CHRISTMAS CAPSULES: The Princess Switch (2018)

The only thing worse than one Vanessa Hudgens...

Oh God, stop me if you've heard this one before: Two lookalikes switch places to experience life from the other person's viewpoint for a few days. In this case, it's Vanessa Hudgens, who gets to play both a baker from Chicago, and a Duchess who is sick of spending life as royalty. Along the way, they'll learn a few things about Christmas, love, but above all...themselves.

I know, I know, Christmas movies are supposed to be trite, familiar stories that audiences already know scene-for-scene without even having to watch them. In fact, all American movies are basically required to follow that formula (as the thousands of movie-based-on-popular-comic-book movies released monthly can attest); but the best ones, at least for me, are ones that at least try to breathe some new life into the subgenre. Hell, even if it can omit just one genre cliché, that can be considered a small victory. Such a notion is too advanced for The Princess Switch, which pretty much just relies on the overrated looks of Vanessa Hudgens to carry the movie from beginning to end.

I'll admit, her looks did grow on me a little bit by the end--she does have that perfect kind of innocence in her face that almost makes her destined to star in one of these vehicles--but it's obvious that most, if not all, of the budget went toward appeasing her, leaving nothing else but the standard mix of unimaginative jokes and two equally uninspiring love stories. In short, it's just the sort of thing die-hard fans of these movies will gobble up unequivocally, but that won't win over anyone else.

RATING: 4/10 (Note: These ratings are weighted and adjusted for Christmas movies and are not at all comparable to ratings of "real", "normal" "films".)

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