DVD: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

Yeah, I watched it.

Strangely, this film doesn't actually suck as much as it should. Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 is actually better than the first one (yeah I watched that one, too. Big whoop, wanna fight about it?), but it is still not good. The sequel falls victim to the same problems encountered in the first one that are inherent in trying to tell four stories in depth in only 100 minutes. There are brief moments of poignancy, but they are vastly overshadowed by the directionless nature of the storytelling. The other problem both films share is their complete lack of a climax. The tension hardly builds, and the peak of the film is weakly dispersed between the individual subplots. When it all comes together and they join forces to confront a crisis, the crisis is incredibly minor and seems almost whiny that it exists in the first place. There are more genuine crises in this sequel, though the biggest one is resolved very early on.

Another problem with this one is that the magic pants played a psychosomatic role in the plot in the first film, but they take backseat to the problems of the budding young college students. Most of the time you forget that the pants even exist. That actually works in the story's favor, though, because it allows the girls to deal with their problems realistically like adults should instead of relying on these gross pants to solve all of their problems. Don't you see? It wasn't the pants, it was their friendship that kept them together all along. Awwww. It should really just be called The Sisterhood.

Anyway, the plots are boringly simple, but since they are each allotted only about twenty-five minutes of the film each, it's confusing trying to figure out how they managed to fail at telling such simple stories given such time. The confusion is so rampant that the film almost gets lost in itself and you forget that there is another story happening to one of the other girls because you have spent so much time dealing with a certain other girl's issues. And for that matter, two stories seem to get more attention than the other two.

Sure, this movie is trite and overweight, much like it's character Tibby, but it is painless. The acting is atrocious at times, so much so that it seems like some performances are taking place on a different set at a different time. It takes a certain strength to make the lines shared between characters so disparate. The detachment is impressive, actually. Then, a minor character completely disappears from the movie about a half hour from the end and is not even mentioned again.

I could have survived without seeing either of these movies. There is nothing particularly unique about even some of the most powerful moments. Brief shining spots of poignancy are hastily lost in the haze of trying to follow all the stories anyway, and they are just as easily forgotten. I recall that there were moments where I connected to the movie and the characters, but looking back, I can't recall any specific moments of such clarity. I suppose that's a testament to the film's gravity more than anything.

Wikipedia says that this second film is a blend of plots from the second, third, and fourth books in the series (and there are only four), so we may not be able to look forward to a trilogy with this one. I can say with confidence, though, that the world will be at no loss if this is to happen. It's not like the films are bad, they are just forgettable fluff. Film history will prove indifferent to this pair of films, I'm sure. I know I already am.

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Special Features:

• Additional Scenes
• Bloopers
• Behind-the-Scenes Featurette