Director: Sanaa Hamri
Cast: America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively, Jesse Williams, Michael Rady, Blythe Danner
Production company: Warner Bros. Pictures
Rating: PG-13 for mature material and sensuality
By Gregg Tubbs
How do you follow up the highly successful Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? With a film that is almost three sequels in one! Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 rejoins the four girls and their magical “one size fits all” jeans as they continue their journey toward adulthood. As with the first film, this journey will take them around the country and across the globe. And once again, the trickiest terrain they will have to navigate is the landscape of the human heart. As they explore both their external and internal landscapes, the girls will learn about love, loyalty, loss; the bonds that connect us to our loved ones like threads running through a magical pair of pants.
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is more like three sequels in one. Based on Ann Brashares' best-selling series of novels, Pants 2 leapfrogs over the second and third books, picking up bits along the way, until finally settling on the fourth and last book in the series, Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood, from which it draws most of its story. I don’t know whether this decision resulted from a choice not to make multiple sequels or whether it was an acknowledgement that the four returning actresses from the original film have gotten three years older. In the opening scenes, we catch up with Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), Carmen (America Ferrera), Bridget (Blake Lively) and Lena (Alexis Bledel) in the months following their first year of college. They are older, but are they any wiser?
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Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 rejoins Carmen (America Ferrera), Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), Lena (Alexis Bledel) and Bridget (Blake Lively) and their magical “one size fits all” jeans as they continue their journey toward adulthood. Copyright © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures.
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As the film opens, the four friends from Bethesda, Maryland are scattered again, both geographically and emotionally. They feel disconnected from family and friends, and for the first time, their magical pair of pants does not seem to be working its magic. Rather than drawing them together, the pants, which they mail from one to the other, just seem to remind them how far apart they have grown. The theme of separation and reunion runs deep through the film, and as the magic of the pants seems to wane, the girls learn that it’s up to them to sustain their friendship.
Each of the girls finds herself dealing with additional estrangements. After a lonely year at Yale, Carmen spends the summer in Vermont working at a theater festival, away from her pregnant mother and feeling more isolated than ever. Finishing an incomplete script for a class, Tibby is in New York, alienated from her boyfriend and fearing she’s pregnant with his child. Bridget is on an archeological dig in Turkey, estranged from her father who mysteriously hid from her dozens of letters from her grandmother. Lena, whose romance with Kostas in Greece was central to the first film, is heartbroken when she learns that he is married and buries herself in summer school at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Whereas the first film was about the unbreakable bonds that connect people who love one another, this film is about how we cope when those bonds fray and break. The film explores romantic bonds, family bonds and the bonds of friendship—and though each is different, the girls learn some universal truths about love in all its varieties. They learn to trust their loved ones and never take them for granted; and to be patient and not judge them too harshly or give up on them too quickly. They learn about loyalty and forgiveness and a little bit about faith. As their faith in the magic of the pants lessens, they begin to have more faith in themselves and one another.
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The value of family figures prominently, particularly for Bridget who must rediscover her distant grandmother and forgive her father, who she blames for their estrangement. Copyright © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures.
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The value of family figures prominently, particularly for Bridget who must rediscover her distant grandmother and forgive her father, whom she blames for their estrangement. Bridget learns that sometimes people do things that seem cruel out of love, and that a little communication and forgiveness often can mend a broken relationship. The birth of Carmen’s brother teaches both Carmen and Tibby (the girl with the most tenuous connection to her family) about the miracle of new life and how family bonds continue from one generation to another.
“The pants came into our lives for a reason,” says Carmen. She was right: The pants helped the girls grow up and learn to rely on themselves. They also learn that making on your own doesn’t mean you have to be alone. Family, friends and true love can survive over distance and time. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is a satisfying, heartwarming and romantic story about love and forgiveness.
Study Questions
Have you read the
Traveling Pants books? What did you think of the decision to jump ahead to the fourth book?
Did this film stay true to the themes of the books? Why or why not?
What are the main themes of the film? (For example, friendship, love, family, etc.)
Carmen opens the film by saying “The pants came into our lives for a reason.” Do you believe there is a reason behind the things that happen to us? Do you believe God has a purpose for your life? How do you begin to discern God’s purpose for your life?
Why does Tibby break up with her boyfriend? Would you have done the same?
Forgiveness is an important theme in the film. Which storyline do you think had the most to say about forgiveness? Why?
Why is forgiveness an important theme for Christians? What did Jesus say when asked about forgiveness? (See Mt 18:21–19:1, Mark 11:25). How are Jesus’ life and death related to God’s grace and forgiveness? How does God’s forgiveness require and enable us to forgive others?
Have you ever later discovered that someone who did something to hurt you actually acted out of love? Is the intent behind an action more important than the effect it has?
Carmen describes moments when life seems to “lift up and take off.” What did she mean? How does each girl in the film experience one of those moments? Have you ever had a similar experience?
What do the pants symbolize in the film? Why do you think they played a lesser role in the second film?
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