Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

[author_by_night]

I'll admit it - I'm a fan of the books. Yes, even at twenty. They're like Harry Potter - adults can enjoy them. Granted, I'm nowhere near as obsessed, but I think they're good books.

The movie was just as good. For those of you who don't know, the plot - in both the book and movie - are about four girls who were literally friends from the womb; their mothers were in the same birth class. (Shoot, I forget the name!) The story takes place when they are sixteen - and are spending their first full summer apart.

Book accuracy: 3.5/5 points. They had almost everything right, but in the movie, one of the girls, Lena, falls for a greek guy,  Kostos, while visiting her grandparents near Athens. It turns out there's a family feud. Now, in the books, Kostos exists, but his grandparents are best friends with Lena's, not enemies. And Lena's whole family - well, her parents and her little sister, Effie - all visit.

The other huge difference was that they never have Lena going to Mexico to comfort Bridget. Instead, in the movie, they have that Lena finds the letter and tells Carmen and Tibby in a phone call to go to Bridget's and comfort her themselves. While that was sweet... well, there's a huge difference between friends driving ten minutes to your door and flying to another country to your camp cabin. Both are great, but the latter, to me, was something that proved how far the girls were willing to go.

Otherwise, they got everything right. Tibby is sassy, but has a good heart, and also a reasonable side. Carmen has an angsty story - but her irrational actions are not dismissed by anyone. Lena is a little dramatic - and acknowledges it. And Bee... wow. They captured her so well; I think they exaggerated her energy just a little, but such has to be done in movies. She's a little overenthusiastic about things, goes way too far to get what she wants at times, and yet, again, she comes to that realization, and it's not like she gets away with it in the end. Just like in the books.

And Bailey... perfection. I actually thought I appreciated her even more in the movie. (And the scene with them looking at the stars... that was beyond heart breaking. Maybe a little cheesy, but the lines... no twelve year old should have to know they might die).

De-cheesifying: Uh.... 2/5. It definitely got cheesy. On the other hand, that wasn't always such a bad thing.

Emotional value: 4/5. You could see - and feel - the love the friends had for one another. Not quite like in the books, but nearly. It definitely wasn't hard to believe they were actually friends. And Kostos and Lena... you could definitely see the love.

And.... that's it!