Legally Blonde 2: Red, White And Blonde DVD > Reviews > Its Capital Barbie!

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Unmemorable
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Witty one - liners, acting
Disadvantages:	not as good as the first

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Well I have been looking forward to seeing this film ever since I found out there would be a sequel. However I did have mixed feelings about the idea, as some sequels are failures. The first addition of Legally Blonde was brilliant and I absolutely loved it but was my feelings of this one to be the same?

I was staying overnight at a friends and we had decided we would go out the next day but we had no idea where. We had seen pretty much everything that was out to see at the pictures, we didn’t fancy ice-skating and the boys didn’t weren’t too keen on shopping. It was then that I remembered. August 1st was the release date of Legally Blonde 2. The girls were instantly persuaded to see this and so were the boys after a few stretches of the truth! (Boys are so gullible I mean come on what are the chances of Reese Witherspoon getting naked in a PG)

I had read a few reviews of this which were all good and judging from the trailers it looked really good and if the quality of the first instalment was anything to go by then this would be a kick ass film.

After about 20 minutes of worthless adverts, eating (and throwing) popcorn and fidgeting the film finally began.

~*~THE CAST~*~

Elle Woods - Reese Witherspoon
Paulette Bonafonté-Parcelle - Jennifer Coolidge
Emmett Richmond – Luke Wilson
Serina McGuire – Alanna Ubach
Margot Chapman – Jessica Cauffiel
Sidney Post – Bob Newhart
Grace Stoteraux – Regina King
Victoria Rudd – Sally Field
Stanford Marks – Bruce McGill
Libby Hauser – Dana Ivey

~*~The Plot~*~

Since last seeing Elle she has established herself as a great lawyer and is engaged to Emmett the man of her dreams. The story really begins when Elle is arranging the wedding of her dreams and begins to write invitations. She decides to write one to none other than Bruiser Wood’s mother (yes that’s right Bruiser Wood’s mother and yes that’s right he’s the dog!) She hires a top detective to track down the mother and when she finds her its not what she expects. The detective tells Elle the mother is with a top designer company - Versace. So off Elle trots in her high heels to buy the dog from the company but when she gets to the building she finds it’s not the Verscace she was expecting. It turns out this Versace is actually Veterinary Examination - Research Science And Critter Examination and she discovers that there is animal testing going on. As you can imagine this does not please Elle and so she starts a quest to ban animal testing. She then gets fired from her law firm and gets discouraged but with Emmett’s encouragement she decides not to give up and so off she goes to Washington to change the law. She joins Victoria Rudd’s firm where she must campaign to change the law but she has to battle against top politicians and difficult colleagues who are extremely jealous. Will Bruiser’s bill get enough votes? To find out you’ll have to see the film.

This film was both brilliant and disappointing. I felt that the film may have had a different plot scenario but the format and the events were very similar to the first. I even noticed the odd line was the same for example the Barbie joke from the first has been edited so that it is now relevant to the plot of the sequel. There were some extremely funny one-liners and subplots (which I wont reveal) that had me laughing. The rating of the first was a 12 and the second has been rated PG and the film reflects its down certification as I felt that the film was much better for younger people and that the language used was much milder (which isn’t at all a bad thing). I feel that younger children can relate more to the film than us older people as Elle’s personality could be a bit much for some but her dreams fit all those that you had as a child. What I did notice and it left me quite confused was at the end of the first film when Elle makes her speech she seems to have matured so much and she doesn’t seem the childish blonde that she was but in the second she’s even more dare I use the phrase blonder! I know that that’s the whole point and that the British slogan for the film is Bigger Bolder Blonder but it just didn’t fit with the original ending to the first (or maybe it was just my misjudgement that she was more mature)

The acting in the film was really good and I feel that Reese Witherspoon gave another great performance as Elle Woods. This isn’t the type of character I was used to seeing Reese play as I had seen her in Cruel Intentions and that was a much more serious character. Elle however isn’t and so it was great to see Reese play this part (again)
Luke Wilson who plays Emmett did not feature in this film as much as I (or most females) would have liked. Luke is a brilliant actor and wasn’t at all used to his full potential in this film. The fact that he’s gorgeous also added to my disappointment. Jennifer Coolidge again left me giggling for ages as Paulette, which definitely isn’t the sort of character I’m used to seeing her play. The role is so different to the other, which I have seen her play which is Stiffler’s Mom in the American Pie movies. Paulette is a great advantage to the film with some of her witty remarks.

The film is definitely not one that was made to be taken completely seriously but like the first is a celebration of all things blonde and pink! The feel is light hearted and an all round chick flick although I must say the boys did enjoy it. They were slightly disappointed that we had lied as they spent the film waiting for Reese to get naked but the fact that she was there was enough to make them enjoy the film. I myself did enjoy the film but was left disappointed that the film was awfully similar to the first I wont tell you where these parts are in the film as it would spoil it for people who plan to see it but those who may have already seen it will know which parts I’m referring to.

The soundtrack to film is quite good but as the songs are played throughout the film they aren’t hugely memorable unlike the first, which had some brilliant songs in. The films main theme is Leanne Rimmes “We Can” which is quite a good song. Other artists featured on the soundtrack are Aretha Franklin and Superchick.

This film is a great fun film for the girlies but I wouldn’t think that many men would enjoy it unlike the first, which I thought was quite good for both sexes. It’s not a serious film but one, which is light hearted and fun, filled. I recommend this to those who liked the first but don’t expect anything as good after all it is a sequel!!

Thanx for reading
Jenni xx :O)