Synopsis:
In "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," based
on Ann Brashares' best-selling series of novels,
four young women continue the journey toward
adulthood that began with "The Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants." Now three years later, these
lifelong friends embark on separate paths for
their first year of college and the summer
beyond, but remain in touch by sharing their
experiences with each other as they always
have-with honesty and humor. Discovering their
individual strengths, fears, talents and
capacity for love through the choices they make,
they come to value more than ever the bond they
share and the immeasurable power of their
friendship.
The Freak's Rating:
C- : Before the girls who read my reviews
leave based on the grade I gave it, allow me to
say that I am a fan of the first film in this
series. I felt an honest pulling of the
heartstrings during moments of it and truly
enjoyed the characters. Now that most of
the guys who read my reviews have left, those
who are still with me proceed to read the
review.
Directing of Sisterhood 2 is flat as it could
be. First time feature film director Sanaa
Hamri is obviously trying to find her style, but
she should do so while filming something other
than a theatrical release. The
experimentation is obvious and shots are thrown
together with no true sense of consistency.
Writing isn't quite as cheesy as the previous
film, but still goes over the top in delivery
with some characters. The cheesiness was
acceptable in the first film because the overall
casting chemistry and honest portrayal of
emotion overpowered it.
As most sequels do, Sisterhood attempts to pick
us up at the end of the first film and drop us
right into life a few years later. Flaws
of the film immediately begin to show.
Apparently all of the characters hit the reset
button with their emotional lives at some point
between the two films. The adorable
Bailey, a child with a terminal illness (and the
cheesiest lines ever written), had an effect on
Tibby in the first film that seemed to truly
shape her outlook on life. Even though a
visit to Bailey's grave by Tibby and her
boyfriend Brian is shown in the opening
sequences, Tibby soon goes on an emotional ride
that seems as if she'd never met Bailey or
learned a thing from her. Carmen (America
Ferrera), who struggled through a difficult
relationship with her father in the first film,
now seems to have completely turned her back on
him. Her father isn't mentioned once in
the film and the focus is instead turned upon
her struggles with her mother. This could
be forgiven if the first film didn't close on
their emotional reconciliation. Bridget
(Blake Lively) is still coping with the suicide
of her mother, a storyline that you're tired of
the moment it recurs. Leena (Alexis Bledel),
losing about 10-15 pounds unnecessarily since
the first film, has somehow drifted apart from
the Greek fisherman from the first film, only to
(of course) realize she still loves him.
Storylines are flat compared to the beautiful
writing arc they fell under in the predecessor.
Casting was wonderfully done, but cannot be
attributed to the casting director on the sequel
since they were truly cast in the first film.
Chemistry between three of the primary
characters was well done (Blake Lively has
always been kind of thrown in there as the
supposed best-looking one and has never fit in).
Sisterhood 2 attempts to regurgitate the magic
of the first film, failing at nearly every turn.
Nonetheless, performances by the lead actresses
are solid and America Ferrera shines as the most
talented of the bunch. It is always nice
to see a take on the teenage girl that doesn't
involve a prom, a parental sabotage or an
alternate identity, so you can't completely
fault the studios for wanting to stretch out the
series of books across as many films as they
can. Audiences who love the characters may
forgive the lack of storytelling, but those who
require good character arcs will be
disappointed.
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