When Sex And The City (1998 - 2004), the HBO breakthrough series that showed fans how to be single in New York City, came to a close, it wasn't long before the cast and audience alike needed our friends back. Four years after the season finale, Sex And The City, the feature film (2008), brought its audience back into the world of Cosmopolitans and Manolo Blahniks, so we could catch up on the action with Charlotte, Miranda, Samantha and Carrie, whose wedding got canceled.

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In 2010, the ladies returned for more, all struggling with life, love, and work in Manhattan - so they got out of town and headed to the United Arab Emirates. Comparisons between the two films were inevitable, but which did it better?

SATC Movie: The Necessary Road Trip

SATC Carrie Samantha Miranda in Mexico

The girls' trip in the first movie was warranted. Carrie had just been dumped in the most humiliating of ways and her three friends knew getting away from NYC was the best thing for her. With the honeymoon bought and paid for, it made sense to just go and hope paradise would bring her back to life.

The second film, on the other hand, used the jaunt to Abu Dhabi (they were tagging along on one of Samantha's business trips), complete with caper in costume, aka burkas, as just a device and the story was kind of thin.

Sequel: Charlotte & Miranda Reveal The Downside To Being Moms

At first glance, watching two privileged white women with partners and nannies complain about how hard it is to raise kids these days is worthy of an eye-roll with an exhaustive sigh chaser.

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But as they continued, citing how they had no right to complain unlike those who go it alone without help and on modest salaries, both Charlotte and Miranda get choked up admitting that having the job of making sure another human being gets through the day alive is scary and stressful.

SATC Movie: Real Relationship Challenges

There was Carrie getting jilted at the altar by Big, Miranda being cheated on by Steve, Samantha moving across the country for Smith, and Charlotte getting pregnant and fearing she'd lose the baby. These were serious relationship/life issues that needed to be addressed so the women could find happiness. Samantha eating her emotions and getting gut as Anthony pointed out hit home for many.

This was lacking in the second movie, where it took a road trip to Saudi Arabia and chance encounter with Aiden Shaw to solve Carrie's issue with Big not wanting to stay in and watch TV some nights.

The Sequel: Celebrates The Gay Community

The movie opens with the marriage of Stanford and Anthony, with special guest Liza Minnelli (treating us to a musical extravaganza set to "Single Ladies" by Beyonce), allowing a love story to come to fruition other than those of the four friends.

Unlike the first movie and the series, in which Stanford was the requisite gay friend and Anthony was the stereotypical acerbic gay stylist, this film showed them as just two people who deserved to find love just like their cis counterparts.

SATC Movie: Carrie Didn't Dress Like A Mannequin

High heels, fun outfits, and the occasional hat - the first movie carried on the tradition of the show, where eclectic was the only word to describe her wardrobe. It was indeed the Carrie we admired for her bold choices, like wearing gold Manolos with army green pants and a button-down with only one button closed.

This was not unlike her sartorial choices in the sequel that were reminiscent of the end of the series where she falls asleep waiting for Aleksandr Petrovsky (Mikhail Baryshnikov) and is swallowed up by a mound o' ruffles gown too ornate for Scarlett O'Hara. Carrie lounges around her museum-like home in evening gowns, making dinner reservations at restaurants where she will look like a prom date.

The Sequel: Samantha Is Still Single And Fabulous

She was always the oldest friend, sophisticated, and independent, as evidenced by her lack of interest in marriage and her entrepreneurial spirit. In the sequel, the PR exec is grappling with menopause, but hey, she beat cancer, so there was no doubt she'd get a handle on the whole "change of life" thing.

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And she was free, no longer weighed down by sexy and handsome Smith, whose name she had come "to say more than [her] own," as his manager. This movie solidified that Samantha was truly the most self-confident and self-sufficient of the four.

SATC Movie: Manhattan Was Still The 5th Friend

Besides the women's unfailing friendship, their romances, and Patricia Field's fashion stylings, the other reason to tune in was to live it up in New York City, albeit vicariously, which the first movie, just like the show, gave fans in abundance: Fashion Week, restaurants, Uptown, Downtown, high-end stores, daytime, and nighttime. And let's not forget the penthouse view.

Even though Abu Dhabi is the richest city in the world, teeming with cultural wonders, wildlife, and ancient treasures, Manhattan was sorely missed.

The Sequel: It Humanized Mr. Big

The swagger, the jet black hair, the "you need me more than I need you" smirk - all gone with age. It happens to the best of us, even millionaires - we get older. During the series, which fed into the film version, John James Preston earned his nickname. From the final episodes where he flies to Paris to "go get our girl" to end of the first movie where surprises his new bride with her friends at City Hall, Mr. Big was always larger than life. But in the sequel, we see that one can only sustain that behavior for so long.

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People get tired. Going out to where all the action is gets tired as well, and staying home, especially if your home is in an apartment in the sky, starts to looks good. As does ordering in and watching classic movies. Mr. Big was no longer a young man, and he was big enough to admit it.

SATC Movie: A POC Has A Prominent Role

Academy Award winner, Grammy winner, as well as bestselling author, Jennifer Hudson joined the cast, unfortunately, not as the fifth friend, but as Carrie's kind, efficient, and fashion-savvy assistant, with her own professional and personal storyline.

The casting kept this film from suffering from the "whiteness" of the show and trumped the second movie, in which the Arab people the fab four encountered were servants, raging men, and oppressed women who "got over" on the men by wearing designer duds under their long black gowns and burkas.

The Sequel: The 'Be Careful Of What You Wish For' Message

For the six seasons of the HBO series, we traveled along on the romantic journey of Mr. Big and Carrie, watching as he couldn't quite commit, left her for Paris, was perfectly able and willing to commit to Natasha (Bridget Moynahan), seduced her into an affair, couldn't commit again, moved to Napa, and finally committed, only to leave her at the altar in the first movie.

Now they're finally married proving dreams do come true, except he's tired of being a man about town and wants to stay home and watch TV, even though Carrie's party girl days are not yet behind her.

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