Skeptics might be tempted to call "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" the best of a bad lot, but give the film a few second thoughts, and it grows on you.

In a movie world nearly void of relevant material for teens that isn't cloying, fake or overwhelmed by immaturity and dim-hip coolness, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" works mightily to say things that feel real. And even if that valiant effort becomes a little too self-conscious, this movie must be a welcome relief for teenage girls looking for peer movies that aren't afraid to show real emotions.

Based on the best-selling novel from 2001, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" tells the story of four 17-year-old girls, best buddies since birth, of different looks, races, identities and makeups. That's makeup as in personality, not mascara, as the story thankfully introduces four girls more concerned with finding themselves through friendship and life experience than the latest Vogue craze.

These girls will be separated by geography in their final summer before early adulthood, but they have found a symbolic link to keep them joined. During a thrift-shop outing, the girls find a pair of pants that fit all of them perfectly, despite their varying body types. These pants are decreed hallowed by the girls, and they will take turns wearing them, staying cosmically in tune with each other, if only through a denim connection.

Their summer adventures begin with Carmen (America Ferrera), traveling to the southern U.S. where her long-distant father (Bradley Whitford) surprises her with the news that he is re-marrying, and she will soon have two new siblings. The surprise disappoints Carmen, as she had planned on a long summer alone with her father, to get to know him better for the first time. When the summer becomes more about the impending wedding than that vital bonding, the strong, smart, but sometimes fragile Carmen must again summon inner reserves.

Star athlete Bridget (Blake Lively), still coping with the death of her mother, and also dealing with an emotionally distant father, attends a soccer camp in Baja, where she sets her eyes on an older coach, a no-no. The confident Bridget makes all the right moves to seduce the coach, but soon realizes what she wants and can get may not be what she really needs.

The shy artist Lena (Alexis Bledel) travels to a gorgeous Greek island to stay with relatives she has never met, and while getting to know a new culture and lifestyle, is also challenged by the true meaning of family. This when she falls for a handsome Greek boy on the island, only to discover that her family and his are engaged in a decades-long feud.

The rebellious, intelligent and bored Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), meanwhile, stays home and works at a local discount store, while filming a documentary on the lives of the dreary working class. She befriends a young girl with leukemia, and the relationship alters her tough-girl perspectives.

The film weaves between these stories, the pants shipped from one girl to the other, letters accompanying. By the end of the summer, when the girls are at last together again, they have all grown up a little, with memorable experiences likely to shape their lives forever.

"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" struggles a little to translate mature themes while staying accessible to its demographic. A sequence where one of the girls goes through some kind of awkward sexual experience, for instance, happens off-screen and is related practically through code. By contrast, other episodes are treated with a little more grandstand drama than feels genuine.

The intentions are clear, though, and they are good. "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," with fine acting from a strong cast, is no mean-girls satire, and no powder-puff comedy. It tries to keep things real, and despite its simple framing, walks the talk.