DVD Release Date:  November 18, 2008

It’s amazing how much can change in Hollywood in just three short years. When The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants hit theaters just three years ago, both Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel were enjoying the spoils of small screen success in critically acclaimed roles on Joan of Arcadia and Gilmore Girls respectively. Now with both of those shows relegated to reruns and DVD box sets, the spotlight has eventually shifted to their co-stars Blake Lively (Gossip Girl) and America Ferrera (Ugly Betty).

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Of course, all of these ladies have been acting long enough to know that’s how the story often goes in La La Land, and thankfully, their chemistry as best friends brought together by a magical pair of jeans (magical as in they perfectly fit four very different body types) is just as vibrant as ever.

Proving that popular books can be beautifully adapted for the big screen when the script is written just right, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 has all the verve and spunk of the original as Tibby (Tamblyn), Lena (Bledel), Bridget (Lively) and Carmen (Ferrera) wrestle with all the questions that come with being a college-age girl. But rather than embrace the bed-hopping antics of so many shows geared toward the teen and college female audience, Traveling Pants 2 tackles far more substantive fare in a surprisingly thoughtful way.

For Tibby, the decision to have sex with her boyfriend of 10 months ends up rattling her to her very core. Instead of glamorizing the act or addressing it in a cliché, after-school-special sort of way, Tibby is forced to really wrestle with the consequences of her decision when she suspects she might be pregnant.

Then in a much less dramatic (but no less relatable) storyline that also involves the opposite sex, Lena wrestles with a broken heart (and the definition of true love) when she discovers that her ex, Kostos (Michael Rady), has quickly moved on following their break-up and has (gasp!) gotten married and is about to become a father.

Meanwhile, while Bridget is on an archeological dig in Turkey, the loss of her mother to suicide causes her to want to reconnect with her grandmother to find out more about the woman she feels like she hardly knew. Finally, Carmen also finds herself in contemplative, identity-shaping territory when she’s surprisingly cast as the lead in a college Shakespeare production. Slightly less insecure than in the original Traveling Pants, Carmen—and her confidence—is still put to the test as the support system that she, Tibby, Lena and Bridget have is rocked as they each get busier and busier and don’t find as much time to talk.