Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2 review

The most pointlessly ‘magical’ jeans in cinema are back – along with their four gal-pal co-owners.

Two of them (Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera, Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively) may have become bigger deals since Sisterhood 1, but everyone’s face-time remains ego-lessly equal in this multi-threader.

Good job – whenever, say, archaeology buff Bridget’s (Lively) exhumations of her own family past get a bit sappy, you’re only a quick cut away from Carmen’s (Ferrera) theatre-camp capers, or lovelorn art student Lena’s (Alexis Bledel) new dalliance with a hunky life model.

The most involving – and least contrived – strand centres on punky Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), whose pregnancy scare and commitment angst nudge this teen pic into grown-up territory with a down-to-earth delicacy.

Overall, the mood is honey-dipped and Hallmark-wise, but always warm and well-played. Mind you, these Pants could do with being taken in a bit, soaping on for a superfluous 15 minutes after reaching a quadruple climax.

Matthew leyland