I loved the first movie, it got me into the books, and then I loved the books.

The major drawback of this sequel is simply that the main love interest of the books and first movie is no longer around.  He’s been written off, probably because they couldn’t get that actor back or maybe because they just didn’t see how they could explain the complexity of Michael and Mia’s relationship in only two hours.  Plus, they left it pretty set-in-stone in the last movie that they were a couple and couples with issues don’t really make Disney sequels (well, okay, Mulan, but that was special).

I found a way to enjoy it, though: pretend it’s not a sequel.

That’s it.  Just pretend it’s a random princess movie using actors you’ve seen elsewhere.  Pretend it has no affiliation to The Princess Diaries and I promise that makes it perfectly enjoyable.