I love rewatching these films over the holidays each year despite knowing they're utterly mediocre and predictable. The ordinary American girl meets prince of a small country plot has certainly been done before (hello The Prince & Me), but the added mystery element does elevate the films, even if the resolution to each mystery is fairly unsurprising. However, after numerous rewatches, i find Amber to be somewhat insufferable as a protagonist. The films are notably feminist, but it's white feminism and nothing at all new. After all, she's still marrying into what appears to be a mostly absolute monarchy. Parliament seemed to play a role in the first film but in the second it was the King making policy. So that aspect of the films, of Amber being some revolutionary queen, rings really hollow. But it's not that that bugs me. I generally love Rose McIver, but my god. In this film, Amber is super quick to judge her best friend for falling in love with the reformed Simon, and also super quick to assume that Simon must be behind the missing treaty. When she goes into labor and the doctor calls to say she is stuck in the snow, and Richard decides to run to her aid, Amber says, "but the baby is coming!!" like... do you want to do this without the doctor?? Completely irrational. And then there's the curse. The fact that she seems to completely but into the story of the curse over the course of the film, despite multiple mature adults telling her it's just superstition, is alarming. Like come ON gurlfriend.
Anyway LOVE Princess Emily as always.
Anyway LOVE Princess Emily as always.