The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

While there's an element of fantasy to much of the movie, serious issues, including teen pregnancy and mental illness, lurk beneath the cinematic sheen.

Tamblyn, whose Tibby is sarcastic and very funny, is the clear standout, imbuing her most brittle exchanges with humor and a tentative warmth.

Tamblyn, whose Tibby is sarcastic and very funny, is the clear standout, imbuing her most brittle exchanges with humor and a tentative warmth.

The movie keeps moving quickly (but not sloppily) among the heroines, so that if you're overloaded, say, on one sister's sugary plotline, it only comes around every fourth scene or so, and never sticks around too long.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 has its funny moments, but also its touching and sentimental ones while avoiding a descent into soap opera land.

The movie intercuts quickly but not confusingly from one story to another, is dripping with seductive locations, is not shy about romantic cliches and has a lot of heart.

Tamblyn and Ferrera are especially appealing here. But in a film that depends as much on chemistry as individual effort, the sisterhood of the pants remains strong.

Despite the romantic entanglements, which mostly end happily, the film is really about the value of friendship.

Talented stars America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Blake Lively and Alexis Bledel reunite for the refreshingly realistic friendship tale Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

Given the general thrust of movies about teenage girls, it's refreshing that in this one the prize isn't the Boy or the Ring.

The movie, directed by Sanaa Hamri and adapted by Elizabeth Chandler, remarkably manages to give each actress her due and adds Rachel Nichols, Blythe Danner and Kyle MacLachlan to the mix.

While the plot, which jumps back and forth from one young woman in crisis to another, isn’t constantly riveting, it does function nicely as a dart aimed at the heart. In other words, bring a hankie.

What elevates Pants to must-see status for teenage girls is that the opposite sex is peripheral to the foursome's adventures.

A likable movie that ultimately confirms the importance of women's friendship; like Sex and the City, but without most of the sex and designer labels.

Sexual discovery, heartbreak, abandonment and forgiveness are on the menu as the girls face adulthood in what can been seen as Sex and the City with training wheels.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is a sweet, sentimental and occasionally funny movie about four female friends.

The result is like the warm embrace of a favorite, if frayed, pair of pants.

Ferrera walks this fine line between the real and the fairy tale -- she's the only one in the film who doesn't seem to equate a good performance with a lot of blinking -- and it's fun to watch her outside the confines of her TV character.

If young women-centric movies are your sort of thing you could do a lot worse. Sure it flirts shamelessly with melodrama, but always with the same eye for characterization that made the first Traveling Pants a good example of the genre.

The second installment, which like the first is based on Ann Brashares's book series, is watchable despite its tedious weave of stock plots.

This second installment feels a little stale and forced. In fact, if it weren't for the charming performances of stars America Ferrera and Amber Tamblyn, the film might have been pretty bad.

Pants 2 is exponentially more enjoyable when two or more girls are together and during the movie's comedic moments. Although I ultimately enjoyed it, I left wishing the filmmakers had taken better advantage of this chemistry.

Sensitively directed by Sanaa Hamri, The Sister of the Traveling Pants 2 demonstrates that not only is sisterhood powerful, it can be awfully entertaining.

Happy outcomes and gorgeous hunks all around mean this is not entirely grounded in reality, but the girls do deal with substantive issues: a pregnancy scare, family secrets, a crisis in confidence and heartbreak.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, directed by Sarah Lawrence grad Sanaa Hamri, depicts refreshingly positive female friendship based in reality without cynicism.

As the four women of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 finish their first year of college, their exploits are like a training bra for their inevitable transformation into the foursome from Sex and the City.

The effort to cram four movies into one makes Sisterhood 2 more than two hours long, and it feels longer, particularly toward the end, when director Sanaa Hamri gives up on trying to make the transitions between scenes graceful.

Director Sanaa Hamri has little choice but to show episodic scenes back and forth between all four women and, after a couple of rounds, it starts to get a bit dull.

The sequel is something of a disappointment, embroiling its refreshingly level-headed heroines in a series of clichéd romantic dilemmas.

For all its moments of believable dialogue and persuasive emotional truths, it also has some fairy-tale scenarios. But that's almost a textbook definition of a chick flick, so it doesn't interfere much with the film's appeal.

Pants 2 is essentially four films in one, each starring one of the leads. And for viewers who have already learned the obvious lessons -- believing in themselves, following their hearts, etc. etc. -- the stories have limited interest.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 has an odd problem: A lot of stuff happens in the film, yet nothing that happens feels terribly important.

Appeals to girls who, like the characters, are entering the final stages of teendom and are learning more about their potential futures as working professionals and independent women.

The boys are cute, the parents learn to be supportive, the mean girl gets her due. But unlike most so-called "chick flicks," Sisterhood never talks down to its heroines or reduces them to dismissive clichés.

If you're going to get stuck for two hours in what should have been a 90-minute formula "chick picture," they at least make it endurable.

It doesn't measure up to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Which is sort of like saying Rocky V wasn't as good as Rocky IV. Sort of.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 isn’t interested in depth, and it doesn’t trust what it has; its only interest is in achieving the absolute peak level of female camaraderie, nostalgic sentimentality, and emotional catharsis.

Coming in at two hours, Sisterhood 2 is longer than a sequel to any non-superhero flick oughta be -- at least for viewers who didn't come of age with these tightly knit friends.

The overly dramatic script calls for too much melodrama and doesn't earn its numerous attempts at tear-jerking.

Four college friends bound by a pair of magical pants have adventures and kiss boys, in this syrupy, neutered chick flick suitable for 13-year-olds.

Admirers of the young actresses (who, if press reports are to be believed, basically did this sequel at gunpoint) won’t be disappointed by the performances, particularly from the very funny Tamblyn and the always endearing Ferrera.

You can basically expect more of the same as the Sisterhood passes those pants around again -- except the jeans are getting a little worn out.

With its blend of humor and drama, romance and self-actualization, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is consistently entertaining.

Without laughs or many standout dramatic moments, the movie's a straight line in desperate need of curves.

It's hard to get too involved in the story lines, which unfold like four half-hour television series quilted together. And the stakes are generally low: Which hunk to choose?

It leaves you wondering just who's wearing the pants here, novice director Sanaa Hamri or the suddenly clout-worthy stars, particularly the Emmy-winning Ferrera.

Whereas the first film presented the titular pants as a force that united its characters in shared female experience, such an impression is here routinely thwarted by a fantasyland-set script.

Too much of the film feels like Sex and the City lite, only with brand-name colleges substituting for brand-name clothes.

Nearly everything that made 2005's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants such refreshing tweener entertainment is missing from the sequel.

The plot is a slightly grown-up version of the original, sprinkled with few surprises, cute moments and a lot of cheese.

Coasts on flimsy and/or benign narratives that involve postponed adulthood, cute boys who speak with deadened, unvarying inflections and ignorance of modern conveniences.