The drama and daunting task of growing up is brought out in the friendships shown in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Four friends must stay connected while becoming independent women and learning about their purpose in life.
Sisterhood 2 is a sequel about lifelong friends who take different paths on their road to college and the summer beyond. Though the four girls are far apart, their devotion to one another is immeasurable and they share a bond that can?t be broken.
In the previous Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, inseparable friends Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), Carmen (America Ferrera), Lena (Alexis Bladel) and Bridget (Blake Lively) discover a pair of magical blue jeans. The jeans fit each girl perfectly, despite their varying shapes and sizes. They decide that only the seeming magic of the pants will connect them as they separate for the summer.
In Sisterhood 2, based on the books penned by Anne Brashares, the girls are now in college and face adult problems.
Suffering from the loss of her mother two years previously, Bridget goes on an archeological dig in Turkey. Tibby brings her sarcasm to New York to study film at New York University. Lena goes to visit her grandmother in Greece and runs into her ex-boyfriend, Kostos. Meanwhile, Carmen joins a drama club in Vermont while dealing with the stress of a stepfather and future sibling.
As the girls separate to pursue their dreams, they trade off possession of the traveling pants, in turn writing each other frequent letters to remain connected. The girls firmly believe that the traveling pants will give them strength as they handle very different problems.
After coming to a conclusion about family ties, Bridget abandons her dig in Turkey to fly to Alabama in order to connect with her estranged grandmother. There, she learns about her mother’s legacy as a free-spirited woman who couldn’t handle the stress of the real world. However, Bridget’s grandmother teaches her that she can grow to overcome the same struggles her mother faced ? with or without the traveling pants.
Lena, meanwhile, is trying to get over Kostos, who she dumped despite her affection towards him. To distract herself, she meets a new model in her figure-art class who may become more than a friend. Though one of the lesser parts of the film, Lena’s tale offered sufficient romance.
The stories of both Carmen and Tibby were by far the most entertaining, perhaps because of America Ferrera’s vivacity and the drama Amber Tamblyn’s character faces.
In drama camp, Carmen gets the lead role with the help of her new beau. While the awe over her finesse as a Shakespearian actress is a little hard to believe, her act becomes extremely fun to watch because of her great emotion and passion.
Tibby, however, is dealing with a much more serious issue: she encounters a pregnancy scare and, fearing the outcome, she distances herself from her head-over-heels-in-love boyfriend.
This movie understands teenagers because the actors are very real and deal with problems teenage girls actually encounter. It is full of humor, romantic flings and life-changing events, creating a chick flick feel.
The one major negativity about the film is the four different viewpoints, forcing the viewers to gloss over several important parts throughout the movie. The story also suffers because the script spends more time focusing on the girls’ latest boy obsessions rather than the sisterhood itself.
The magical pants were also pushed aside throughout the whole movie, pushing the sisterhood apart, though this was a key plot point in the film. Without the pants, the girls are forced to come together themselves to renew their friendship.
As the girls? teenage years come to a close, they learn more about their potential futures and work on becoming more independent women. They learn that even as they grow older and continue to drift apart they can always rely on each other. They each experience rocky paths and learn to deal with problems on their own.
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants II may still be playing in theaters. Check Fandango for listings and times. For more reviews, visit Rotten Tomatoes.
