Psycho's Movie Reviews #351: St Trinian's 2: Legend Of Fritton's Gold (2009)

St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold is a 2009 British adventure comedy film directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson, both of whom directed the previous film in the series. It is the seventh in a long running series of films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle, and the second film produced since the franchise was rebooted in 2007.

A sequel, St Trinian's 3: Battle of the Sexes, has been in development since 2009, but has yet to be produced.

Plot

One night, the girls of St. Trinian's catch Celia, a member of the eco sect, retrieving an old ring from the school's Fritton Archives. Celia explains that an unknown man telephoned her to retrieve it for him in exchange for £20,000. Seeking to get more, Annabelle Fritton, the new head girl, demands £100,000 from the man when he calls back, only for him to refuse and threaten the girls for their greed. When the school's power is cut, the girls ask their headmistress, Camilla Fritton, about why the ring might be so valuable.

Camilla recognises the ring as one of two created by a pirate ancestor of hers in 1589, which when brought together can lead the way to a buried treasure hidden somewhere in the world. Shortly after learning this, the school is besieged by masked men led by Sir Piers Pomfrey, a man of flawless reputation and a descendant of the man that was robbed by Camilla's pirate ancestor, who steals the ring with the intention of finding the treasure.

Seeking to stop him, the girls search for the second ring and find a clue left by another ancestor who located the first and left it in the archives. After a difficult time deciphering a clue they left, the girls find it to be hidden within a boys' school, leaving a group to infiltrate it in disguise and recover it. Seeking to recover the first, the girls learn that Piers is the leader of a secret society known as AD1, a masculinist brotherhood, and that Camilla's old flame and former head of education, Geoffrey Thwaites, knows about him and the society.

After tracking him down at a pub, Camilla convinces him to help them, whereupon she puts him through a course to help him overcome his need for drink, and assigns him to work undercover at AD1's hideout, with Annabelle calling in the former head girl Kelly, now an M.I.7 agent, to assist in the recovery of the ring. Despite the girls not finding it in the vault, Geoffrey spots it being worn by Piers and manages to steal it from him, returning it back to St. Trinian's.

Finding that the two rings bear longitude and latitude coordinates respectively on them, the girls find that the treasure is buried under the Globe Theatre. After organising a flash mob to keep AD1 from pursuing them, after Piers learns they recovered the first ring, Camilla, Geoffrey, the school's bursar, Annabelle and a small group of the girls make it to the theatre, and while the girls head underneath the building, Camilla and Geoffrey pose as actors they knocked out to avoid raising an alarm.

Although the girls make it to the treasure's location within a secret room, they discover a chest within containing nothing more than a note from Pirate Fritton, who gave up being a pirate to write plays under the name of William Shakespeare, and that the treasure was the final play he wrote intended to reveal that "he" was a woman. Piers, managing to track them down, holds them at gunpoint and steals the play from them, revealing that his ancestors knew this fact and that he had always intended to find the play and destroy it. The girls watch as he flees the scene on his private boat.

Seeking to stop him, the girls take control of the reconstruction of the Golden Hind and sail it down the Thames, whereupon they attack Pier's boat, with Camilla recovering the play's script from him. The girls soon return to St. Trinian's for a wild party to celebrate their success, while Piers is exposed for being a sexist after AD1 is revealed to the media.

Production

Principal photography started in July 2009, at Ealing Studios and on location in various places in London, including the Globe Theatre and on (and in) the River Thames. The 'Old Boys School' was filmed at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey and the boys choir was the Guildford Cathedral Choir. On 16 August 2009, hundreds of extras, along with the main characters, filmed a mass dance scene in the style of a flash mob at London's Liverpool Street Station.

The manor house used as the girls school is Knebworth House in Hertfordshire.

Release/Reception/Box Office

It was announced at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival that St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold was to be released on 18 December 2009.

The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews. It holds a 14% 'rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews, with an average score of 3.55/10.

It opened at #2 in the United Kingdom, just behind James Cameron's 3D sci fi epic Avatar, with debut week end box office figures of £1,586,832. As of 10 February 2010, the film has grossed a total of £7,019,714 in the United Kingdom, considerably lower than the first instalment's £12,280,529. It became the fourth biggest film of the Christmas season of 2009: ahead were Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, and Avatar.

Box office £7,088,097

{I forget Sarah Harding is an actual character in this film... that just makes me sadder, RIP - a moment of silence}

My Review

{I always forget that David Tennant is in this film... And that he's a leader of a woman hating cult! Seriously, he's like one of the 'He-Man Woman Haters' (from The Little Rascals) gone rogue!}

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. 7.2/10

{The original song 'Up and Away' by the St Trinians Band is soooo good. I kinda wish it had more recognition}

{Also, I didn't know until recently that Tom Hiddleston's new fiance is Bianca (Chav Leader) from this film... LOKI'S MARRYING A ST TRINIAN}

{Bianca; this is the only good picture of her I could find}

{They look so happy together; I'm so happy for my boy... I'm definitely not envious in the slightest... nope}