edward and Kevin, though they definitely take a backseat to the three doppelgangers in this installment of the Princess Switch films.

Now that Stacy and Margaret have both found true love, I suppose it makes sense that it would be Fiona’s turn… even though she kidnapped Stacy in the last film and impersonated Margaret in order to take over the country and take off with its money… but… all is forgiven if she can help the other two find the Star of Peace before the Vatican finds out it has been stolen.

The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star’s romantic angle comes in the form of Peter Maxwell, whom Fiona met at boarding school when she was a child. Her mom used to ditch her there to live the good life, even at Christmas, so yes, Fiona harbors abandonment issues thanks to dear old mum. They discover who has the star, and instead of calling the police, they decide to plan a heist to retrieve it, which ends with Margaret impersonating Fiona at a party hosted by the thief and Stacy impersonating Fiona at a disciplinary hearing. I don’t know; it was all very strange.

Like the first two films, The Princess Switch 3 follows the same formula as the first two films, depending on Christmas cheer and inane plots, and like the first two films, Vanessa Hudgens is the only thing really carrying this movie. Clearly, she’s having a lot of fun with it, and I will admit that I laughed quite a few times, especially when Fiona’s not-so-bright minions were with her, but it felt like the rest of the cast was phoning it in.

The movie tries hard to convince us that Fiona isn’t terrible. Yes, she’s obnoxious, mean-spirited, and, you know, tried to overthrow her cousin’s kingdom, but that’s only because she has trouble letting people in! Her absentee mother did a real number on her. All of that felt pretty unnecessary. I didn’t feel that the backstory was necessary, and maybe that time could have been spent on some of the other characters… although I honestly don’t know if that would have made the movie better or worse.

You know exactly what you’re getting when you watch The Princess Switch movies, so I don’t begrudge anyone who enjoys them. The Princess Switch 3 is silly, saccharine-laced chaos with a guaranteed happy ending, and sometimes that’s all one might want during the holidays.

Watched: 12/22/2021
Notable Song: Cozy Little Christmas by Katy Perry