AMBER AND THE PRINCE ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!
So, Amber has made a name for herself blogging about her relationship with the Prince and his family. But, surprise, surprise, none of this is sitting well with the Royals. Well, the Queen and the Prince are a bit distracted by unrest in the country. But the employees of the royal family are dead set on keeping the protocols as the wedding looms.
Amber’s New York bred father is in town and things are off to a rocky start (a new actor is in the role and there is a sort of funny gag where Emily tells Amber that he looks different without his goatee). As the country is in turmoil, the problems become bigger as Amber’s blog gets taken down by the royals and her plans to pick the royal Christmas tree is constantly getting interrupted.
The problem is, the austerity subplot kind of undermines Amber. She seem’s downright petty at times. People are losing their jobs and she is mad about her wedding dress. However, the film does try and fix this, as it does show Amber trying to get to the bottom of just why the country’s infrastructure program is performing so abysmally.
They try and do some surprises, both with returning characters and new ones…but I have to say, the biggest twist was pretty easy to anticipate.
I think if you loved the first one, you will enjoy this one. I found the first film perfectly light entertainment, but I do feel like this film hurts itself with its attempts at real world issues being forced into a fairytale format. I did not hate it, but I cannot recommend this one unless you were a die-hard fan of the first film.
Amber is a journalist with big dreams to break a big story. She gets the assignment to go to a small country and cover its playboy prince, who seems far from ready to inherit the throne. She arrives, only to find that the story she was sent there for is pretty much canceled. But as she expects to return home, she is instead mistaken for the new tutor to the prince’s younger sister, Emily.
Meet Jennifer. She is a hard working executive who oversees the mall that she has worked at since she was 17. She is trying for a promotion within the company. She also only sees Christmas through the lens of profits for the mall. This year to bring people in, she devises the plan to have a Sexy Santa.
Abbey Sutton is a photographer who has been scared to ever take the same risk as her best friend Josh, a famous globe trotting photographer. He comes back to town for Christmas and starts helping her at the local Santa Display as an assisting photographer. Meanwhile, her beloved Grandfather gives her a gift from her late Grandma… an old Advent Calendar that Grandma believed led her to the love of her life.
Stacy is the owner of a small but popular bake shop. Stacy is a nice but constantly trying to control her future. Right before Christmas, her sous chef Kevin and his daughter Olivia that they entered her in a contest… and she won the opportunity for an all expense paid to a European country to participate in a bake-off. Initially, she refuses. But after running into an ex, she impulsively decides to go on the trip. Kevin and Olivia join her (as he is Stacy’s Sous Chef).
Teddy and Kate grew up in a happy home with joyful parents and a truly festive father. Through a series of home videos we meet the family, first Doug and Claire, then Teddy and soon Kate. But by the time we reach the present, the happy family is in a different state…Claire is a nurse struggling to keep her fraying home life together at all. Doug is nowhere to be seen and the once tight-knit Teddy and Kate are in constant fights, in part because Teddy has become withdrawn and started to follow a path of crime.
Tripping Through Gateways 