Amber and Richard host royals from a faraway kingdom to renew a sacred truce, but when the priceless treaty disappears, peace is put in jeopardy and an ancient curse threatens their family.
It's an altogether interesting concept to have a Christmas movie franchise these days. Not a Christmas special, but a franchise that exclusively revolves around Christmas. A Christmas Prince is one of those franchises, and here we are with its latest sequel (the third film in the series) The Royal Baby. Seeing how the relationship started and led to an engagement in the first film, culminated in marriage in the second, and now we have the firstborn child, I wonder where the series can go from here.
When you look at safe Christmas films, A Christmas Prince is the safest so far. Nary a threat of violence, with only a tease of adultery, The Royal Baby is not so much a Christmas film, but a female-oriented Whodunnit, in a Christmas setting. But that is how the franchise works, a leading lady Queen Amber (Rose McIver) is effectively a family-friendly Sherlock Holmes, who as a journalist, is great at solving mysteries. The Royal Baby simply puts forth a mystery with a philosophically greater scale.
This time including dignitaries from a neighbouring country that Aldovia has a truce with, the film puts the spotlight on both Queens and heavily pushes the message that women should be allowed to take credit for their achievements. Put this together with a heavily pregnant Queen solving mysteries to a deadline, the entire film has a great message that encourages girls to strive for their own goals and not be swayed by those trying to hold them back. There is another theme of tradition vs progression when you compare the two countries, which is lightly explored.
The film has some gorgeous snow-covered environments which bring emphasis to the colours of the Christmas decorations, but the low budget of the film is quite evident to see, with the sets feeling Christmassy, but not very Royal. Garish, but not lush and wealthy.
A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby is an absolute cheese-fest, full of over-the-top characters, with corny dialogue, and the script lacks any form of subtlety. Great for a children's film, but provides nothing of interest to an adult. Even the whodunnit story arc, provide no satisfaction because there was no way for the audience to be able to figure out the culprit, as the clues were not actually shown to the audience. Some were implied, but the details were hidden, to keep the reveal a surprise. It leads to a big surprise in the end, but no sense of payoff or satisfaction.
But with strong female leads, a diverse cast, and a straightforward story, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby is a great choice in film to keep the younger children entertained.