A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby Review: The Third Time Is Not the Charm for This Festive Franchise

This review contains spoilers for the Netflix Original Movie A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby.

2019 is a year defined by momentous sequels. Avengers: Endgame, Zombieland: Double Tap, and the highly anticipated A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby.

The title says it all. A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby checks back in with Aldovia royal newlyweds just in time for the arrival of their first child, and Christmas of course. But a derailed scroll signing ceremony and a juvenile curse threaten to throw Amber’s perfect life off course for reasons I’ve yet to fully comprehend the urgency of.

If you were hoping to watch a film where the Rose McIver commits to cradling a fake baby bump for 2 hours, you are in luck. If you were hoping this franchise would rekindle the magic of the film that started us on this crazy journey — I’ve got some bad news.

Sadly, revisiting the same cringy characters and grand castle setting isn’t enough to stop this franchise from continuing on its downward spiral that started with last year’s less than impressive A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding.

Given that there’s already so much stress during the holidays, I don’t feel particularly motivated to enjoy watching Amber’s stress over a ridiculous baby curse and stolen scroll.

I mean the stakes aren’t even that high for the characters to be this stressed.

Not only are these characters projecting their anxiousness onto viewers instead of holiday love and cheer, but they’re also finding a way to get on our nerves a little bit more than usual with the direction of this latest story.

It’s not the cast’s fault their characters are hard to love. These kinds of two-dimensional characters are fun for a stand-alone film but they don’t have the proper development for long-term franchises.

The first film came at a time when people really needed some feel-good content and that purpose feels lost on this latest addition. This movie doesn’t have to solve every world issue within two hours. It just has to be cute enough and dense enough to enjoy without feeling guilty.

If this film had found some way to tie in the recent developments from The Knight Before Christmas, I think this “curse” storyline would have made a lot more sense.

Vanessa Hudgens’ latest addition to Netflix’s holiday roster did mention Aldovia in a real-world context. So one could make the assumption that Amber lives in a world where baby curses are very practical concerns because 14-century knights are out time travelling the world.

But all the talk of curses and ghosts feel out of place in a movie that preaches cliche love tropes are the only magic present. This addition to the Christmas Prince trilogy refuses to commit to any the mystery and supernatural themes just within its grasp and that’s a shame.

Embrace the idea of a Holiday-verse, Netflix. You would be better off for it.

For a series of films that has been known to embrace the bad in beautiful new ways, it’s disappointing to see them keep things safe with this movie.

There are no standout characters or scenes because nothing really stands out. It’s not the best addition to this genre and it’s not the worst, but it’s really not anything to get excited about either.

Too many films in this genre take the easy way out. So forgive me for wanting a little more chaotic energy from what has always been a beautiful dumpster fire of a story.

With such a grand scale and expanded story to play with this time around, I was hoping this film would take all the aspects from the first two movies we love to hate to the next level — and be the Avengers: Infinity War of this Christmas genre, if you will.

Instead, we end up with a film resembling the far more disappointing Iron Man 3 and no one wants that.

The overall experience may be dismal but that doesn’t mean our time with the royals of Aldovia is all bad.

I don’t find Richard charming on his own but with Amber by his side, the couple is as cute and quippy as ever. The moments they share after retreating to their cozy quarters have just the right amounts of passion, banter, and festive decorations to keep this story on theme.

This film really wants viewers to fall in love with a new couple and unfortunately for this film, that couple is not Simon and Melissa. It’s Queen Ming and King Tai. These two provide the story with some fresh blood and have plenty to contribute to this baby themed installment as experienced parents/rulers of a fake country.

I have to say, the twist regarding who stole the scroll is somewhat clever. The film attempts to establish Lynn as the suspected culprit early on with misdirection that isn’t subtle but is misdirection none the less.

The build-up to Mr. Little being the true thief is a bit of a stretch in terms of developments throughout the story but I’m happy to see Lynn’s guilty behaviour lead to something a little more unpredictable than we were anticipating.

So should you skip or stream the latest addition to the A Christmas Prince trilogy?

Frankly, if you made it this far with this ridiculous royal franchise you might as well see Amber’s story through (I say this fully knowing Netflix is prepared to make ten more of these sequels). Besides, these movies aren’t meant to be taken too seriously anyway.

But don’t expect to be rewarded for making it to the end because the luck and charm that carried the first film to stardom are nowhere to be found by the time the credits roll.

With memorable hits from Netflix this holiday season like Let It Snow and The Knight Before Christmas, Amber and Richard’s journey into parenthood is fun but painfully forgettable.

What did you think of A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby is streaming now on Netflix.

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