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| The first Royalteen was able to shed the image of a silly royal rom-com with a more serious tale of a girl who made past mistakes and had to balance a new love with her new reality, both of which clashed with who she used to be. That happened with Princess Margrethe on the sidelines; a minor character who tried to bully Lena into repeating her past mistakes while insisting she was a picture perfect princess doing everything for her family. Now she has her own movie. | 2023 Directed by: Ingvild Søderlind Screenplay by: Randi Fuglehaug, Anne Gunn Halvorsen, and Marta Huglen Revheim Starring: Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne | |
| Royalteen: Princess Margrethe opens where the first one left off. Margrethe (Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne) is rushed to the hospital after collapsing at prom. A mix of drugs including cocaine, and her annoyed parents (not concerned, just annoyed) will not be sending her to rehab or a psychiatric facility she’ll just have to suck it up. Margrethe then goes back to school and continues to do drugs and make bad decisions. You see, she’s frustrated by how her cruel and incompetent mother expects her to be perfect all the time. And that’s the entire movie. It’s almost shocking how boring the sequel is compared to the first one that had a lot to say about teenagers over-indulging and found interesting ways to say all of it. The second one just follows a sad and maladjusted Margrethe around while she juggles two boys neither of whom she deserves. And one of whom is the Prince of Denmark. Lena is barely in this movie, which is fair, her life has been resolved. But Kalle is also barely in this movie. He has a few lines, flashes his pretty smile, and maybe once shows some slight concern for his twin sister. Kalle was one of the best love interests this genre has seen, and for the sequel they turned him into a lamppost – he momentarily brightens up the screen when he’s in it and then stands around and does nothing. There was plenty of time to navigate other storylines, or most essentially explore Kalle as he struggles to support a sister who’s quickly on her way to rock bottom. But Royalteen: Princess Margrethe does none of that. After establishing all these characters in the first movie and being able to jump right in, the movie then proceeds to tell the most boring possible version. The actress is great, remarkably charismatic, but there just isn’t enough here for her. It’s frustrating because Royalteen really did elevate the genre and while Princess Margrethe doesn’t degrade the genre, it just does nothing instead. | ||
Available on Netflix (worldwide)