It’s More Than Just Pants

It’s More Than Just Pants

Tibby, Carmen, Bridget, and Lena’s separate but together stories began with a pair of pants that “magically” fit each of the character’s bodies. Tibby, the first to try on the pants, is the only character to stay home over the summer. She works at Waldmann’s department store and dreams of becoming a filmmaker. She befriends a young girl named Bailey who seems to come into Tibby’s life at just the right moment. Next, Bridget tries on the pants. Over the summer, this tall, blond, soccer goddess travels to Mexico for soccer camp. Earlier that year her mother died and she seems to be looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places. Lena’s outer beauty prevents her from allowing other’s to see the true “Lena”. It is only when she goes to Greece that she finds someone who encourages her to be the person she wants to be. Last to try on the pants is Carmen, who is from a diverse family. Her mother is Puerto Rican and her father is American. She travels to North Carolina to build a stronger relationship with her father, but finds out he has a new life that she doesn’t fit into. Although this movie will not win an academy award, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, accurately portrays the book with strong dialogue, up and coming actors, and realistic settings.

In comparison to the novel, the movie is very accurate. The movie stays with the novels storyline and doesn’t introduce any new characters. Even the author herself said, “The movie was an accurate representation of my novel and a movie I thoroughly enjoyed watching.” (Cite here, sama as the last cite with the script) Although the movie didn’t use word for word dialogue from the book, the ideas presented were still there.

In the movie, the dialogue is more than often just spoken words. It also consists of the character’s inner thoughts and notes written to each other. For example, before sending the pants back to Lena, Bridget writes a note to her stating, “ It happened just how I always imagined it would, so why do I feel this way, Lena? How can something that's supposed to make you feel so complete end up leaving you so empty? I just wish so much I could talk to my mom. I need her and that scares me.” (http://www.filmthreat.com/Reviews.asp?Id=8040)

There was also a very well written script. The dialogue and speech was very easy to understand and relate to. The screenwriter’s targeted the movie for teenage audiences to understand. The actors took time to learn their character’s dialogue. For example, Alexis Bendel (Lena) learned Greek for her role.

Along with great dialogue, the movie is enhanced because the actresses truly became their characters. Although two actresses have only been seen on the small screen, they transformed beautifully into their characters. Having read the novel before watching the movie, the actresses matched the characters our minds created from the book. Also, their appearances match the descriptions