Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants 2

This movie isn’t made for me, so I hate it. I guess I need more explosions or grown men wearing superhero costumes to be more interested.

It’s a couple years after the last movie took place, and the girls are back and ready to get in their pants for more adventures. Of course, these are not the type of ladies who have to work over summer break to pay for college, so Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) is heading back to NY to complete the required romantic comedy for her NYU film school program. Lena (Alexis Bledel) is off to the Rhode Island School of Design for a special summer course. Bridget (Blake Lively) is jetting off to Turkey to participate in an archeological dig, while Carmen (America Ferrera) finds herself in Vermont participating in a summer stock production featuring big time Broadway and Shakespearean actors. And, in keeping with the theme, the traveling pants will be rotated among each of them and they will share information about the magical adventures they have in (and out of) the pants.

Can they handle another summer of romance, broken hearts, family drama and more?

Are these four lifelong friends starting to drift apart?

Who gets custody of the pants if they break up?

Female teens, tweens and those ladies who still hold onto the precious hope and romance of youth will be enraptured by this movie, but Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 doesn’t have the same magic of the first. The dialogue is not as interesting. The stories are much more predictable, and the adventures seem less well defined.

Writer Elizabeth Chandler and director Sanaa Hamri feel like they are trying to cram too much into one movie, yet, it also feels like a never ending tale dragging on and on and on, since context, meaningfulness and depth are sacrificed for more events and showdowns. Some characters appear out of nowhere for unnatural dramatic effect (Lena’s sister), while some are dropped for too long to make their returns all that important to the story anymore (Carmen’s pal, Julia). Better development of each tale, with less clutter, would make the movie more interesting. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is one of those rare movies that has too much and not enough happening at the same time.

My friend and colleague, Nell “The Movie Mom” Minow, often writes about how young people want to see the same characters and same stories over and over again because they find some comfort in the predictable, but parents who might have watched the first Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with young kids should be aware that the movie is a heavy PG-13 with much of the story focused on sexuality and the ramifications of it, so it might not be appropriate for those under 12.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is rated PG-13 for mature material and sensuality.