This was very silly. The script was silly, some of the acting was silly, and the production values were lacking, which made some of the scenes silly. Cases in point. I'll do the production values first. At one point, we see the hospital where (spoiler alert!) Dr. Tasha our American princess heroine is having her baby. The smoke or steam from a chimney is frozen in midair and not wafting upwards. Obviously a photograph stuck in front of the camera. And what was Dr. Tasha wearing during a TV interview? A green dress, red shoes and a yellow hat? Why? They didn't have any clothes in the wardrobe department that went together? Or was she doing a Christmas elf thing? The 3rd strike on the cheap budget issue was the fact that one of the main characters, Charles Shaughnessy was seen entirely on video. Even when he was supposed to be in the same building, they talked to him via an electronic device. The one scene where they couldn't get around not having his presence (the baptism) he was obviously put in via green screen or some other movie trick. Covid? I guess? But they could have made it more seamless. Like not having him be in two different spots during the same scene. And the weird thing was that some of the sets were very lavish looking and authentic. And most of the wardrobe was unobjectionable.
The acting of two of the actors trying to be funny was laughable. In that they were not funny. Specifically, the actor who played Dr. Tasha's brother, and the actor who played Blevins, Prince Alexander's butler(?) courtier(?) Major Domo(?). Their mugging should have been taken down a couple of notches by the director. Speaking of acting, was Princess Tasha having (spoiler alert!) babies or did she have a cramp in her toe? And speaking of giving birth, No one, including Dr. Tasha or her obstetrician knew she was having (spoiler alert!) twins until the second one popped out? I won't belabor the silliness of that, like I won't mention the silliness of the possibility of declaring a hospital room part of another country.
I will mention one more silly scene. Nurse Jeff puts an engagement ring into a cup of tea and leaves it on the counter. A hospital employee drinks the tea and just leaves the cup in the sink with the ring still in it. I hope neither of these two are allowed around sick people. Sorry, one more scene. OK, so Dr. Tasha, who is a highly educated, sophisticated and worldly woman who has been a princess for over a year, has to be taught table manners before she is allowed to go back to visit her own country? (Don't reach across the table and grab the roll with your bare hands! Use the tongs!) I admit, although I saw the first one in this trilogy I don't remember it. And I haven't see the second one in the trilogy. But I don't think it was established that Dr. Tasha was born in a barn.
The main conflict had to do with the king not knowing a girl baby would be able to inherit the throne. He kept insisting the boy was born first even though he was told the girl baby was born first. I won't spoil how all that was resolved.
All in all, although I am used to overlooking ridiculous aspects of Christmas movies no matter what the network and still enjoying them, this one was just too dumb.
The acting of two of the actors trying to be funny was laughable. In that they were not funny. Specifically, the actor who played Dr. Tasha's brother, and the actor who played Blevins, Prince Alexander's butler(?) courtier(?) Major Domo(?). Their mugging should have been taken down a couple of notches by the director. Speaking of acting, was Princess Tasha having (spoiler alert!) babies or did she have a cramp in her toe? And speaking of giving birth, No one, including Dr. Tasha or her obstetrician knew she was having (spoiler alert!) twins until the second one popped out? I won't belabor the silliness of that, like I won't mention the silliness of the possibility of declaring a hospital room part of another country.
I will mention one more silly scene. Nurse Jeff puts an engagement ring into a cup of tea and leaves it on the counter. A hospital employee drinks the tea and just leaves the cup in the sink with the ring still in it. I hope neither of these two are allowed around sick people. Sorry, one more scene. OK, so Dr. Tasha, who is a highly educated, sophisticated and worldly woman who has been a princess for over a year, has to be taught table manners before she is allowed to go back to visit her own country? (Don't reach across the table and grab the roll with your bare hands! Use the tongs!) I admit, although I saw the first one in this trilogy I don't remember it. And I haven't see the second one in the trilogy. But I don't think it was established that Dr. Tasha was born in a barn.
The main conflict had to do with the king not knowing a girl baby would be able to inherit the throne. He kept insisting the boy was born first even though he was told the girl baby was born first. I won't spoil how all that was resolved.
All in all, although I am used to overlooking ridiculous aspects of Christmas movies no matter what the network and still enjoying them, this one was just too dumb.