You know that old joke about sex? That even when it's bad, it's good? Well, that's the thing with Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde -- it's really not a good movie at all, but 90 minutes of Reese Witherspoon is always worth the price of admission.

Like the original Legally Blonde, this sequel follows the fortunes of a perky sorority sister who succeeds despite a dreadful handicap: Her eternal optimism. Reese Witherspoon is Elle Woods, legal eagle and fashionista. She takes on animal rights in this story, going to Washington to try to get a bill through Congress or something -- that part is too trying and tedious to go into. Impossible to understand, as well, but maybe it will have some educational value for American viewers. It could happen.

In the course of changing the law to protect important people like her dog, Bruiser, Miss Woods gets to keep company with an impressive support cast: Sally Field as a false-friend Congresswoman, Bob Newhart as a helpful doorman, Regina King as the cold-bitch-who-will-eventually-warm-to-Elle and Dana Ivey and Bruce McGill as politicians.

As the beautifully dressed and always determined Elle Woods, Witherspoon is funny and endearing -- but she doesn't have enough to do. Many of the original players (Jennifer Coolidge as the dippy manicurist, Luke Wilson as the boyfriend, the Delta Nu sisters, etc.) are in this sequel, but mostly for show, and the story in Red, White & Blonde is a re-tread of the original. It's slow, it's predictable and most of the visual humour is gone.

Remember, in the first film, Elle's fahhhbulous video application to Harvard? In her pool? In the bikini that kept changing colour? Of course you do.

All that delicious visual silliness is missing in the sequel. The sparkle is gone. The story is dull. The players appear to be sleep-walking.

But here's the important thing: We took a couple of members of the Legally Blonde target demographic -- preteen girls, to be specific -- along with us to see this movie. They loved it without reservation. That's really all you need to know.

(This film is rated PG)

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