This American comedy-drama film is a sequel to the 2006 movie, “The Devil Wears Prada”. David Frankel directed both the original film and this movie.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2. Starring: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Kenneth Branagh, and Justin Theroux. Rated PG (Mild coarse language). 109 min.
Review by Peter W Sheehan, Jesuit Media Australia
In the film, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci reprise their original 2006 roles. Kenneth Branagh and Justin Theroux join the cast as the husbands of Miranda Priestly, and Emily Charlton. Photography for the drama takes the viewer impressively to Milan, Italy. In the sequel, Miranda (Meryl Streep) explores the advantages of a new media front, and Emily Blunt as Emily Charlton, heads a luxury garment brand that needs substantial funding and support to sustain it. The original 2006 film attracted audiences that responded positively to good direction, a talented cast, and subject matter that had high media appeal that was supported by Anna Wincour, who ruled High Fashion in America for decades as the actual President and Fashion Architect of Vogue magazine, USA.
The sequel aims for the same appeal as the original film: the Director is the same, the original cast is maintained, and high fashion garments are still the name of the game. Nothing much ought to go wrong, but not a great deal of difference from the original movie is actually evident in the sequel. Dramatically it tells us there is enormous financial and personal cost to “staying on trend”. Plot detail shows Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), Miranda Priestly’s former second assistant, wanting to shape a new fashion conglomerate, and showing obvious strain; Emily Charlton schemes to be on top; and Miranda struggles to shape a fashion world, she once ruled.
Despite the complexities of the film’s plot-line, the luxury couture covered by the movie is eye-catching. The sequel does provide an alluring look at couture fashion. Fans of the 2006 movie, which was a fashion classic, will be pleased with the visuals, but time will tell whether the sequel will be as addictive as the original movie. Its chief message is that high couture has obvious allure, but those who create it cannot be trusted. Anna Wincour passed comment on the sequel, saying she thought “It was a fair shot”.
Reviewed by Peter Sheehan, an Associate of Jesuit Media