Countdown to Thirteen: St. Trinian’s: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold (2009)

I’m still trying to decide what to make of the sequel to St. Trinian’s.  In some ways, it’s sleeker than the original, and there are parts of it that I really enjoy, but there are places where I think it veers a little too far from what makes the first film work.

It’s a new term at St. Trinian’s, and Annabelle has just been made head girl by Miss Fritton.  She has her work cut out for her in the form of the school’s new enemy:  one Sir Piers Pomfrey, a self-impressed toff whose misogyny runs even deeper than he lets on from the surface.  Pomfrey is after a ring rumored to be hidden in St. Trinian’s, which bears one half of a clue to finding a lost treasure stolen from his ancestor by a pirate ancestor of the Frittons.  Initially, the girls are interested in selling him the ring, but when Annabelle overplays their hand, they instead make a move to track down the rest of the clue and find the treasure before Pomfrey does.

Despite the outrageously-multifaceted heist plan of the first movie, the plot was relatively straightforward in comparison with this one, which feels overly busy at times.  I enjoy a good treasure hunt, and this one involves some strong clues and topnotch sleuthing (especially when the girls go undercover at an all-boys school) – that and I enjoy the centuries-old feud angle between the Pomfreys and the Frittons.  That said, when you’re also pulling in elements like a sinister secret society and a few out-of-place-feeling supernatural scenes, it gets a little scattered.  The plot is at its best when it isn’t pulled in quite so many directions.  Fortunately, I think they bring it around nicely by the end.

Quite a few returning cast members from the first film, although the sizes of various roles shift around – Gemma Arterton’s character, for instance, has graduated, but she makes brief appearances as a sort-of mentor to Annabelle amid the fantastical things she gets up to on her own time.  David Tennant joins the cast as the sneeringly-snobbish Pomfrey; while obviously not at the creepy caliber of his Kilgrave (who will forever make my skin crawl,) he plays his villain role well.  Special shoutout to Colin Firth, returning as Geoffrey Thwaites.  In the first film, he was largely a thorn in St. Trinian’s side, but he’s been rather humbled since then and finds himself somewhat-allied to Miss Fritton and the girls.  Of course, between his heavy down-on-his-luck boozing and Miss Fritton’s uncertainty as to how much they can trust him, the balance between helping and hindering is an uneasy one.  Either way, Firth is great here.  It’s been nice to see him in both St. Trinian films recently, as well as the new Mamma Mia! – as much as I associate him with stellar roles like George in A Single Man or Mr. Darcy, I feel like, every now and then, I need a reminder of how funny he can be.  I should rewatch the first Kingsman sometime.

Jodie Whittaker’s Beverly is one of the characters whose role is lessened in this film, which is a shame, because she didn’t have a very big part to start with.  Beverly’s presence in the movie is barely more than a cameo, and more disappointingly for me, her characterization is pretty different.  There’s at least a reason given for it, that Beverly has changed after a trip to India, and she spends her brief screentime “Namaste”-ing to the girls and doing dubious yoga poses.  To me, though, it’s not as much fun as her apathetic-secretary routine from the first movie, and I feel like this one also plays the “dumb” card with her more often, which I didn’t get much of a sense of in her previous appearance.

Accent Watch

Still Northern!

Recommend?

In General – I think so.  Even though I don’t find it as ultimately-successful as St. Trinian’s, it still makes for a good time if you’re in the mood for it.

Jodie Whittaker – Not necessarily.  There’s even less of her here than in the first film, and the material she has to work with isn’t as fun.

Warnings

Language, violence, sexual content, drinking/smoking, some gross imagery, and thematic elements.