Disney/NetflixHave you ever wished a Hallmark Christmas movie and a Disney Channel Original Movie had a baby? Well, Christmas came early for you this year, weirdo.
Netflix's latest Christmas movie The Princess Switch premiered on Nov. 16, with many viewers spending their weekend binge-watching the movie, which finds Vanessa Hudgens taking on two (!) roles—a princess and a baker. Shenanigans and romance obviously ensue after the two women, Duchess Margaret Delacourt and Stacy De Novo, happen to cross paths, setting up star-crossed romances with Prince Edward (Sam Palladio) and commoner Kevin (Nick Sagar).
Much like last year's A Christmas Prince, the Netflix Christmas movie about a reporter who falls for the prince of Aldovia, The Princess Switch has quickly become quite popular on Twitter. Mistakes have been noticed. Accents have been made fun of. And a lot of comparison to a lot of other movies have been made.
As any loyal Hallmark or Lifetime fan knows, there are only so many Christmas plots, themes and tropes one can go through before borrowing from movies of Christmases past. But The Princess Switch is a bit different in that it doesn't limit its scene-stealing to just holiday movies. No, no, no. No genre was safe from The Princess Switch, and we've compiled a list of 12 movies we couldn't help but think of during our multiple viewings of Hudgens' Netflix debut...
Somewhere in a beach club on the Greek island of Mykonos, Lindsay Lohan is clearly stewing over the fact that she was not asked to play the dual roles of Princess Margaret and Stacy, an acting challenge that made her a household name long before Mean Girls in the 1998 remake of the Disney classic.
Hudgens is basically doing exactly what Lohan did—British accent and all—in this Netflix take on the classic twin switch. (But minus the whole actually being twins thing but whatever! Logistics have no place in Belgravia or Chicago!) One even needs to chop her hair, just like Annie (though we are fortunately spared a possibly scarring at-home ear piercing situation).
Oh, and Olivia (Alexa Adeosun), Kevin's daughter, catches on to the swap pretty quickly when Margaret doesn't know their handshake—so clearly, they did not watch The Parent Trap closely enough to know you always learn secret handshakes!
A normie is just living her boring life only to stumble into life as a princess? Stacy is just like Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway), minus the whole actually being royalty in a made-up country thing. (Sing it with us now: Genovia, the land I call my home!)
A scene that hit us straight in our nostalgia feels was Stacy being taught how to walk like a princess, just like Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews) teaches Mia.
The Olsen twins did their take on The Parent Trap in this 1995 film, with Ashley playing a rich kid with a hot single dad (‘Sup, Steven Guttenberg!) and Mary-Kate playing an orphan who is very close with her gorgeous social worker (Hi, Kirstie Alley!). The craziest part is NO ONE questions how these two look identical/are not related. Like, Guttenberg isn't at all concerned that he possibly had a second child he never knew about?! At least The Princess Switch kept in a first-draft quickie explanation of how a royal from Belgravia and a baker from Chicago could possibly be related.
Oh, and the whole move with Stacy not knowing how to play piano when asked to do so by Prince Edward? The Olsens did it first, with MK slamming on the keys with reckless abandon when asked to perform at Guttenberg and the evil never-gonna-be-her-step-mom's engagement party.
Another homage? Alyssa Callaway (Ashley) is an accomplished equestrian. Amanda (Mary-Kate, who ironically enough is a very talented equestrian IRL!) is not. Of course, she has to get on a horse, just like Stacy posting as Margaret.
Amanda Bynes totally shook up the stuffy Brits when she traveled across the pond to meet her father, Lord Henry Dashwood (played by the dashing Colin Firth) in this underrated 2003 gem. She comes in like a blaze of American glory—all Kangol hats and crop tops, modernizing the monarchy by getting her once-cool dad to ride a motorcycle again and what not…much like our friend Stacy, with her dreams of helping orphans and weighing in on diplomacy issues.
Hm…an American goes to Europe for the first time only to discover they are a dead ringer for a very famous person. Where have we heard this one before? Oh yeah, with Hilary Duff playing Lizzie and Italian pop star Isabella in her iconic Disney Channel character's big screen debut in 2003.
That scene with Prince Edward asking Stacy to dance (sans music!) in the twinkle-light covered gazebo? Straight outta Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray's modern take on Cinderella from 2004.
While the role won Audrey Hepburn her first Oscar, we're pretty sure V.Hud will not be walking on stage at the Academy Awards for her take on the royal-princess-just-wants-to-be-free-from-a-strict-schedule trope. At least you still have those High School Musical Teen Choice Awards!
So this was Candace Cameron Bure's 2017 Hallmark Christmas movie, which found her playing twin sisters who swap places because they both believe the other's life is just so much easier. Classic sisters! The mom twin's kids catch on pretty quick that their aunt has taken over considering she doesn't know what kind of milk they like or where the spoons are. Also, kind of a mean/rude thing to do to your kids, right?
Meanwhile, the actual mom is busy flirting with her work-obsessed sister's platonic co-worker, who is confused by his feelings ever since seeing a new side of her. Sounds just like sous chef/high school BFF Kev!
Remember this 2011 movie? Selena Gomez's main character happened to be a doppelganger for a British heiress (who, unlike Margaret, kind of sucks!) and international hijinks soon follow.
Technically, they didn't rip off the Netflix so-bad-it's-delightful Christmas movie from last year. No, no, no. They just aired it instead in an wildly wacky meta moment, when it's revealed that A Christmas Prince is actually Stacy's favorite Christmas movie of all-time, with Margaret crying by the end of her first viewing. Just wait until Kevin informs her there is a sequel.
A king who just wants his son, the future king, to marry someone, regardless of whether or not he's in love? Check! Does he eventually come around! Double check! Prince Henry's (Dougray Scott) father eventually approves of his desire to be with Danielle aka Cinderella (Drew Barrymore), meddling evil stepmother and all. Prince Edward's dad, the king, is initially suspicious of the change in Lady Margaret, having his right-hand man Frank, spy on her, only to really not care as long as his son is happy and in love in the end.
OK, straight up, this is a live-action version of this 2004 direct-to-DVD animated movie. (Which, to be fair, is a Barbie-ized version of a Mark Twain novel, but still!)
It finds a blonde princess, Anneliese, and a brunette pauper, Erika, switching places as Anneliese wants an escape from her royal duties and to just be able to be with her true love, her tutor Julian. Erika, meanwhile, is an indentured servant (dark!) who dreams of being a singer and ends up falling for the royal, King Dominick, Anneliese is supposed to marry. Spoiler alert: DOUBLE WEDDING.
The Belgravia Annual International Baking Competition, the whole reason Stacy and Kevin are in the country, seems like a much cattier/glitzier version of everyone's favorite (and the nicest!) baking competition show, affectionately known as GBBO.
Also, roughly 25 percent of Hallmark Channel's many, many Christmas movie offerings each year (36 in 2018 alone!) center around a baking competition. We're not reinventing the (pin)wheel here.
In this Disney Channel Original Movie that came out in (Yes, we are all very old and inching closer and closer to death!), a baseball player who secretly would rather cook than run bases compete in a cook-off that happens to take place during the baseball season! And could win $1 million! And Bobby Flay shows up! Stakes!