The Favorite Foursome Blogathon: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)

You can check out the Favorite Foursome Blogathon hosted by Movie Movie Blog Blog and all the entries from the other participants HERE.

Thinking about favorite foursomes, there are so many to choose from. Be it something like cartoons or movies or other forms of pop culture in general, I’m at Montreal Comiccon this weekend so all kinds of pop culture is just smashing me in the face. However, one of my absolutely favorite ones goes to the four best friends in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I am referring to the movie and not the book (since I’m a horrible procrastinator and haven’t gotten around to it). I’m considering this as a movie review however, a good part of what makes this movie shine is in the four young ladies and their journey and friendship.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)

Director: Ken Kwapis

Cast: Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel,America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Jenna Boyd, Bradley Whitford, Mike Vogel, Michael Rady

Four best girlfriends hatch a plan to stay connected with one another as their lives start off in different directions: they pass around a pair of secondhand jeans that fits each of their bodies perfectly. – IMDB

There’s a lot to love about The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I remember checking this out originally because of Blake Lively because of Gossip Girl. However, its the friendships here and the growth of each of these girls in their first summer apart that strengthens them not only their friendship but also themselves as they have to face their own different problems and grow up to be a little braver about embracing the different people they meet and spend the summer with. The idea of traveling pants is just the connection that they have and the magic that it holds in having a spiritual holder for the three others that aren’t with them wherever the pants are. It gives them a little update as the pants move around the world. Its grounded to some teenage issues and a lot of it is a coming of age where they learn to find themselves and be okay with sharing their own self and being vulnerable. Sure, its not your typical foursome as the movie sees them together only at the beginning and the end but you can see their friendship even as they are separate. The movie is so smart in doing that because together we get to see how each of them contrast in their personality and its this personality that makes also creates barriers. Before they had each other to love and be there to balance out each other, but apart they need to deal with a lot of these emotional things themselves. Its all part of growing up and that is what makes the Sisterhood of Traveling Pants such a great experience.

As we take a look at each of their journeys, they each have something to share that makes it so each to connect to. For Lena (Alexis Bledel), her personality is an introvert and fairly conservative. Her journey to Greece to visit her grandparents over the summer is an eye-opener because she needs to do things for herself now. She’s almost met the expectations of her family and being a good daughter. Same in Greece, she learns to communicate with her grandparents who don’t speak English well and her Greece is fairly non-existent. It creates the humor here. With that she meets Kostas who she learns has a conflict with her own family creating a barrier that she needs to choose despite her growing feelings. While Kostas is the person who breaks her out of her shell a little, Lena goes through quite the journey as she learns to be brave for herself and let herself be vulnerable and break down those walls that keeps her safe.

Almost opposite in personality, Bridget (Blake Lively) is outgoing and always gets what she wants. Off to Mexico for soccer camp, she goes against the rules to try to get the attention of one of the coaches. However, what comes tumbling back to her is that she doesn’t get everything that she wants and some of her deeper feelings are dug up when she has to face rejection. She may be good at a lot but it means nothing in the whole spectrum of things. Her journey brings back waves of how much she has hidden away those feelings of sadness and masked it with happiness. Dealing with grief and loss is her journey.

Carmen goes off to her father and learns that he is ready to marry another woman with two kids of her own. As she tries to embrace it and help with the wedding preparations, she starts feeling like she doesn’t belong. The feelings of abandonment and an outsider from her father who has always had a good relationship with her turns into quite a moment when she embraces that she is mad at him for the things he has done and how he has treated the situation. Yet again, admitting her feelings and just letting it go is her journey to face this new future and rebuild.

As for Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), the final piece of this foursome, who is the more sarcastic and cynical of the four has to stay home where she pursues making a documentary while working at Walmart. In this process, she meets an annoying girl who won’t leave her alone called Bailey. Suffice to say that, Bailey teaches her a little something about enjoying life even with its imperfections. While Tibby might feel abandoned by her friends and a complete loser for her situation, she learns the lesson to be grateful for the little happy moments in life and making those count for more than the bad.

Overall, what makes this journey worthwhile and these four work is their personalities. The jeans might be the glue that reminds them of the sisterhood that they trust and know that they always have their backs no matter where they are. Its a way to still share their lives and know when its time to make sure everyone is okay. Its this friendship that makes these four one of my faves. Their different personalities and the lessons they teach aren’t just for teenagers but some people of any age need to learn or just be reminded of it. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants embrace strong sisterly friendships as well as sharing the differences they have and being able to make those into fun and emotional journeys. If you haven’t seen The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, its really a great movie worth checking out.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

I’m super behind on writing reviews mostly because I’m being mega lazy after tiring and long days at work.  But, I’m not slacking off.  I did try to entertain you all with food reviews and we all love to look at delicious food, right? Enough of the silliness…back to business.

I told you that I had wanted to go to a bundle of summer movies.  Two Sundays ago (I know I’m super late), my friend and I went off after dinner to go see How To Train Your Dragon 2.  I’m a HUGE fan of How to Train Your Dragon.  I mean, if I could have a room full of dragons especially Toothless, I’d do it.

Umm…okay, let me tuck away my crazy for a second and just go straight for the review 😉

Director: Dean DeBlois

Cast: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Djimon Hounsou, Kit Harington

Its been five years since Berk has welcomed dragons into their lives as friends and companions.  Hiccup’s father, Stoick (Gerard Butler) is now trying to put on the Chief responsibilities on his shoulders much to his reluctance.  He doesn’t feel like he’s fit to take on the job when all he wants is to discover new places with Toothless. However, on one of their discoveries, they land on a iced island where they meet Eret (Kit Harington) who is a part of dragon catcher crew who helps complete the dragon army for the deadly Drago Bludvist. Drago is bad news and everyone will soon learn just how bad.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a pretty great sequel.  It doesn’t quite match up to the first one but its pretty damn close to it.  The animation is beautiful as before and the story carries on with lots of heart and even tugs at some heartstrings.  The voices are the same as before and still with lots of enthusiasm.  With the additional voices of Cate Blanchett, she never disappoints. Plus, this time around, with the dragons as part of the life in Berk, there are more dragons to see.

Its an adventurous journey for Hiccup and his group and a lot of  comedic moments as always.  The whole venturing into the new lands and discovering more plus bringing back Hiccup’s mom in the process gave it a more emotional aspect.  Cate Blanchett does a great job as Hiccup’s mom, Valka.  We understand a bit more of Hiccup in the process while this whole journey also helps him learn about himself. In the end, isn’t that really what Hiccup’s story in How to Train Your Dragon is about? On a simple level, its about finding a balance and peace between the dragons and Berk but the relationship of Toothless and Hiccup really bring a lot of heartwarming and heartbreaking moments.

Whats great about animations is that the villain is usually really well laid out for its audiences, young and old.  This one’s was Drago Bludvist, a crazy man trying to build a dragon army.  He has a secret weapon and he’s a tough guy to beat that even Stoick is a tad intimidated by him.  Drago is a great villain for this series. He’s not only dangerous to the Vikings but also the dragons.  There wasn’t one moment where I cheered for him.  I guess thats why he’s done so well, right?

In this sequel, the other characters from the first get a little bit more time also.  They haven’t quite developed much on the characters but they work great as the comic relief to make the more intense moments softer for the audience.  The addition of Kit Harrington as Eret and he sparks the flame of Ruffnut who makes for some pretty hilarious scenes and dialogue.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a great sequel that almost matches to the first.  Its beautifully animated for one.  Plus, the story never has any lingering dull moments with its excitement of discovery and surprises while also having an emotional ride as it tugs at our heartstrings to watch the familiar characters we’ve grown to love in the first one go through hardships.  Especially when Toothless and Hiccup’s relationship is put to the ultimate test.

Dreamworks has been putting out hit after hit with such surprising enjoyable animations.  It makes me hopeful for what they could possibly think up next 😉

What did you think of How To Train Your Dragon 2? Is it worthy sequel? Did you like the new characters? 

Christmas Marathon: Dragons:Gift of the Night Fury (2011)

Do we have any How to Train a Dragon fans out there?  I am a huge fan of that Dreamworks animation.  Its one of my favorites.  Everything about that movie is just perfect to me.  So when this movie came out, I had to get it.

DRAGONS: GIFT OF THE NIGHT FURY (2011)

DIRECTOR: Tom Owens

CAST: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson

This is a very short animation clocking in about 20+ minutes.  However, for the How to Train a Dragon fans out there, this does live up to it. Its a holidays spinoff of the movie.  Christmas on the island of Berk is called Snoggletog.  As everyone on Berk prepares for the holidays, their traditions quite similar to ours with Christmas tree made with shields (I think) and decorations, one day the dragons all fly off and don’t come back.  Hiccup accidentally gets dragged in and realize that during the winter holidays the dragons celebrate it in their own little way as well.

It gives us the same style as the movie itself.  We get back all the characters like Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless, etc.  It gives us a lot of fun moments and a lot of humour.  I saw How to Train a Dragon before my reviewing days on here but maybe one day, I will review it since I do own the movie.  Still, I think that Jay Baruchel does the voice of Hiccup amazingly well and mostly because he also gets cast into those roles.  I hope this lasts for him at the very least.

Also, they do give us a little extra since it is only 22 minutes with a second feature of about 15+ minutes called Book of Dragons and teaches you about the different dragons with how the Book of Dragons came to be.  They are pretty much teaching you, the audience how to be a dragon trainer so its pretty cool. I think if children are in the picture when you watch this,  it’ll be a fun day for them.

Overall, this is a fun Christmas animation with all the features of the original with laughs and adventure. For me, just give me that cute look Toothless does and I’m already happy. And this one has cuteness overload.