The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
A summer to remember
What makes summer special? Is it the heat, the holidays or the happenings? Many movies try to answer that question, from first love (The Summer of ‘42) to anything under the sun (Eric Rohmer’s summer films). The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is the latest to join the bandwagon. Watching it will make audience be more grateful for the summer.
Four best friends spend their first summer apart from one another. Shy Lena (Alexis Bledel) visits her grandparents in Greece. Self-assured Bridget (Blake Lively) goes to a soccer camp in Mexico and falls in love with one of the coaches. Awkward Carmen (America Ferrera) is expecting quality time with her dad in South Carolina, but she feels left out instead after meeting his fiancée and his soon-to-be stepchildren. Jaded Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) remains at home, films a movie, and befriends a young girl named Bailey.
To keep in touch, they pass a pair of Levi’s pants to each other, as well as the adventures they are going through while apart. What’s magical about the jeans is each one of them fits perfectly into it despite their various shapes and sizes. It also symbolizes a turning point in the life of every girl.
The movie is based on the young adult book of the same title by Anne Brashares. Traveling Pants is not different from The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Now and Then and other girlie flicks, but what makes it distinctive is the chemistry of Bledel (Sin City), newcomer Lively, Ferrera (who made a breakthrough a few years ago with Real Women Have Curves) and Tamblyn (daughter of West Side Story star Russ Tamblyn).
The smooth resolution of the gals’ predicaments is expected and a letdown, but Pants has no pretension - some scenes will touch the sensitive nerve of some moviegoers. Adult viewers will appreciate the skillful handling of issues like ethnic labeling. Younger ones will relate to what it’s like to struggle while discovering one’s identity. Everyone will enjoy listening to the songs being played as the plot unfolds.
However, the best message that can be learned from Pants is the virtue of friendship, and how extraordinary it is when the camaraderie remains unaffected as the years go by. Anyone desires such closeness. It reminds me of the classic quote from Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life: A man is no failure if he has friends.
(First published in Inquirer Libre on August 24, 2005)
What makes summer special? Is it the heat, the holidays or the happenings? Many movies try to answer that question, from first love (The Summer of ‘42) to anything under the sun (Eric Rohmer’s summer films). The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is the latest to join the bandwagon. Watching it will make audience be more grateful for the summer.
Four best friends spend their first summer apart from one another. Shy Lena (Alexis Bledel) visits her grandparents in Greece. Self-assured Bridget (Blake Lively) goes to a soccer camp in Mexico and falls in love with one of the coaches. Awkward Carmen (America Ferrera) is expecting quality time with her dad in South Carolina, but she feels left out instead after meeting his fiancée and his soon-to-be stepchildren. Jaded Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) remains at home, films a movie, and befriends a young girl named Bailey.
To keep in touch, they pass a pair of Levi’s pants to each other, as well as the adventures they are going through while apart. What’s magical about the jeans is each one of them fits perfectly into it despite their various shapes and sizes. It also symbolizes a turning point in the life of every girl.
The movie is based on the young adult book of the same title by Anne Brashares. Traveling Pants is not different from The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Now and Then and other girlie flicks, but what makes it distinctive is the chemistry of Bledel (Sin City), newcomer Lively, Ferrera (who made a breakthrough a few years ago with Real Women Have Curves) and Tamblyn (daughter of West Side Story star Russ Tamblyn).
The smooth resolution of the gals’ predicaments is expected and a letdown, but Pants has no pretension - some scenes will touch the sensitive nerve of some moviegoers. Adult viewers will appreciate the skillful handling of issues like ethnic labeling. Younger ones will relate to what it’s like to struggle while discovering one’s identity. Everyone will enjoy listening to the songs being played as the plot unfolds.
However, the best message that can be learned from Pants is the virtue of friendship, and how extraordinary it is when the camaraderie remains unaffected as the years go by. Anyone desires such closeness. It reminds me of the classic quote from Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life: A man is no failure if he has friends.
(First published in Inquirer Libre on August 24, 2005)
posted by Francis Rex Alger @ 5:08 PM
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