Music Review: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 — Music From the Motion Picture - Page 2

With a lineup as diverse as the four girls themselves, no musical genre is left unexplored as the album offers selections for those who are a little bit rock or a little bit country and everything in between, to misquote the old Osmond number.  Making the most out of working within Warner Brothers for both the film and the soundtrack, excellent contributions from those signed onto the label are included but instead of flowing together with ease, at times, the soundtrack encounters a few rough patches in trying to serve up something for everyone, namely with the inclusion of James Otto’s twangy “Sunset Man,” which sounds like it would’ve been much more at home on the soundtrack to Flicka rather than in this contemporary film that’s  set primarily in the east-coast of the United States.   

Two beautiful and dreamy tracks — Jack Savoretti’s “No One’s Aware” and Missy Higgins’ “Warm Whispers” slow down the album’s tempo by offering us a lush, romantic aura of lyrics inviting lovers to travel together and take to the sea before Craig David wakes us up with “Friday Night.” A quintessential teenage party song — while the lyrics are clichéd and mostly consist of a hook asking “What’s goin’ on?,” it makes a wonderful lead into the decidedly punk inspired tracks “Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit)” and “5 Times Out of 100” by Noisettes and Hot Hot Heat which after Hutchinson’s open, earned the most repeat listens on my stereo.   When played back-to-back, the inclusions of the Noisettes and Hot Hot Heat’s seem to comprise the “Tibby” section of the album, as those familiar with Amber Tamblyn’s rebellious character might note. As a die-hard fan of Tibby from both films, I found myself thrilled by her musical representation.   

However, again the soundtrack throws us a curveball by moving away from what one would accurately expect and dropping Cyndi Lauper’s classic girl-power anthem “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” on listeners.  After two decades, it still grabs us even more than Gwen Stefani’s 90’s anthem “Just a Girl” but I doubt that Generation Y feels as strong of a kinship to the song as those of us who remember it playing on the radio, making it seem a bit superfluous and out of place.    

Article Author: Jen Johans

Jen is a life-long film buff frequently dubbed a "Walking Movie Encyclopedia.” While earning a degree in Film Studies, she joined AFI and IFP. A three-time national award-winning writer, Jen also runs her site Film Intuition as well as its Review …

Visit Jen Johans's author page — Jen Johans's Blog