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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 Our rating: Rate this movie   MPAA rating: PG-13 (for mature material and sensuality) Genre: Comedy, Drama Theater release: August 06, 2008 by Warner Brothers Pictures Directed by: Sanaa Hamri Runtime: 1 hour 57 minutes Cast: Amber Tamblyn (Tibby Tomko-Rollins), Alexis Bledel (Lena Kaligaris), America Ferrera (Carmen Lowell), Blake Lively (Bridget Vreeland) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

In many ways, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is like a PG-13 version of Sex and the City—only more innocent and, in my opinion, significantly more enjoyable and inspiring. Like the women of SATC, the four young women of SOTP2 are a diverse group of characters and a somewhat unlikely group of friends. For the most part, their stories are driven by romantic or familial relationships, and here they're on a journey of self-discovery and revelation. And like its first incarnation, this film's central message is about the value of friendship.

SOTP2 picks up three years after The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants left off. Carmen (America Ferrera of TV's Ugly Betty), Lena (Alexis Bledel of TV's The Gilmore Girls), Bridget (Blake Lively of TV's Gossip Girl), and Tibby (Amber Tamblyn of TV's Joan of Arcadia) have just finished their first year of college and are about to embark on their various summer adventures. Lena will be taking art classes at The Rhode Island School of Design. Bridget is heading off to Turkey on an archeological dig. Tibby will remain at NYU to compete a film project. And in a last-minute decision, Carmen accepts an invitation to work backstage at an elite summer theater program in Vermont (while her mother and stepfather await the arrival of her new baby step brother).

Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Blake Lively reprise their roles

But as was also the case in the first film, each young woman's summer plans serve up more than just a day-to-day itinerary. After Lena discovers that her ex-boyfriend Kostas (Michael Rady) has gotten married only months after they broke up, she finds herself stuck between the love she so desperately wants to believe in and the passion that is right before her. When Tibby allows herself to get closer to her boyfriend Brian (Leonardo Nam) than she ever has before, she struggles with what it actually means to both allow and trust someone to be that close. When Carmen unexpectedly finds herself on stage instead of in its wings, her journey becomes one of learning to believe in herself. And as Bridget digs up the past in Turkey, it is her own past that ends up coming to the surface and taking her for an unexpected detour of personal significance.

During their summers, the women deal with issues of trust, love, guilt, and value. Partially due to their separate adventures, and partially due to their increased independence and individuality, the girls primarily go through their journeys of discovery on their own. At times, the increased separation between them is painfully apparent. At others, it becomes an opening for a strong cast of supporting characters/mentors to shine. But in the end, the girls prove that while there are certain things they must discover on their own, they will always be there to help each other take the steps they cannot take alone.

Lena cooks something up with Leo (Jesse Williams)

I was most impressed that these women seemed to come away from their challenges stronger, wiser, and, for the most part, in places better than where they were before. At the end, you get the sense that they actually are in healthy relationships, that they have learned from their mistakes, and that love and friendship have in fact triumphed over selfishness and isolation.

Apart from its overarching relationship stories, the movie's next strongest theme is found in its promotion of individual value, no matter what size, shape, race, or personality. As before, the four leads again bring their characters to life in ways that show their individuality and the distinct value within each of them. Particularly impressive was the fact that even though the star power of the cast has shifted since the last movie (with Ferrara and Lively now bona fide TV stars), all four characters and their stories receive fairly equal development and attention.

Also of note is the costuming of each young woman (by Dona Granata). Through her wardrobe, we see each character's distinctive personality. Although Sex and the City's haute couture fashion may have appealed to many, the way that The Sisterhood's costumes draw attention not so much to themselves as they bring to life their unique characters almost make SOTP2's costuming even stronger than SATC's.

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