REVIEW: Vanessa Hudgens Does It Again in The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star

Queen Margaret, Princess Stacy, and Fiona are back for another go around of Princess Switch fun in Netflix’s new holiday movie, The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star. In the third movie of the series, Stacy ( Vanessa Hudgens) is with Queen Margaret (Hudgens), as the queen is gifted the Star of Peace from the Vatican. The start is meant to sit atop Montenaro’s annual Christmas Tree during its holiday season. When the Star of Peace is stolen, Margaret must seek out the help of her devious cousin, Fiona (Hudgens),  to retrieve the star. Fiona is currently serving out her community service hours at a convent and is more than happy to assist. As she begins crafting her plan to retrieve the Star of Peace, she decides to enlist the help of an old flame, Peter (Remy Hii), as well as bring her two minions, Reggie (Ricky Norwood) and Mindy (Florence Hall) into the fold. It soon becomes apparent the former couple may have more on their minds, and their hearts, than getting back the Star.

Hudgens is, once again, perfectly cast for this movie. Hudgens clearly had just as much fun playing these three characters as she did in the previous two films. The only problem is as there are three Hudgens’ characters featured in the movie, one of them does see significantly less screen time than the other two. It was a little disappointing to see that all three characters couldn’t get an equal screen time; although, it makes sense that two had to be the focus. Another nice addition was the chance to learn an actual background story on a character rather than skimming the surface, like we did in the past two movies. It helped bring dimension to the character, which may have been lost if all three were equally featured.

Remy Hii was a great addition to the Princess Switch family. His character, Peter had fantastic chemistry with Hudgens’ Fiona and his onscreen charm will definitely be a hit with all viewers. The biggest plus was that Hii brought a refreshing bit of fun to the series. The other leading  men from the previous films do take a major backseat as a result of this. Sam Palladio’s Prince Edward and Nick Sager’s Kevin played very minor roles in this third installment. It’s a slight disappointment because these two, much like Hii’s Peter, bring a lot of fun to the films.  If they ever think about a Princess Switch 4, it could be the opportunity to center on the men and not Hudgens’ three characters.

If you are looking for a movie to help you get in the spirit of the holidays, check this movie out. It features lovely holiday decorations, a bit of holiday music, a good dose of holiday spirit, and the holiday cheesiness you expect to find in holiday movies. This flick may not be as good as the past two, but it is still a fun time and a good movie to kick-off your holiday season.

Grade: B