Seen on: August 7, 2008

The players: Director: Sanaa Hamri, Writer: Elizabeth Chandler, Cast: America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively, Jesse Williams

Facts of interest: Chandler also collaborated on the script for the first film.

The plot: "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" follows four best friends as their embark on the first year of college and the summer beyond.

Our quick thoughts: In 2005’s “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” four best girlfriends spent a summer apart but decided to stay connected by sharing a pair of old jeans that fit each one of them perfectly. Based on the acclaimed novel by Ann Brashares, the big-screen adaptation took four interesting characters and had them face several issues that eventually strengthened their bond and taught them a few valuable lessons about life and love.

This summer the girls return to action in Sanaa Hamri’s “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2,” a pleasant sequel that follows the lifelong friends as they embark on their first year of college and the summer beyond. Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively, America Ferrera and Amber Tamblyn return to reprise the lead roles. 

Many sequels fail to live up to the success and quality of their predecessors, but this second adventure of the sisterhood does quite the opposite. The follow-up takes its characters just as seriously as the first film, following them as they grow older, confront their past, and discover both the beautiful and the tough sides of life.

Over the course of the movie, each girl lives through her crisis and seeks a way back to happiness, hitting several bumps on the way but gaining substantial life experience. Bridget, Carmen, Lena and Tibby all have to deal with a bunch of issues that are an essential part of life, and watching them tackle these problems turns out to be quite refreshing.     

Strong character development doesn’t automatically guarantee a fantastic movie though, and “Pants 2” clearly suffers from some obvious flaws that could’ve been easily dealt with. The film is clearly a lot sappier than its predecessor, and at 117 minutes, it’s also clearly too long for a flick of its kind. That said, the cast is one of the main reasons the movie still ends up working so well. 

Acting honors this time undoubtedly go to Amber Tamblyn, who does a fabulous job at portraying Tibby, the film’s most eccentric character and also probably the one who goes through the most interesting transformation. Bledel, Ferrera and Lively serve as a decent backup, but they can’t quite match Tamblyn’s energy and commitment to her character.

Freaky quote: “To the pants!" – Alexis Bledel

The final word: Although the film’s plot loses pace at times and drags on a bit toward the end, “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” is definitely worth a watch if you’ve already seen the first flick. Following in Ken Kwapis footsteps is Sanaa Hamri, whose direction doesn’t add anything special to the flick but still adequately manages to keep the focus on its four leads. Oh, and what about the pants? Well, they sure get to travel around a lot as well.        

Article by Franck Tabouring