REVIEW: ‘Royalteen: Princess Margarethe’ Is A Solid Netflix Sequel

Netflix doesn’t always do great with sequels. You could argue even its most hotly-anticipated sequel, Glass Onion, failed to live up to its predecessor, or at least the anticipation around it. So my expectations weren’t especially high for Royalteen: Princess Margarethe, the Norwegian Netflix Original directed by Ingvild Søderlind based on the popular books by Anne Gunn Halvorsen and Randi Fuglehaug. But I was pleasantly surprised by what was a perfectly passable teen drama as the titular Princess Margareth (Ines Høysæter Asserson) took center stage this time as we watch her endure struggles with anxiety, addiction, and being a royal teenager.

My perturbance over movies that revolve their entire plot around characters who refuse to communicate is well-documented. It’s easy for teen dramas to default to assuming teens are bad at communicating and therefore audiences should just follow along with any plot that leaves its characters out of each other’s real thoughts and feelings. It would have been a bad movie if that had been the case in Royalteen: Princess Margarethe.

It’s not groundbreaking in any way, and doesn’t even necessarily have interesting relationships or drama in the way the first movie did. But Margarethe herself has a lot of heart as a character. If you, like me, relate to stories of young people getting lost and derive joy in watching them find themselves, then this movie will definitely do it for you.

Margarethe is truly just about all that matters in this movie. An early plotline with her mother’s mental health, carried over from the first movie, is pretty much dropped right away. Subplots with other characters, including her father, her brother and his girlfriend whose feud fueled the whole first movie, and a number of Margarethe’s friends are all in service of her own growth. Which in itself is refreshing. She was a really sympathetic antagonist in the first movie, so spending the entire time diving into her mental health, her relationships, and her innermost fears was a worthwhile journey.

While addiction and mental health depictions were imperfect, they were generally treated well and given at least enough opportunities to be addressed in positive and healthy ways. I really wish Margarethe received more clear and direct support from her friends as they watched her struggle, but at least their lack of support led to two different impactful scenes where the princess was forced to come to terms with her condition because of how it was being reflected back at her. The last big reveal was a tad corny, but it still worked on me, not because of the reveal itself, but because of how it impacted Margarethe.

I also appreciate that Royalteen: Princess Margarethe is somewhat aware that views on monarchies are rather down these days. It somewhat acknowledges the lavishness and privilege as well as the tenuous nature of their royalty. But even still, it’s slight, and you have to watch the movie as though you live in a world where royalty is normal and celebrated to get the best time out of it. And I almost wish we got to see a bit more of the lavish, just for fun. The first movie was very regal and even just some more fancy costumes or shots of decedent homes would have been satisfying.

Royalteen: Princess Margarethe is a fairly decent Netflix sequel. It doesn’t nail everything about its addiction and mental health subjects, but its singular focus on Margarethe and her growth as a teenager felt satisfying, especially as somebody who can relate to the feelings she goes through throughout the movie.

Royalteen: Princess Margarethe is streaming now on Netflix.