The long-awaited sequel to the beloved movie “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” is finally here and fans are underwhelmed. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, “To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You,” came out on Feb. 12, exclusively on Netflix. And while being a cute film, it fell short compared to the all-time favorite story of the first movie.

Before we get into the sequel, here’s a little recap of the first movie. Lara Jean Covey, played by Lana Condor, has longed for an 80s rom-com sort of love all of her life. When she falls in love with a boy, she has such strong feelings for him that she doesn’t know what to do with herself except for one thing: write love letters. She would write that boy a love letter letting out all of her feelings for him and hiding the letter away so no one would ever find it.

She wrote a total of five letters to the five different boys she had fallen in love with during her lifetime. Once she was done writing a letter, she would move on with her life because she was scared that having a real relationship would ruin her perfect movie-like view of love. One day, her little sister Kitty finds the letters and mails them not knowing that it would change Lara Jean’s life forever.

OK, you have to admit, that’s a pretty good storyline. It was based on the book series by Jenny Han that is said to be amazing. The first movie is one of my all-time favorites. It puts a modern spin on the classic rom-com by having a diverse cast and original plotlines while still giving you the same heartwarming feeling that those throwback romance movies give you. So as a fan of the first movie, I was automatically excited about the sequel.

“To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” started off with Lara Jean thrilled about her new life of being a girlfriend. Sorry, spoiler alert for the first movie, even though it was kind of obvious that she would end up with one of the boys she wrote the letters to. Lara Jean is going on her first official date with Peter Kavinsky played by Noah Centineo, the school’s heartthrob, and she can’t imagine her life to be more perfect than it is. At least not until her letters come back to bite. Lara Jean receives a letter from John Ambrose played by Jordan Fisher, her middle-school crush and the only boy that she did not have the chance to confront when her letters were sent out because he had moved away. John Ambrose writes back to her telling her how he really enjoyed her letter, and that subsequently makes her heart skip a beat.

Shortly after receiving the letter, Lara Jean runs into John at the retirement home where she volunteers at. As she spends more time with John volunteering, old feelings from middle school begin to rekindle. Peter starts to notice this which leaves Lara Jean conflicted because she has to decide between two boys that mean a lot to her.

The cast, hands-down, is my favorite part of this movie. Fisher nails his performance, as usual, stealing all of the girls’ hearts away with his killer smile. The legend Holland Taylor plays Stormy, a feisty retired flight attendant who Lara Jean meets at the retirement home. And of course, Condor and Centineo again did a wonderful job playing my favorites, Lara Jean and Peter.

This movie also had the same amazing cinematography the first movie had. The story was again depicted beautifully with the bright colors and music that fit the storyline perfectly to warm your heart.

Although it was a cute movie, I definitely prefer the original over the sequel if I had to choose between them. Some scenes in this movie were confusing because the build-up wasn’t executed very well. They didn’t do the best job of explaining certain plotlines, so it seemed like some of the conflicts came up randomly. I also feel like not a lot happened in this movie. Sure, there was conflict, but it was very underwhelming. I did like how we got to see a little more of Lara Jean’s perspective in this movie, compared to how they depicted her in the first movie.

If you loved the first movie, I would definitely recommend watching the sequel to find out what happens next. Besides that, it wouldn’t be my first pick on a list of good rom-coms. It’s a decent movie but I don’t think it lives up to the great name of its predecessor.

_Edited by George Frey | gfrey@themaneater.com_