Surrounded as it is by teenage entertainments caught up in increasingly mature pursuits, the “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” franchise, with its more mature, self-affirming focus, has a charming earnestness about it. On the other hand, the childish attachment of four postadolescent girls to the rituals related to a pretty dirty pair of jeans grates with some of the more adult themes woven into the sequel, often leaving “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2,” which makes its premiere Wednesday, feeling like a pleasant enough story without an audience.

Centered on a pair of jeans that magically fit four differently shaped friends, the films and Ann Brashares’s books follow the four girls as they attempt to stay connected through all of the twists and turns of maturation. In the new film, they’ve all just finished their first year of college. Bridget (Blake Lively) is playing soccer at Brown; Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) studies film at NYU; Lena (Alexis Bledel) attends Rhode Island School of Design on scholarship, and Carmen (America Ferrera) goes to Yale.

Once again the girls have set out for various exotic locales for the summer, and are trading the pants among them. But as the girls approach their 20s, the charms, patches, and drawings that lend the jeans their sentimental value also date them and limit the arc of their stories. These purposely unwashed jeans might have connected four middle-school friends in a less fashion-obsessed time, but the contrast between the girls’ attachment to the pants and the intense label loyalty of the typical teenager give the film an almost nostalgic tone, as if it were a period piece.

This is especially true in light of the adult fare that most of the actresses have been dipping into. All four have careers on the rise, but Ms. Lively’s role as Serena van der Woodsen on the CW show “Gossip Girl” poses the starkest contrast to the work here. On that show, Ms. Lively’s character has screwed, drunk, and snorted her way through most of her prep-school adolescence. The more sensationalist, cat-fighting approach to female drama currently in vogue consigns the gossamer style of “Sisterhood” to the realm of romantic fantasy.

As they pass the jeans back and forth around the world, the girls encounter dreamy men, far-off places, and wizened older women. This style of moralistic storytelling usually plays to a young female audience, but director Sanaa Hamri clearly yearns to delve into more mature plot lines. But while aspirational stories meant to clue adolescents into their future may work on paper, the real-life Barbie dolls on-screen leave the trajectories stunted. The obstacles set between these girls and adulthood are things such as unwanted pregnancies, shotgun marriages, and suicide — not exactly hallway chatter. “Sisterhood” manages a picturesque fairy tale for its young audience, but parents may not find the convoluted dramas any more wholesome or uplifting than the hot-and-bothered plights that make up “Gossip Girl.”

All of the girls look adorable, and are charming despite their shallow character development. Ms. Ferrera’s Carmen often verges on hysteria, but her undeniable charms lead the film. Ms. Bledell’s china-doll face manages most of the work with Lena. Ms. Lively maintains a coltish beauty despite a jumpiness that she mistakes for spontaneity. And Ms. Tamblyn continues to plumb the depths of the damaged suburbanite. All of them look charming alone in their various settings and together, despite the pounds of makeup that have been needlessly applied.

But when life gives them lemons, these girls make new patches for their jeans. Only half their problems are self-created, and with a little help from their friends, they always sort things out. “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” has an appealing familiarity to it, and the stars clearly feel at ease in their roles, but their increasing age cuts into their juvenile attachments and leaves the awkward feeling that they are trying to fit into something they have long since outgrown.

mkeane@nysun.com