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iariaSo before watching this movie I’d read a couple reviews on it that were fairly negative and it had me a bit worried. But perhaps because of those lowered expectations I found I actually quite enjoyed it. Not as much as the first one and I had a couple of issues, including one that makes me mad just thinking about it, but overall it wasn’t bad.
What I Liked
• One thing that I read that made me really worried was about Annabelle’s role, and perhaps because I did have such low expectations and was expecting the worst, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I’d heard that Roxy took centre stage in this movie and Annabelle was made to be ineffectual in an out of character way (her not knowing/understanding St. Trinian’s girls) as well being forced into the background but I don’t actually think that’s true. She didn’t get as much a focus as she did in the first movie (though even in that one she ended up pushed back into the ensemble for the latter half) and this is certainly annoying considering her plot line of the movie which I felt should have gotten more attention. But I think her bits of being ineffectual were for a reason – trying to fit into being Head Girl – and I don’t at all think that she was made out as if she were an outsider who didn’t know how things worked or who the girls were. In fact I think her panic and freaking out about being Head Girl and not knowing what to do with it was completely in character.
- Annabelle’s story itself actually did work for me. Yes, in the previous movie Annabelle became a St. Trinian’s girl and that was what the movie was about – her journey there from outsider who didn’t want to be at the school to being one of the girls. I don’t think this movie takes anything away from that. I read in one review that in this movie it was like she was right back at the beginning, an outsider, as she was in the first movie and I disagree. There is some truth in there – that she’s made an outsider again – but it’s for a good reason. She doesn’t come back to school just as another St. Trinian’s girl but as Head Girl. This is St. Trinian’s after all – I doubt any Head Girl had it easy in the beginning, even Kelly. So this movie was all Annabelle once again having to take a journey and it was one I enjoyed watching. In fact I think I’d have rather had the movie be more about Annabelle’s journey of learning to be Head Girl.
- Annabelle of all the characters, save Ms. Fritten and Jeffery, gets the most screen time and while in the beginning she was uncertain about her new role (but who wouldn’t be?) and that showed in her hesitation after her possession she got it together and pretty much kept it together, and kept control, for the rest of the film (I am ignoring that whole crying thing in Shakespeare’s hidden room because it was stupid and aggravating.) She calls in Kelly to help with breaking into the vault – and in accomplishing that part of their mission they succeeded greatly (it’s not their fault the ring wasn’t there); she takes charge when they begin squabbling, she very likely planned out the distraction for them to get away, kept calm and the others moving when underground and for the most part kept it together throughout the entire last half of the movie. Even in the beginning when she was still trying to stand on shaky Head Girl legs I feel like she did pretty well. I mean there was this moment underground – “Oh, well. Never mind. We’ll just tell the guys back at school we didn’t finish the job cause it was a bit dark, and a bit cold, and somebody saw a hamster.” – and I really loved that. It felt very ‘Kelly’ in demeanour but all Annabelle. She was entirely Head Girl in that moment.
• So, yes, Roxy had one of the largest supporting roles but I don’t feel like she in any way eclipsed Annabelle. I mean she didn’t really do anything. From the reviews I’d read I thought she’d taken charge of the girls and become defacto Head Girl and was coming up with all the plans, etc. I was expecting her to be the one who broke into the vault. Instead we are given an outsider character in Roxy, to take over Annabelle’s place in the story since she is now firmly a St. Trinian’s girl, and we mostly get reaction shots from Roxy. Yes, she interjects a handful of times (the phone call) but mainly she stays in the background. I actually wish that we could have gotten more of her reacting to St. Trinian’s insanity – but then we would have needed more of it for her to react to (her reaction to the electric chair made me laugh.)
• “Swimming pool rules – no running, no shoving, no heavy petting.” – Annabelle. Heee. But, um, does St. Trinian’s have such a large issue with ‘heavy petting’ in their school pool that they had to make a rule about it? I approve.
• While there was definitely not enough Kelly and Kelly/Annabelle what we did get was excellent and does not in any way Joss Kelly/Annabelle as a pairing. In fact I think it supports it. All of Kelly’s scenes are with Annabelle and they are still very much in contact despite Kelly having moved onto the real world (and onto the spy world at that and I feel like there is a story here about how St. Trinian’s Head Girls are uniquely qualified to be in that life and every time a new one leaves the school she is immediately besieged with offers. So we’ll be having Annabelle be joining Kelly at MI-7 after school then, yes?)
- I mean Annabelle has Kelly’s cell number, a cell that Kelly takes with her on missions and answers (which could mean it’s not just her normal everyday phone but perhaps an emergency phone), and I certainly got the sense that this wasn’t the first time Annabelle had called Kelly (Kelly wasn’t at all surprised, Annabelle went right into her problem without any courtesies).
- The fact that Annabelle is lying in bed during their call just makes me happy.
- I loved Annabelle calling Kelly ‘Kel’.
- I really loved Kelly’s so proud grin when Annabelle took charge after the failed break-in. The break-in itself with Kelly and Annabelle working perfectly in sync as a team was wonderful (Annabelle is so joining MI-7 as Kelly’s partner). I loved the dramatic shots of them walking side-by-side into the smoke and then kicking ass – which by the way, clearly Annabelle has been taken lessons from Kelly on.
• “I truly am what? Smarter than your average brainless slapper? You’d better believe it.” – Chelsea. Of course she is. I mean wasn’t that the point of her storyline in the first movie? But I loved this moment.
• This movie actually got me shipping Annabelle/Chelsea. It makes me want to go re-watch the first one to see if there were some scenes between them in that one that hinted in this direction. There were two moments at the end that had me wondering if I’d missed something. First, when they are at the wall Lucy is about to say something mean about Chelsea when Annabelle puts her hand on her shoulder to stop her. It very much felt like her looking after Chelsea’s feelings. The second moment takes place a short while later when Annabelle realises “That means I’m a Shakespeare.” and Chelsea is standing there right at her shoulder staring at her with this huge grin and she is just so happy for Annabelle it makes me go aww. Now of course it doesn’t have to be about shipping and possibly works better if it’s not (I do love Kelly/Annabelle). I love the idea of the two of them being friends, of them having become close friends and perhaps even of Chelsea becoming Annabelle’s second. But I still ship it a little.
What I Didn’t
So as shown above there is a lot I really liked about this movie. I still had some problems with the above stuff – more on Annabelle being Head Girl, more Kelly, and it would have been nice to have had more of the girls from the first movie return – but for the most part there was a lot I enjoyed. There were however two very serious problems I had with the movie – one thing I just didn’t like and the other I hated so very much – plus there were a couple minor things.
Minor
• I feel like too much attention is given to Headmistress Fritton and Jeffrey, in both movies but especially this one, and simply because they are the largest named actors in the movies. I am far more interested in the girls of St. Trinian’s then in Ms. Fritton.
• These movies do not do that well on racial diversity and this one is actually worse than the first.
• Of the missing girls Polly is the one I missed most. I wish she'd been at least mentioned.
• I skipped over the entire play. It hit my embarrassment squick even before they went on stage.
Major
• While watching the movie I couldn’t help but remember a comparison I’d read between the first movie and Whip It and how in the first movie the girls directed their own actions and are never defined by the guys in the movie. Hmm, quote: “The girls are girls and they get to run their own story rather than having their story showcased by the actions of boys.” And while I was watching this movie I realised that that was no longer true and it made me angry. Actually I have this as two points but really it’s three.
First, at two points in the movie we have Jeffrey showing up to save the day. The first time is when he gets the ring (despite the girls very cool vault break-in). But okay fine I can accept that though TPTB could have found a way for the girls to get it if they’d wanted. Whatever. I am a lot less sanguine about the second time he shows up to ‘save’ the day – when he stopped the actor from calling security and then engaged him in a protracted sword fight. Um, what? As the meta mentioned the first movie was all about the girls being in control of both their stories and the actions. They moved the story. This movie had far too much of male characters moving things along. This goes into the second point:
Second, no, seriously WTF?! The girls standing there as the actor goes to call security and having to be ‘rescued’ by Jeffrey and then standing there watching the subsequent sword fight with gasps of shock/awe/horror and wide eyes and... what the hell? These are fucking St. Trinian’s! This is by far my biggest issue with the movie and it happens not once, not twice, but three times and it really pisses me off. St. Trinian’s girls, who the police are afraid of for crying out loud, are not going to stand there helpless as an actor is about to ruin their plans. They are not going to stand around with wide eyes as they watch two guys swordfight – if they stayed to watch it’d be with boredom, amusement or scorn. I don’t buy them watching though. It shouldn’t have even got to the swordfight anyway. These are not shrinking violets.
Except in this movie they are when needed. Because not only was there the swordfight but there was also: A) the initial break-in after they chase off the first wave of invaders and the girls all react with fear/horror and gasps, and cowering as if they’re helpless instead of kicking ass and fighting back, um, really? No. B) After Pomfrey steals the play the girls all breakdown in helpless tears. They shouldn’t have been crying and wailing, they should have been angry and planning how to get it back and get revenge. In fact when he turned away and started walking off I was expecting Annabelle to do what she did in the first movie and take him out from behind (perhaps throwing something at him). Gun, yes, but they’re St. Trinian’s. It drove me absolutely crazy every single time it happened. Which leads me to:
Third, the... lessening of the danger and menace that the St. Trinian’s girls’ pose bugged me. The first movie did it a great deal from the original comics but this second movie seems to remove it completely. They bring it up at the beginning with the police reacting with fear when they see the speeding car head into St. Trinian’s land but throughout the entire movie we never once see any reason for it. They hint back with the whole electric chair part, Fritton sending one commando’s falling to the bottom of the school and then the twins blowing a hole through Parliament (I believe?) at the end but for the most part, even without those three instances of cringing, they come off far more as out of control practical jokers then dangerous and to be feared. I vastly prefer St. Trinian’s as the dangerous and out of control group, that would have the police stopping at their gates and refusing to go any further, then what we got in this movie. I want them dangerous – to each other, and themselves, but especially to others. We did get them fighting with each other but always pulling together as a whole against any outside force which is the other aspect of them that I love but I really want that danger back.
What I Liked
• One thing that I read that made me really worried was about Annabelle’s role, and perhaps because I did have such low expectations and was expecting the worst, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I’d heard that Roxy took centre stage in this movie and Annabelle was made to be ineffectual in an out of character way (her not knowing/understanding St. Trinian’s girls) as well being forced into the background but I don’t actually think that’s true. She didn’t get as much a focus as she did in the first movie (though even in that one she ended up pushed back into the ensemble for the latter half) and this is certainly annoying considering her plot line of the movie which I felt should have gotten more attention. But I think her bits of being ineffectual were for a reason – trying to fit into being Head Girl – and I don’t at all think that she was made out as if she were an outsider who didn’t know how things worked or who the girls were. In fact I think her panic and freaking out about being Head Girl and not knowing what to do with it was completely in character.
- Annabelle’s story itself actually did work for me. Yes, in the previous movie Annabelle became a St. Trinian’s girl and that was what the movie was about – her journey there from outsider who didn’t want to be at the school to being one of the girls. I don’t think this movie takes anything away from that. I read in one review that in this movie it was like she was right back at the beginning, an outsider, as she was in the first movie and I disagree. There is some truth in there – that she’s made an outsider again – but it’s for a good reason. She doesn’t come back to school just as another St. Trinian’s girl but as Head Girl. This is St. Trinian’s after all – I doubt any Head Girl had it easy in the beginning, even Kelly. So this movie was all Annabelle once again having to take a journey and it was one I enjoyed watching. In fact I think I’d have rather had the movie be more about Annabelle’s journey of learning to be Head Girl.
- Annabelle of all the characters, save Ms. Fritten and Jeffery, gets the most screen time and while in the beginning she was uncertain about her new role (but who wouldn’t be?) and that showed in her hesitation after her possession she got it together and pretty much kept it together, and kept control, for the rest of the film (I am ignoring that whole crying thing in Shakespeare’s hidden room because it was stupid and aggravating.) She calls in Kelly to help with breaking into the vault – and in accomplishing that part of their mission they succeeded greatly (it’s not their fault the ring wasn’t there); she takes charge when they begin squabbling, she very likely planned out the distraction for them to get away, kept calm and the others moving when underground and for the most part kept it together throughout the entire last half of the movie. Even in the beginning when she was still trying to stand on shaky Head Girl legs I feel like she did pretty well. I mean there was this moment underground – “Oh, well. Never mind. We’ll just tell the guys back at school we didn’t finish the job cause it was a bit dark, and a bit cold, and somebody saw a hamster.” – and I really loved that. It felt very ‘Kelly’ in demeanour but all Annabelle. She was entirely Head Girl in that moment.
• So, yes, Roxy had one of the largest supporting roles but I don’t feel like she in any way eclipsed Annabelle. I mean she didn’t really do anything. From the reviews I’d read I thought she’d taken charge of the girls and become defacto Head Girl and was coming up with all the plans, etc. I was expecting her to be the one who broke into the vault. Instead we are given an outsider character in Roxy, to take over Annabelle’s place in the story since she is now firmly a St. Trinian’s girl, and we mostly get reaction shots from Roxy. Yes, she interjects a handful of times (the phone call) but mainly she stays in the background. I actually wish that we could have gotten more of her reacting to St. Trinian’s insanity – but then we would have needed more of it for her to react to (her reaction to the electric chair made me laugh.)
• “Swimming pool rules – no running, no shoving, no heavy petting.” – Annabelle. Heee. But, um, does St. Trinian’s have such a large issue with ‘heavy petting’ in their school pool that they had to make a rule about it? I approve.
• While there was definitely not enough Kelly and Kelly/Annabelle what we did get was excellent and does not in any way Joss Kelly/Annabelle as a pairing. In fact I think it supports it. All of Kelly’s scenes are with Annabelle and they are still very much in contact despite Kelly having moved onto the real world (and onto the spy world at that and I feel like there is a story here about how St. Trinian’s Head Girls are uniquely qualified to be in that life and every time a new one leaves the school she is immediately besieged with offers. So we’ll be having Annabelle be joining Kelly at MI-7 after school then, yes?)
- I mean Annabelle has Kelly’s cell number, a cell that Kelly takes with her on missions and answers (which could mean it’s not just her normal everyday phone but perhaps an emergency phone), and I certainly got the sense that this wasn’t the first time Annabelle had called Kelly (Kelly wasn’t at all surprised, Annabelle went right into her problem without any courtesies).
- The fact that Annabelle is lying in bed during their call just makes me happy.
- I loved Annabelle calling Kelly ‘Kel’.
- I really loved Kelly’s so proud grin when Annabelle took charge after the failed break-in. The break-in itself with Kelly and Annabelle working perfectly in sync as a team was wonderful (Annabelle is so joining MI-7 as Kelly’s partner). I loved the dramatic shots of them walking side-by-side into the smoke and then kicking ass – which by the way, clearly Annabelle has been taken lessons from Kelly on.
• “I truly am what? Smarter than your average brainless slapper? You’d better believe it.” – Chelsea. Of course she is. I mean wasn’t that the point of her storyline in the first movie? But I loved this moment.
• This movie actually got me shipping Annabelle/Chelsea. It makes me want to go re-watch the first one to see if there were some scenes between them in that one that hinted in this direction. There were two moments at the end that had me wondering if I’d missed something. First, when they are at the wall Lucy is about to say something mean about Chelsea when Annabelle puts her hand on her shoulder to stop her. It very much felt like her looking after Chelsea’s feelings. The second moment takes place a short while later when Annabelle realises “That means I’m a Shakespeare.” and Chelsea is standing there right at her shoulder staring at her with this huge grin and she is just so happy for Annabelle it makes me go aww. Now of course it doesn’t have to be about shipping and possibly works better if it’s not (I do love Kelly/Annabelle). I love the idea of the two of them being friends, of them having become close friends and perhaps even of Chelsea becoming Annabelle’s second. But I still ship it a little.
What I Didn’t
So as shown above there is a lot I really liked about this movie. I still had some problems with the above stuff – more on Annabelle being Head Girl, more Kelly, and it would have been nice to have had more of the girls from the first movie return – but for the most part there was a lot I enjoyed. There were however two very serious problems I had with the movie – one thing I just didn’t like and the other I hated so very much – plus there were a couple minor things.
Minor
• I feel like too much attention is given to Headmistress Fritton and Jeffrey, in both movies but especially this one, and simply because they are the largest named actors in the movies. I am far more interested in the girls of St. Trinian’s then in Ms. Fritton.
• These movies do not do that well on racial diversity and this one is actually worse than the first.
• Of the missing girls Polly is the one I missed most. I wish she'd been at least mentioned.
• I skipped over the entire play. It hit my embarrassment squick even before they went on stage.
Major
• While watching the movie I couldn’t help but remember a comparison I’d read between the first movie and Whip It and how in the first movie the girls directed their own actions and are never defined by the guys in the movie. Hmm, quote: “The girls are girls and they get to run their own story rather than having their story showcased by the actions of boys.” And while I was watching this movie I realised that that was no longer true and it made me angry. Actually I have this as two points but really it’s three.
First, at two points in the movie we have Jeffrey showing up to save the day. The first time is when he gets the ring (despite the girls very cool vault break-in). But okay fine I can accept that though TPTB could have found a way for the girls to get it if they’d wanted. Whatever. I am a lot less sanguine about the second time he shows up to ‘save’ the day – when he stopped the actor from calling security and then engaged him in a protracted sword fight. Um, what? As the meta mentioned the first movie was all about the girls being in control of both their stories and the actions. They moved the story. This movie had far too much of male characters moving things along. This goes into the second point:
Second, no, seriously WTF?! The girls standing there as the actor goes to call security and having to be ‘rescued’ by Jeffrey and then standing there watching the subsequent sword fight with gasps of shock/awe/horror and wide eyes and... what the hell? These are fucking St. Trinian’s! This is by far my biggest issue with the movie and it happens not once, not twice, but three times and it really pisses me off. St. Trinian’s girls, who the police are afraid of for crying out loud, are not going to stand there helpless as an actor is about to ruin their plans. They are not going to stand around with wide eyes as they watch two guys swordfight – if they stayed to watch it’d be with boredom, amusement or scorn. I don’t buy them watching though. It shouldn’t have even got to the swordfight anyway. These are not shrinking violets.
Except in this movie they are when needed. Because not only was there the swordfight but there was also: A) the initial break-in after they chase off the first wave of invaders and the girls all react with fear/horror and gasps, and cowering as if they’re helpless instead of kicking ass and fighting back, um, really? No. B) After Pomfrey steals the play the girls all breakdown in helpless tears. They shouldn’t have been crying and wailing, they should have been angry and planning how to get it back and get revenge. In fact when he turned away and started walking off I was expecting Annabelle to do what she did in the first movie and take him out from behind (perhaps throwing something at him). Gun, yes, but they’re St. Trinian’s. It drove me absolutely crazy every single time it happened. Which leads me to:
Third, the... lessening of the danger and menace that the St. Trinian’s girls’ pose bugged me. The first movie did it a great deal from the original comics but this second movie seems to remove it completely. They bring it up at the beginning with the police reacting with fear when they see the speeding car head into St. Trinian’s land but throughout the entire movie we never once see any reason for it. They hint back with the whole electric chair part, Fritton sending one commando’s falling to the bottom of the school and then the twins blowing a hole through Parliament (I believe?) at the end but for the most part, even without those three instances of cringing, they come off far more as out of control practical jokers then dangerous and to be feared. I vastly prefer St. Trinian’s as the dangerous and out of control group, that would have the police stopping at their gates and refusing to go any further, then what we got in this movie. I want them dangerous – to each other, and themselves, but especially to others. We did get them fighting with each other but always pulling together as a whole against any outside force which is the other aspect of them that I love but I really want that danger back.
