The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

I feel this movie was really good. I remember when the first one came out and I was like, so lame. I eventually came around and saw it but it was okay. When I heard they were making a second one I was really happy. I think this movie had a lot of variety. At one point you would think it was going to end and then it started up again with drama. I think all of the girls are amazing in this and I like that the movie wasn't generic. I noticed there were some plot twists that could have gone the usual way in that the characters win but it wasn't always like this. I give the movie a nine compared to the eh, 7 I would give to the first.

Once again, another rating that baffles me here on IMDb, now granted, I haven't read the novels that The Sisterhood is based upon, but I really did enjoy the first movie, more than I thought I would. So I was looking forward to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, curious what the girls were up too in the story. The reason I like these movies so much is because they're very real; except for the traveling all around the world despite as if money was no issue, these being college girls mind you. But the story provides teenage girls who look like your average teenagers, their stories are very relatable if you are a girl, and we have comedy, romance, and drama, a typical chick flick, but thankfully these movies are enjoyable one's that don't push it. I felt like these girls are just so much fun and like I could know them in real life.

Tibby has moved to New York, studying film and works at a movie store, but she has a bad pregnancy scare when her boyfriend's condom breaks. Thankfully it's a false alarm, but she is scared of her heart being broken once again. Lena goes to Greece for her Grandfather's funeral, she sees Kostos, but he is now married and is having a baby, so she takes an art class at home and starts dating the model that she is currently drawing. Carmen goes to Vermont to be in a drama club, expecting to work behind the scene, her leading man crush encourages her to audition and she gets a lead role causing some jealousy around the more experienced actors. Bridget goes to Turkey on an archaeological dig and finds out more about herself and goes home, but first she has to see the grandma who she thought didn't love her, it turns out she learns more about herself and her mother. But these girls have let their friendship go and must find a way to make the magic of the pants work once again.

I would honestly recommend The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, I really did enjoy the story and acting, along with the characters. I think The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is a notch below the first film, but it still works. There are minor flaws here and there, but it's very easy to get past, I don't understand the rating of 6.0 here on IMDb, this is an honest and genuine film that I think a lot of people could enjoy. I think my favorite story this time was with Carmen once again, she's the character I can relate to most and she's very much the under dog of the story. But all the girls are a pleasure to watch on screen, they make you laugh and just have a great time with their journeys. This is a wonderful movie and I can't wait to see it again.

7/10

I liked the first movie. It had heart. Even though the girls were far apart, you felt like the pants did connect them via some magical power. The sequel is so plot-thin. The characters also struggle with the same things as last time. Lena has to fight for what she wants. Bridget has to stop running away from pain. Tibby has to let people in on her pain. And Carmen struggles with insecurity and feeling left out/alone. While these are all relatable feelings, they're basically repeats from the first movie and they aren't explored in any great ways. I feel like the first movie depicted the pain of three of the girls pretty well (all except Lena...that girl doesn't have a real problem, they just had to invent one for her). This movie felt extra disjointed and robotic.

The next chapter in the tale of the denim divas follows them to all corners of the earth, but separately. Each of the girls leaves for the summer to follow their own path, their own heart and where it takes them is not always right along side each other. One goes to drama camp to find out her place in the theater might not be behind the curtains at all, while another goes to art school only to find drawing passion and heart can't be done when the artist has closed hers off. One more girl learns the past is only as far your last conversation with someone you care about, while lastly another finds looking into the future is more frightening when you imagine it alone. Each young woman travels their own road and this story is how they find themselves and each other once again along the way.

After reading all that it might feel like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 has stuffed way too much into those wildly decorated jeans, but the movie shows itself to be a great example of intelligent and accomplished editing. Each storyline is touched on, taken in and then moved on from with impeccable timing, never overstaying its welcome and never leaving the audience wondering what was going on with the rest of the girls. Everyone is granted a wealth of screen time and that passes on to the viewer a level of visual respect, so we can decide for ourselves which person we want to route for (if not all of them, which in my case, it wasn't, but I'll get to that later). Credit is assuredly given to the director, Sanaa Hamri, for her work, but I want to lend a special round of digital applause to the editor, Melissa Kent, for really keeping a well balanced performance intact for everyone involved.

About those performances, let's take a closer look at the set up and how it differs from the first time these pants made their appearance on the silver screen. We have four young up-and-coming actresses in Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively, Amber Tamblyn and America Ferrera. When the first movie came out Alexis was riding high on the back of Gilmore Girls mania, while Amber had recently enjoyed critical acclaim in her starring turn on Joan of Arcadia (although not the public rating support that usually accompanies such high reviews). This time around, Alexis and Amber have taken a back seat to the Emmy and Golden Globe winning America Ferrera from the critic's wonder darling, Ugly Betty and the hype/buzz machine powerhouse of Blake Lively and her adolescent hormone extravaganza, Gossip Girl. Behind the scenes the dynamic may have changed, but on screen you would never know how far things had shifted. There is a palpable level of camaraderie between these four young girls, but how far that lasts when the cameras are off is hard to tell. Personally, the two current headliners, Blake and America, stole the show with their respective performances, especially Blake, while Alexis held her own and Amber fell a little flat. Part of Amber's problem is she has the character with the least reason to support her. For most of the movie she is grumpy, frumpy and bordering on goth. While each of the other girls are stretching and reaching out, Amber's character is retreating inward, causing a slight disconnect with the rest of the pack. On the other side of the gender line, there are the men in the picture. No teen chick flick is complete without the heartthrob young men to make the girls swoon, but in most stories there are also the jerks and brutish young punks who hurt or disappoint the girls first, which sends them running to the male best friend who they never looked at in that way before, but they see, and so on and so on. In this story I felt a little break in that belief in the world it created because every guy in the film was perfect. They were all total gentlemen, caring, sensitive, bursting with charm, and to top it all off most of them looked they had just walked out of the gym after a 24-hour work out bender (all except for Blake's dad, which can be excused in this case). The only reason this stood out as a problem for me was they had every guy throwing themselves at their feet, so their only real problem was with themselves, and that makes for very few hurdles to jump over which are not self-imposed.

In the end the movie is enjoyable and the people in the crowd I was a part of all had their share of cheering moments. It's a chick flick in its purest form, but that doesn't mean all the boyfriends and best friends out there have to moan and groan when they get dragged to it. The theater experience really doesn't bring anything special to it, so you guys out there might even be safe until DVD release, but once that comes, you better find yourself a comfy pillow on the couch because you can be sure this will get heavy rotation.

p.s. My friend would be remiss if I didn't mention her issue with the casting of the male model character in Alexis Bledel's story arc. Not a bad actor at all, but she got the vibe he (or his character) wasn't really into Alexis, or her character, or her gender… Oh SNAP! And I would be remiss not to mention that since this is a sequel with no sub-title it will forever be known to me as The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2: Electic Boogaloo.

" Promise draining away with duration. A little romance with too much complication. Not enough anecdotal inspiration. Film finds itself in a mediocre rank location."

Sisterhood of the traveling pants 2 (6.5/10)

Setting the scene

Imagine you are a bee ... Out on the hunt for nectar. You don't find a sweetly scented rose but end up settling on a daisy. The daisy is fine. It still provides the nectar you want but you wonder. You wonder if your fellow bees have found a flower which is more salubrious. This is the theme of the scene setting. The not knowing of characters lives and how they are unfolding. This is a capture. Gets you wanting to know more and acts as an effective hook.

Main body

The beginning shows real promise with many dramatic emotional scenes with 2 of the main characters. You almost expect some relationship development but nothing feels long term. It feels like nothing is real or deep enough to provide a real romance vibe.

Perhaps the art of the film is it's action and progression but for this, all the scenes and characters should be as emphatic as each other. This just isn't the case. The second film learns from the issue of focusing too heavily on the main character in the first. With this though it struggles to make each small excerpt from every character dramatic.

The greatest drama begins with a combination of characters. One is left out from any really emotional or engaging events. Things get a little tedious later on since the drama is siphoned just towards the main character. Only a short snippet for the left out character is provided to try to reengage or wake up the viewer. This seems a bit desperate and feeble however and some stones are left unnecessarily unturned.

The main body therefore seems to fade away and could benefit from a little truncation or just quality time focusing on relationships. That said the stories do have variety but just aren't on the whole that entertaining.

Music

Quieter music as well as increased fading was used especially well for sadness and turmoil. This enhanced the authenticity for just one of the characters though. Again this was far more effective at the early part of the main film body but by the end was not noticeable unfortunately. In general the music was calming and relaxing which suits the films friendship vibes although perhaps needs changing up where things are threatened or more exciting.

Ending

The ending is too much like the first which is a shame. There could have been a twist in the tale or the significance of the pants revealed which would have been nice.

Summary

A varied combination lacking seasoning. Not fully reasoned and seasoned by any stretch although some good relationship scenes, location variety and number of life snippets just about get you to the end of the film. No better or worse I feel than the original but the film appears to suffer from less surprise after viewing the first.