Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

Jackie Mason: “It ruled.”

I first have to say, I was a big fan of the original movie. First off, it has the coming together of 4 successful television phenoms - Amber Tamblyn of Joan of Arcadia, Blake Lively of Gossip Girl, America Ferrera of Ugly Betty, and Alexis Bledel of Gilmore Girls. A sisterhood of strong acting will always draw me to a movie. In the overstretched world of sequels, the title and concept of this sequel is simple. But it works. The first movie, taking place the summer the girls are 16 takes them on individual coming of age adventures and ties them together through a mystical pair of pants that somehow fits all of them. This installment picks up after their first year of college. The premise is the same, however, I didn't find myself bored with the concept. I was once again interested in the challenges the girls faced with school, friendship, family, love/romance, sex...all taking them to exotic locals once again. And the format keeps you from zoning out by flipping secen by scene to what a different girl was doing at the time. And who could get sick of seeing blue Mediterranean waters!

Once again, I think I found myself most interested in the stories of Carmen (Ferrera) and Tibby (Tamblyn) Bridget's story (played by Lively) borrows a bit too much from In Her Shoes. Bridget is probably the most troubled character and while she resolved some of ther family issues, I feel that there wasn't enough time to really let her character have any fun (maybe she had too much fun in the first movie when she was in Mexico!) Lena (played by Bledel) portrays a more typical story (love-heartbreak-love), but it is enjoyable anyway and serves as a control to some of the more serious themes and serves as something anyone watching can relate to. The famous pants really take a back seat here. As is fitting. As the girls grow older, silly superstitions become more passe and they are able to deal with the 4 major themes, love, trust, strength in self, and reconciliation with family in a more grown up way (as we all must eventually).

This installment is a perfect follow up to the original movie. The ending didn't really seem to leave room for another after this. I could honestly see a third movie taking place maybe when the girls are say, my age and dealing with themes such as marriage, babies, death of a grandparent perhaps, job choices etc. Done in the right way, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 3 could be just as enjoyable as is 2 predecessors.

− March 1, 2009 • more by Jackie • log in or create an account to reply