Secret Society of Second-Born Royals premiered on 25th September 2020 on Disney+. Directed by Anna Mastro, the 99-minutes-long film stars Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Niles Fitch, Isabella Blake-Thomas, Olivia Deeble, Noah Lomax, Faly Rakotohavana, Ashley Liao, Sam Page, Greg Bryk, Élodie Yung, and Skylar Astin.
The Royal Heroes
“You know the fairytale about the princess waiting for some brave prince to come and save her? Yeah, this is not that kind of story.”
Secret Society of Second-Born Royals revolves around second-born royals who are bestowed with superpowers which start developing as soon as they enter their teen years. So, basically, these royals are also superheroes – royals by day, heroes by night. As soon as these 5 royal kids hit their teens, they start realizing their powers – invisibility, super-sense, adapting anyone’s powers, controlling bugs, and making anyone obey orders.
The 5 royals – Sam (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), Tuma (Niles Fitch), January (Isabella Blake-Thomas), Roxana (Olivia Deeble), and Matteo (Faly Rakotohavana) are then taken away for vigorous training, and if they fail to complete it, their memories about the training and powers would be erased. This marks the beginning of the adventure!
The film has nothing exactly new to it. You know they’ll win and defeat the bad guy and no matter how bad things may look they will come up as heroes. Just everyday Disney stuff! But the movie tries to be more than just the royal-cum-hero film embellished with grandeur and tries to show that the second-born royals are like any other teenager, trying to leave a mark in this world and feeling lonely!
But the most action-driven and interesting evil device in the whole film is the “DNA-based nano-device programmed to target specific genes.” Other than that, it’s just a bit funny and boils down to a teen-adventure Disney flick.
Performances
With a narrative that is mostly a retelling of earlier Disney movies in different shapes and forms, Secret Society of Second-Born Royals features a star cast which justifies the teenage tilt, power, and greed.
The 5 royal teenage heroes, Sam (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), Tuma (Niles Fitch), January (Isabella Blake-Thomas), Roxana (Olivia Deeble,) and Matteo (Faly Rakotohavana), bring their characters to life on-screen in an appreciable way and make for an engaging watch.
Elodie Yung as Queen Catherine and Ashley Liao as Eleanor, the successor, and daughter to the Queen and Sam’s elder sister brings on-screen beauty and power, especially Queen Catherine.
And lastly, Skylar Astin as Professor James Morrow is impressive without fail throughout and Greg Bryk as the evil uncle Edmund is not the strong villain you would want to see!
Stream It or Skip It
SKIP IT! Secret Society of Second-Born Royals is ultimately not just about rebellion or anything against monarchy and more about valuing one’s family and the power of teamwork, which is the message of literally every other Disney movie.
The movie features no special special-effects – nothing you haven’t seen before. The setup is grand but not exactly mind-blowing and the screenplay is Disney’s safe and tried-and-tested formula!
Secret Society of Second-Born Royals is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
Read our other reviews here.