The Prince and Me 2: The Royal Wedding [DVD]

The Prince and Me 2 basically encompasses all the reasons why sequels should not be made as it routinely breaks every sequel rule above all the golden rule: Don't make a sequel unless you know you can better its predessor. Sadly this is not the case with this pathetic mistake of a movie, making it unsurprising that this movie basically received a very limited release and indeed it was only last week I discovered its very existence. Considering the Prince and Me was a delightful, cute tale of young love it is shocking how such a great story could somehow be discredited.

There are two major problems with this movie, the first being the story or dare I say the absence of one, which lacks any form of originality resembling 'The Princess Diaries 2'. Add to this a hopeless screenplay and this movie is destined to be a flop, as the romance is completely abandoned in favour of a very poor comedic effort. What is especially annoying is the screenplay writer's complete ignorance of the characters they are writing about (it's quite obvious it's a different screenplay writer). As such the characters we came to love and sympathise with: the wild Prince searching for freedom and falling in love, the focused student that has something missing in her life and discovers it with the handsome stranger suddenly become very unlikable as the screenplay writer makes it blatently obvious that he doesn't understand the characters.

Secondly why bother making a sequel when most of your original cast couldn't be bothered signing up? As such all the cast have either mysteriously disappeared or have been replaced leaving us to ponder such unnecessary questions as: "is that really Eddie's parents?", "why have Paige's parents' suddenly aged so much?", "where is Eddie and Paige's siblings?" etc... However as bad as it is to see a new supporting cast the most annoying change lies in the replacement of Julia Stiles. Alright the "new girl" Kam Heskin is not exactly what you'd call a bad actor, in fact she even succeeds in looking like Julia, though scarily thin she sure is (not a very good role model for young girls: this movie's target market) but there's simply no disguising the fact that she isn't Julia and therefore the whole story just doesn't work. Thankfully Luke Mably still remains but as he is the only original actor it interferes with his chemistry with the other actors.

Finally this movie lacks any of the magic of the original. Little emphasis is placed on the little things like costumes, location and music that all help to create the perfect fairytale. The costumes are fairly poor, floucy dress are few, the locations are very plain and unimpressive, where are the majestic castles and heavenly gardens? Where is the catchy soundtrak?

I could complain alot more about this movie but I won't waste my time and yours. To conclude I wouldn't recommend this movie for anyone looking for a pleasant, clever piece of entertainment, perhaps under 12's might like it as the jokes are really aimed at that age group. The Prince and Me didn't end with a sequel on the books (in fact the ending was changed when the producers thought people would have preferred the happy ending). With a follow-up like this one would be forgiven for thinking that perhaps a non-happy ending might have been a better end for Paige and Eddie considering their helpless treatment in this movie.

I usually love a follow up movie to see what happens to a great romantic story, but this is really really bad. The new Paige is a terrible fill-in for Julia Stiles. The fact is it is a shame they made this film as it really takes away from the first movie, which was fantastic. The only actor that remains the same is the handsom Luke Mably - and even he had been brought down by the terrible acting around him. The story line is completely lacking. It is a rip off of the 2nd Princess Diaries movie with Ann Hathaway. Now that was a good sequel.

Two words - Don't Bother. Just don't - leave it with the happily ever after of the first movie.

Hilarious to watch with a couple of mates, good cheer up film. As good as the first, even with actors changing.