Ahh, high school or as we Brits call it, secondary school. School was definitely different during the 90s and 00s where the internet had only been in existence for a short period of time as well as mobile phones. We didn't have anything like Facebook or Twitter back then, so people had to actually speak to one another in person, or use a home phone. It was definitely a different time back in those days, so these two films may be a bit outdated. Nevertheless, we are getting what people paid for in these two films and I guess the lessons we can take from the films is really just be nice to one another, enjoy life and don't take anything for granted. So let's take a look at these two films that I honestly thought would be unbearable to watch (at least at first):
Mean Girls
After spending twelve years in Africa, Cady (played by Lindsay Lohan before her drugs saga) and her family return to the United States and settle in Evanston, Illinois. Cady attends school where she tries to befriend people and ends up making friends with goth artist Janis (played by Lizzy Caplan) and the flamboyant and musical Damian (played by Daniel Franzese) who tell her about the school's various cliques, but warn her about the group known as the "Plastics" who are known as the most popular and infamous of them all. They start to take an interest in Cady and befriend her, which Cady uses as a means to spy on the group for her friends as they aim to dismantle them somehow throughout the film. As dreading as I thought this film was going to be, I actually ended up finding a few genuinely funny moments in it. Surprising how many well known faces are in this film and how young many of them are. It's not perfect, but has a few funny moments, captures the 90s/00s era of high school well enough and has a genuinely good lesson for us to learn which to no one's surprise is to just don't be mean. Don't lie to people, don't stab people in the back and don't end up becoming your worst enemy. 8/10
2
Set about 10 years later into the early 2010s, Jo (played by Meaghan Martin) who is no average girl, attends high school with the hopes of attending a prosperous university that her late mum once went to. She comes across the new "Plastics" and also their rival Abby (played by Jennifer Stone) whom she chooses to befriend out of sympathy and needing money to go to this university which Abby's parents grant her in exchange for being friends with her. As time goes on and Jo starts going into all male classes, she finds love but also gets into serious conflicts with the "Plastics" and the whole battle starts all over again, just with a new generation this time around. It is, in every way, a low budget and more up-to-date remake of the original film. It does have a few funny moments, but it really cannot compare to the original film. It's just another example of a made for TV sequel to a film that really didn't need one. But here's one anyway. Acting is a bit forced, some of the characters I just wonder why they are there at all and yeah, just avoid this one because you may laugh at it, but it won't last. 5/10
A no-brainer really on which film is the better one. Neither film is bad completely, but you are more likely to laugh and learn more with the more appreciated original film over the unnecessary "ok" sequel. They both hold up well despite changing times, but the original is still the best of the two. 7/10
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