I am not going to lie and say this sequel is a masterpiece because it isn't for me. But I don't consider it a bad film, in fact I thought it was pretty entertaining. Comparing it to the first film, which I also liked even with its faults, I haven't completely made up my mind which I prefer, as both had their good and bad points that were either improved upon or diminished.
In terms, I'd say the sequel had the more eventful plot, that said there were occasions where there was too much going on, and both films admittedly had episodic story structures with some entertaining parts. While I liked the acting on the whole, two performances weren't quite there. One was Gemma Arterton, now I am not dismissing her as a bad actress because she isn't-see her in Tess of the D'Urbevilles she is brilliant there- it's just that she doesn't have much to do this time around. The other is I agree Sarah Harding, she looked pretty but her acting and facial expressions I felt were all wrong and to me her presence felt pointless.
In terms of scripting, there are some fun lines(this is interminable), as well as some very silly ones(Seriously, she'd snog a melon if you drew a mouth on it). There were also some good scenes(and plenty of anarchy between the schoolgirls), such as the one at the boy's school(my brother was an extra in this scene), the ruination of Romeo and Juliet, the sword fight between Geoffrey and Romeo and the search for the ring in the dark. The two scenes that didn't quite work so well were the ending, which felt rather abrupt, and the part where Annabelle is in the school infirmary in exorcist fashion, which came across as a little too silly for my taste.
St Trinians 2 is nice to look at, it isn't high art, but the buildings are imposing and it was nice to see London again. The music is delightful, and the direction is decent. Apart from Harding and Arterton to a lesser degree, the other performances are fine. Rupert Everett is a lot of fun to watch, while Colin Firth has more to do this time around and is wonderful. Tululah Riley gives a nice account of herself as well, as does Toby Jones, while David Tennant makes for an excellent if somewhat hammy villain of the piece.
Overall, no masterpiece but it was at least watchable. It keeps reasonably to the somewhat chaotic tone of the first film, and while the plot was a little busy in places and there were moments of stale laughs or acting, I enjoyed it. 6/10 Bethany Cox
