Rate THE PRINCESS SWITCH PART 2: SWITCHED AGAIN (2020)

Movies that tell a fairy tale type of story in a modern setting work whenever they balance idealism with realism. I mean, if you're going to ignore logic completely, why not have the plot take place in the past or a fantasy world? THE PRINCESS SWITCH PART 2: SWITCHED AGAIN (Stacy De Novo is now a princess, so the title isn't a lie anymore) acknowledges the problems that come when a civilian starts a relationship with a monarch (a trope that we see more frequently each year), since Duchess Margaret Delacourt broke up with her boyfriend Kevin Richards in between movies. What a great opportunity to ground this fictional world while still maintaining the "Christmas romance" atmosphere! Too bad that there's not a lot of focus on exploring those issues. Usually, it's a sign of bad writing when the characters in a sequel do the same thing they did in the original. However, although Stacy and Margaret want to swap identities again, it's not because they forgot the lesson they learned the last time. It's just meant to be for 1 night, until the arrival of Fiona Pembroke, Margaret's cousin who looks just like her and Stacy. Oh, didn't you know? The makers are following the AUSTIN POWERS rule of making the lead actor play 1 new character on each installment. Well, it's not a flaw as long as said actor can play all the characters convincingly. When I reviewed THE PRINCESS SWITCH PART 1, I mentioned the psychological effects the situation should've had on Kevin. This time, the 2 women do tell him about the plan in advance. Great... but they don't tell Edward. In order to distract him, Olivia (Kevin's daughter) basically tells him he's a bad husband who doesn't give his wife the space she needs. What a relief that Olivia improvised all that, because if Stacy had instructed her to say all of that, I would've hated her as a character! Sam Palladio performs 2 original songs called BRING THE SNOW and UNDER THE TREE and they're both very good. The first couple of scenes had good comedy. I don't know why the clever sarcasm, the dry reactions and the awkward situations were replaced for broader gags, but it was disappointingly less funny.
4/10
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