Lacking Style and Stiles
The first "The Prince & Me" was an okay movie, not brilliant but enjoyable, what it wasn't was sequel material. Sadly they did make a sequel, in fact they made a whole series of these "The Prince & Me" movies, and there is no hiding from the truth "The Prince & Me II: The Royal Wedding" is weak in so many ways. In fairness it's not helped by the fact that Julia Stiles doesn't return and so we have Kam Heskin taking on the character but even so the storyline is dull, the humour is obvious and the acting is often at times awkward but I am sure young girls who watch it will enjoy its simple fairytale aspect.
There are just 3 weeks to go before their Royal Wedding and Paige (Kam Heskin) and Edvard (Luke Mably - 28 Days Later) are busy trying to juggle their lives so that in-between work, studying and wedding preparations they get to spend some time together. But their wedding is put in jeopardy when Prince Albert (Jim Holt) a distant relative uncovers an old law which means that either Edvard has to marry a girl of noble blood, as in his daughter Princess Kirsten (Clemency Burton-Hill), or marry Paige and be forced to abdicate his crown.
Now to be honest whilst the storyline of an old law threatening the marriage of Paige to Edvard is obvious it actually kind of works. Well it works in the fact that it allows the fairytale of the first movie to continue. And that word "obvious" extends to the whole comedy of Princess Kirsten trying to sabotage the relationship between Paige and Eddie. In fact I will use the word obvious again because being a fairytale you know that there will be a happy ever after ending for Paige and Edvard whilst Kirsten and her father will end up coming a cropper. From an adults point of view all of this obviousness is dull but for young girls who watch this the simple fun and fairytale of it will work.
But here is the thing, all the characters in "The Prince & Me II" are awful, forced and not that likeable and so for those who enjoyed the first movie will find this poor. Kam Heskin who plays Paige is relatively pleasant but the character is so 1 dimensional compared to the way we saw Julia Stiles play Paige and as for Luke Mably who does return as Edvard, well he walks around like he has a bad smell under his nose the whole time. It doesn't help that there is absolutely zero chemistry between them and it half looks like Mably every time he goes in for a kiss looks disappointed that he's not kissing Stiles.
But Mably and Heskin are not the only issues as Maryam d'Abo and David Fellowes who take on the roles of Queen Rosalind and King Haarald are just as devoid of chemistry and seem awkward in many a scene as does Jonathan Firth who as Soren is no Ben Miller. In fairness there is one enjoyable performance and that is Clemency Burton-Hill as Princess Kirsten, not because she is effective at being deceptive but does a good job of delivering the comedy of her character getting her just desserts.
What this all boils down to is that for those who watched and enjoyed the first "The Prince & Me" will find "The Prince & Me II: The Royal Wedding" very weak in comparison. And the weakness is caused by numerous things and not just that Julia Stiles didn't return. But in a way it will probably work for young girls and the obviousness of the story and comedy won't be a problem.
