“The Princess Switch: Switched Again” was released on Netflix on Nov. 19, almost exactly a year after the release of its well received prequel, “The Princess Switch”. 

With its launch just in time for the holiday season, I had expected to spend the next two hours enjoying a hearty, comforting Christmas movie. Yet in the end, I found myself laboriously picking out the flaws of main actress Vanessa Hudgens from playing the three main characters simultaneously. And although expected from a cliche Christmas romcom movie, there was too little substance to be found.

In the prequel, a Chicago baker Stacy stumbles on Duchess Margaret of Montenaro, who looks exactly like Stacy, at a Christmas baking competition. Margaret asks Stacy to switch places with her to get a taste of the ordinary world. Margaret falls in love with Stacy’s lifelong friend Kevin, as does Stacy with Prince Edward of Belgravia, Margaret’s fiancee. 

In the most recent film, Margaret and Kevin’s relationship has been hindered by her unexpected inheritance of the throne in Montenaro. Stacy and Olivia conceive a plan for Margaret and Stacy to switch places again and create a second chance for the pair to realize their invincible love for each other. But another scheme deliberately devised by Margaret’s evil cousin, Fiona, to steal Margaret’s throne, almost results in an ephemeral expectancy of the couple’s happiness.

The contrived propositions set in motion a triple switch, with Margaret, Stacy and Fiona’s identical appearances. This plot is only made possible by Hudgens who stars as all three of them.

Though my eyes heedlessly accepted the plot, my brain could not process three characters appearing in the same shot, having a conversation with one another as starkly contrasting characters. Hudgen’s triple duty preoccupied my mind throughout the entire film and  undoubtedly hindered my ability to empathize with each character. In particular, her two different British accents utterly distracted me from the plot. Not only did she speak awkwardly, her native American accent manifested itself every so often. 

Moreover, the movie’s attempt to create a royal scene for the audience, who are thirsting for an otherworldly fantasy in times of harsh reality, was a fiasco. As opposed to “The Princess Diaries” series, which draws a sublime picture of royalty, “The Princess Switch” fails to draw from its audience an admiration towards a princess. One of the many scenes that blatantly neglect royal customs is when Margaret demands the coronation to advance the coronation without any trouble. Even one who is ignorant of royal policies would assume that a regal event would be rendered with greater weight by the palace. 

“The Princess Sitch: Switched Again” is a disappointing one-man show that fails to match its prequel, due to its addition of a doppelganger who overcomplicates the already preposterous plot. It broke my faith in Vanessa Hudgens, who had been my childhood favorite from her lovely role in the “High School Musical” series. Though she has confirmed the production of a third sequel to the series, it is one that I am certainly not looking forward to if she plays three — or possibly even more — roles again.