I confess, I'm nearly 30, but I've read all the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books by Ann Brashares. The main reason was a friend gave me an autographed copy of the 4th one knowing I'd enjoyed the first one years ago. So, in order to read my gift, I went to the library and read the middle two also. Yes, there are 4 books in the series and I've read them all and now I've seen both movies based on the series. And, in a moment of brilliance, the movie makers chose to make the first and fourth books rather than sticking to the series. Given that the actresses had aged (and the two middle books are pretty boring) it definitely makes sense. Also, the story lines from the last book are much more interesting. They follow Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen as they have summer adventures during college - RISD painting class, NYU summer school, archaeological dig, and summer stock theater in New Hampshire, respectively. Each of the stories is told well, with each of the characters going through something big in the growing pains category in finding their identities. They suffer through angsty broken hearts, family loss and growth, and figuring out how to stay friends with your childhood pals while growing up. Unlike the previous movie or the any of the books, the "pants" connection is really lost in this movie. Yes, they mail them back and forth (as if mail would go to and from Turkey in less than a week?) but the idea that they have magic in them and good things happen when you wear the pants is lost. They jump between characters without the pants being very involved. Also, while I understand they are "magical pants" I have trouble believing a pair of jeans will continue to fit the same 4 girls throughout high school and into college. My own jeans didn't last that long. In general the acting is good (though, Alexis Bledel should stick to TV as much as it pains me to criticize Rory), the stories interesting and believable. Overall, it's a great little movie, entertaining and worth watching on TV someday where I'm sure it will enjoy endless hours of play. 3.5 LAMBS/stars
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Sisterhood Continues
I confess, I'm nearly 30, but I've read all the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books by Ann Brashares. The main reason was a friend gave me an autographed copy of the 4th one knowing I'd enjoyed the first one years ago. So, in order to read my gift, I went to the library and read the middle two also. Yes, there are 4 books in the series and I've read them all and now I've seen both movies based on the series. And, in a moment of brilliance, the movie makers chose to make the first and fourth books rather than sticking to the series. Given that the actresses had aged (and the two middle books are pretty boring) it definitely makes sense. Also, the story lines from the last book are much more interesting. They follow Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen as they have summer adventures during college - RISD painting class, NYU summer school, archaeological dig, and summer stock theater in New Hampshire, respectively. Each of the stories is told well, with each of the characters going through something big in the growing pains category in finding their identities. They suffer through angsty broken hearts, family loss and growth, and figuring out how to stay friends with your childhood pals while growing up. Unlike the previous movie or the any of the books, the "pants" connection is really lost in this movie. Yes, they mail them back and forth (as if mail would go to and from Turkey in less than a week?) but the idea that they have magic in them and good things happen when you wear the pants is lost. They jump between characters without the pants being very involved. Also, while I understand they are "magical pants" I have trouble believing a pair of jeans will continue to fit the same 4 girls throughout high school and into college. My own jeans didn't last that long. In general the acting is good (though, Alexis Bledel should stick to TV as much as it pains me to criticize Rory), the stories interesting and believable. Overall, it's a great little movie, entertaining and worth watching on TV someday where I'm sure it will enjoy endless hours of play. 3.5 LAMBS/stars
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2 comments:
We're the same age. My birthday's Jan 4. The big 30. Time to take to my bed, I guess. When's yours?
Yeah. No way those pants last that long. At least not without getting really stanky. They must be truly magical, I guess.
In the midst of my serious Gilmore Girls fixation (enabled by you, thankya darlin'!) I really coveted a Tshirt I saw someone wearing on the street - the ginormous letters read "SHUT UP RORY".
Hee!
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