Movie Review: The Sisterhood of the     
                     Travelling Pants 2

By: Clarissa Wong

Throw in two up and coming TV
celebrities, Ugly Betty’s America
Ferrera and Gossip Girl’s Blake
Lively, with two old timers,
Gilmore Girls’ Alexis Bledel and
Joan of Arcadia’s Amber
Tamblyn, and you’ll get the
main cast of The Sisterhood of
the Traveling Pants 2.

They finished their first year at
different colleges across the
Northeast and apparently the
dreadful Freshmen Fifteen did
not defeat the flexibility and
the magic of their beloved blue
jeans. The BFFs stand out
distinctly in their own individ-
ual summer wardrobe and indiv-
idual stories. Carman is lost in
her own shadow as she follows
her tall blonde college friend,
Julia, into theater camp after
realizing the other three have
made summer plans excluding
her.  Now in college, she begins
to grow doubts about the strength of the sisterhood.

Tibby realizes her fear of becoming close to the people she loves and
attempts to simply run away from them. Yet on the other hand, Bridget
confronts her fear, the memory her mother’s haunting suicide, by
seeking out closure from her long lost grandmother in Alabama. Although
Lena’s story is not quite as deep or quite as interesting as the other girls’,
she begins to figure out what her heart really wants in terms of love.
Overall, the girls’ families play a more significant role in this sequel,
especially as seen in Bridget’s tale. All four diverse adventures intertwined
together to show the brave and the beautiful sides of the four girls as they
grow into four strong, independent women. What stood out the most for
me was the lack of focus on their romantic relationships with their
charming and very attractive six-pack-abs boyfriends, proving there are
more important issues in these girls’ lives than obsessing about boys.

Although there are some dips into romance - such as when Tibby loses
her virginity to her endearing boyfriend of ten months, Brian, when Lena
tries to get over her first love, Kostas, the gorgeous Greek from the last
movie, by dating a male model, Leo, from her figure sketching class or
when Carman gradually falls for the British male lead, Ian, in the summer
play - I enjoyed how the spotlight consistently focuses on the heroines’
personal struggles rather than twisting the movie completely into ‘girl
power gone wild’ by exploiting the male counterparts into cruel creatures
of humanity who must be destroyed.

But don’t worry: you’ll still get that sugary sweet sickening feeling in your
stomach by the end of the movie.  Even though the girls run into some
bickering and slowly realize their sisterhood is falling apart, nothing ever
escalates into a catfight or any real sense of rage, weaving in the warm
fuzzy feeling of friendship can endure all even in the tough transition
from childhood into womanhood. The girls’ sisterhood faces a realistic
and familiar struggle many new college students encounter with their old
high school friends, making the movie relatable to even girls in college.  

This summer, Carmen, Bridget, Lena and Tibby discover like in any
relationship, whether with boys, friends, family or most importantly,
with oneself, takes a lot more work than a miraculous pair of blue jeans.
The heart of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is about the evolving
but difficult relationship with oneself, dealing with different types of
growing pains such as insecurities, old wounds, and of course,
friendships, and a movie I would recommend if you don’t mind sitting
through some sappy moments of “friends forever.”