The Princess Switch 3: Romancing The Star
NetflixVanessa Hudgens keeps her title as the reigning queen of Netflix Christmas movies with yet another entry into The Princess Switch series. The third film, Romancing The Star, once again follows uncanny lookalikes Queen Margaret (Vanessa Hudgens) and Princess Stacy (also Vanessa Hudgens). The two royals are working together to plan a Christmas festival in the fictional country of Montenaro, with a sacred relic from the Vatican, the Star of Peace, being the main attraction.
The Princess Switch 3 quickly shifts into heist movie mode as the star gets stolen, and Margaret and Stacy go to Margaret’s sister Lady Fiona Pembroke (again, played by Vanessa Hudgens), the previous film’s villain for help. Fiona is on probation and working in an orphanage run by a group of nuns, and agrees to help in exchange for Margaret vouching for her at an upcoming disciplinary hearing. With Fiona’s connections, the group enlists the help of Peter Maxwell (Remy Hii), and Fiona’s henchmen from the previous film, and work to steal back the Star of Peace from a crazy billionaire.
Clearly, Vanessa Hudgens is once again the star of the show here. As she should be, since she plays the three lead characters. However, Margaret and Stacy take more of a backseat role in Romancing The Star, and Fiona is giving her time to shine and redeem herself. Stacy and Margaret’s royal husbands are in the film even less, as Fiona is also given a love interest in Peter Maxwell, the disgraced former Interpol agent that is helping them find the Star of Peace. Hudgens as Fiona is as flamboyant and over the top as ever, slinking into the throne room and objectifying the princes right in front of their wives. Yet as the movie presses on, Fiona’s character goes through quite the development, forced to face her vulnerabilities, and moving from one-dimensional villain to a fully-fledged character.
The Princess Switch series is meant to be nothing more than silly fun at the Holidays and its original two films perfectly captured their demographic. Yet the creators choose to do something wildly different for the third film, shifting from bakery competitions and coronations to a literal heist. And it somehow works? Romancing the Star gives fans of the franchise something quite new to enjoy while still maintaining the cheesy romantic elements the series is known for. They take the tried and true method of switching Vanessa Hudgens’ characters into scenarios they should not be in and put a new spin on it, preventing Romancing the Star from feeling repetitive.
Obviously, The Princess Switch series is far from fine cinema but it’s not trying to be. The film is still a stupidly fun time to watch with friends as the holidays approach, even though Vanessa Hudgens does not play a fourth character as expected. Perhaps in the hotly anticipated fourth Princess Switch film, Vanessa Hudgens will be playing the entire cast. Romancing the Star happens to be the best film in the series, more nonsensical Christmas films should be morphed into heist films.