**Close this window to return to S.H.E.R.O.E.S.**

I went into this movie not expecting much. Once I got over my initial excitement due to the preview for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I settled back and prepared for the worst. After all, I think all the Sheroes population has had a bad experience when it comes to our favourite books being turned into movies – remember Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries? – so we’ve learned not to get our hopes up.

I was pleasantly surprised by how decent the movie actually was. No, it can’t compare to the books – when do the movies ever beat the books? – but it actually wasn’t a horrible perversion of the original story. Chances are, if you’re a member of Sheroes, you’ve read at least one of Ann Brashares’ The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants novels, so you’ll probably know the story. If not, here it is in a nutshell: four very different girls, by the names of Carmen, Bridget, Lena, and Tibby, have been best friends since birth. They’ve spent every summer together, but this year, the summer before they turn sixteen, is the first they’ll ever be split up. Carmen is visiting her father in South Carolina; Bridget is attending soccer camp in Baja California, Mexico; Lena is staying with her grandparents and an assortment of other relations on the island of Santorini, in Greece; and Tibby is staying at home in Bethesda, Maryland, where she plans to make a documentary (or a ‘suckumentary’, as she calls it) about the lame people she encounters in her day-to-day life as a clerk at Wallman’s (which, in the movie, strangely resembles a certain department store with a similar name…).

The movie was surprisingly faithful to the book in its interpretations of the girls’ summer. I won’t disclose specific details to avoid spoiling it for those who haven’t yet seen it, but essentially, the basic plots are the same, with the exception of Lena’s story, which is changed from a cat-and-mouse game to a Romeo-and-Juliet remake.

Essentially, the best part of the movie is the way it clearly portrays friendship the way most girlfriends can relate to it. At the very beginning, their close bonds are showed by quick flashbacks, starting with their mothers meeting at a prenatal aerobics class and continuing with the girls opposing the birth of Tibby’s much younger siblings, comforting Carmen after her dad leaves for good, and giving Bridget a shoulder to lean on when her mother commits suicide. These are things that you can all relate to, whether you’ve been on the giving or the receiving end of it. The only problem here is that sometimes, the theme of the movie is so blatantly obvious that you can’t help cringing, as you hear yet another horrifically clichéd line. The book does manage to be a bit more subtle while still getting the point across; the movie, lacking time for subtlety, forces it on you.

On the other hand, the casting was really very well done in comparison to other films. For one thing, the girls actually resemble their literary counterparts, and they’re all decent actors, even Blake Lively who’s never been in a movie before. The role of Bailey was especially well-cast in my opinion; Jenna Boyd does an excellent job of portraying the twelve-year-old’s philosophies on life and death, while still being endearing and sometimes irritating, just as Bailey was. There is a bit of debate over whether or not Eric should have been as blond and Caucasian as he was, instead of dark and Hispanic, or why on Earth Brian was played by an Asian actor, but both boys pull the role off well. (Actually, Brian really doesn’t have much of a role at all. That was disappointing.)

It’s also debatable whether or not the movie-makers will make the sequels. As of yet, there are no plans for sequels, so it probably all depends on how well the movie does at the box-office. As it is, the movie actually ends on a much happier note than the book, especially in Bridget’s case. It doesn’t really leave much of an opening for a sequel, but chances are we’ll get one.

Overall, I say that it’s worth going to. Don’t expect an adaptation that stays completely true to the book – throw out all your illusions about Lena’s story, at least – but expect a better-than-decent movie.

**Close this window to return to S.H.E.R.O.E.S.**