Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 Review
A Sequel That's Just as Good as the Original
Mar 19, 2009
The reason The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants films work so well is because they treat the pants themselves as a McGuffin. What’s a McGuffin? In the words of the immortal Alfred Hitchcock, a McGuffin is, well, nothing really. It’s a person, place or thing that the entire plot sort of revolves around to keep the dramatic juices flowing.
The McGuffin
Of course, it doesn’t matter what the McGuffin is because, no matter its nature, the plot doesn’t change either way. In the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, it’s a pair of magical jeans that happen to fit each of its four main characters perfectly, but it could have just as easily been a magical Yankees cap or a signed poster of Kermit the Frog.
It's for the best that the pants be treated in such a manner because, as can be imagined, a film that focuses on a pair of magical jeans would probably be a tad silly. But the Sisterhood films are not fairy tales and instead are grounded in strong characters, played by good actresses, experiencing real dilemmas of happiness and heartbreak.
There are so few great films for teenage girls, about teenage girls. Juno was one. Here’s another.
Magical Pants
The film revolves around the four separate lives of the rebellious Tibby (Amber Tamlyn), the shy Lena (Alexis Bledel), the adventurous Bridget (Blake Lively) and the emotionally torn Carmen (America Ferrera).
In the first film the girls happened upon a pair of jeans during the summer that magically fit all four of them. As they ventured their separate ways, they would mail the jeans to each other after a week so that they would stay connected all summer despite all being in different places.
Now in college and once again spending their summer apart, the girls again employ the pants to oversee their moments of both joy and pain (although the actual time spent focusing on the pants in this film has considerably diminished).
Lena finds herself torn between a former love and a new one, Bridget tries to find solace in Turkey and then Alabama after her mom’s suicide, Tibby must deal with a pregnancy scare, throwing her already hectic life even more off balance, and Carmen struggles with growing up without direction at a playhouse in Vermont.
Becoming an Adult
That’s essentially the dramatic heart of the film: to let go of being a teenager and grow up, defining yourself within the adult world.
Consequently, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (directed by Sanaa Hamri who also made the undervalued Something New) isn’t as bright as the first film. It’s a little more serious, a little sterner.
The first film was kind of breezy and scenic, basking in the joy of summertime. The sequel (every bit the equal of its predecessor) has some of that quality, but is also more muted, the colour not so vibrant, the landscapes not so exotic.
It looks more real if you will, focusing more on the human element of the girls instead of the backdrops. The series, like its main characters, has grown up a bit.
Four Completely Different Stories
What’s remarkable about this film (and the first) is its ability to draw four completely different stories together into a satisfying whole.
Each character receives the depth and space they deserve to grow and change and discover things about themselves that will ultimately inform the rest of their lives. They, and their situations, may drift close to cliché at times, but they don’t exhibit the shallow, rudimentary existences of say, the girls from the Bratz movie.
Instead they face important challenges that help them grow, both by themselves and, with the help of the pants, together as friends. The Sisterhood 2 may be a tale of facing life’s challenges on the road to maturity, but it is also a touching tale of staying together.
If there is one truth in the film it is that true friendship is based on a reciprocal need between individuals and not a desire to be accepted or any other superfluous reason.
The Sisterhood 2 may tug the heartstrings almost to their breaking point, but does so for the right reasons, with the best of intentions, and the viewer allows it because of its emotional honesty and dedication to its characters.
Verdict
Yes, it’s a wonderful film; one that runs up and down through the entire emotional spectrum without feeling forced or manipulative, rarely allowing its silly premise to dip into the waters of the contrived.
That said, this critics feels sorry for those who, in their superior ways, will not see this sequel because they fancy that a film about a magical pair of pants could never be a good one. One misses a lot of wonderful films with an attitude like that, and misses the point too.
At the end of the film, the girls come upon a mature and truthful realization, which seems to sum up the entire essence of the film: that they don’t really need the pants at all because there are miracles in life that happen on their own terms, within their own time, for their own reasons.
It may be about magic pants, but so what? The film speaks truths that are far greater than that. It’s a film about life, love, discovering yourself through heartache, and having friends to make facing the world a little less daunting. No pair of pants could ever change that.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
