Genre Grandeur – Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) – Tranquil Dreams

For this month’s next entry for Genre Grandeur February – Coming of Age movie’s, here’s a review of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)  by Kim of Tranquil Dreams

Thanks again to Justine of Justine’s movie blog for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre, chosen by  Anna of Film Grimoire will be Latin Director movies. To participate, send me your review to latin@movierob.net by 25th Mar.  Thanks to Anna for a great and diverse choice.

Let’s see what Kim thought of this movie:

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Coming of Age is one of my favorite genres to watch.  There are a list of amazing movies that I own or have seen that they all are so deserving.  However, being of an amazingly silly name that you can’t help to laugh at, a lot of people would brush off this one called The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, based off a novel with the same name.

The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants (2005)

 

Director: Ken Kwapis

 

Cast: Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Michael Rady, Jenna Boyd

 

Bridget (Blake Lively), Lena (Alexis Bledel), Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) and Carmen (America Ferrera) are four best friends since they’ve been young.  On the approaching summer when you are 16, they each have to spend it separately, some closer and others farther from home. Surprisingly, on a shopping trip, they happen to find a pair of second-hand jeans that fit them all.  Taking this as a sign of their friendship, they decide to each have the pants for one week before mailing it off to the next person until it comes back home.  As the pants arrive to each girl, it also helps them experience a certain part of their youth and coming of age.

 

The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants is a hard concept to sell, especially when you have to believe that a pair of second hand pants will bring you something magical because it fits four completely different girls perfectly.  As much as this is about friendship, which I completely appreciate and the importance of it, its also about a few other issues that as adolescents (or some time in life), we need to come to terms with, whether its love, friendship or family.  There’s a lot to learn every step of the way and these four girls need to find the courage to follow their heart.

The story line that possibly is the most fun would be Alexis Bledel’s Lena heading to the very beautiful Greece for the summer and meeting a lot of relatives and not really speaking much Greek until an accident with her pants leads him to meet Kostos (played by Michael Rady) and they fall in love even though there is this somewhat Romeo and Juliet deal going on.  Lena has been a good girl all the time, trying to please everyone but she needs to find the courage to follow her heart and her feelings and not let go of this really great guy.  Deal is: can she do it? Alexis Bledel does a great job at being the shy Lena who slowly opens up.

While back home, Tibby is about to make a film and ends up meeting this rude young girl Bailey who barges into her life and insists on helping her make said film. She grows to find a friend in the most unexpected place that its okay to let others into her life.  Everyone just wants to be wanted and needed.  And not too far away, Carmen is spending time with her father and his surprise new fiancee and kids and getting ready for a wedding she didn’t even know about in advance. Amber Tamblyn and America Ferrera’s characters are stuck in similar situations of being on opposite sides of dealing with more inner issues, especially the need and want of feeling important by family or be comfortable with themselves and having the confidence to admit it.  They give this a heartwarming touch when they do figure it out.

Bridget, played by Blake Lively, is out for soccer camp in Mexico and having to control her own feelings.  Being the girl that’s wild and always chases what she wants, she tries to pursue a coach, which is against the rules.  However, it makes her realize more about herself and the connection that she lacks with her father, especially after the death of her mother.  Bridget is a character that seems to be the most outgoing and relaxed but in reality, there’s a lot more deeper issues that she’s pushed aside and Blake Lively does a great job at showing that.

Despite the different stories, the pants and the letters they send to each other connect them together.  There is a precious relationship between the girls and they are each other’s support systems giving each one the courage to face what they’ve been scared to face all along.  A lot of credit goes to story layout to adapt it giving each story its own equal place.  The casting choices of Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn and America Ferrera are absolutely perfect because they are able to grasp these young roles well.

Maybe the coming of age works a lot better for girls than guys, but the elements of this connected with me in a great way.  The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants is an awesome choice and holds the true lesson of friendships, family.  Its about finding the courage to be true to yourself and embracing those deep feelings you have when they decide to surface plus remembering the strength that you have and when you are weak, your best friends (or someone important to you) will be there to make sure you get through it.  All realizations that we go through and thats exactly why this is a perfect coming of age movie! At least one of the many 😉