'Pitch Perfect 2' review

Pitch Perfect 2 Review:

Aca-okay

BY IAN TAN

In Pitch Perfect 2, the Barden Bellas get their performance rights revoked due to an embarrassing hiccup in one of their performances in front of President Obama. In order to make up for it, the Bellas go head to head with Das Sound Machine, among other international a Capella groups, in an international a Capella competition to show the world that they’ve still got what it takes to be an impressive aca-force of music.

 I had a good time watching the first Pitch Perfect. It was fun, enjoyable and I thought  the a Capella performances were well thought out and inventive. The cast was a fun bunch, with Anna Kendrick making her name in mainstream Hollywood and Rebel Wilson owning it as Fat Amy. In the sequel, expect more of the same, but don’t keep expectations too high because Pitch Perfect 2 rarely does anything to really outdo its predecessor. That’s not to say that this is a bad or disappointing movie, though. It’s simply one that just about meets your expectations.

The Bellas get pitch slapped

There are some new characters that come into the picture, the most notable of which being Hailee Steinfeld’s Emily, a univeristy freshman who has a knack for song writing and wants to be a Bella more than anything. I liked her character; she had charisma and a good sense of likability, even when the script made her do or say something cringe-worthy. The actors and actresses who make up Das Sound Machine - the Bellas’ Eastern European competition rival in the movie - are great comedic (and musical) additions as well. Returning faces (all the Bellas from the previous film) are given time to grow as characters here and definitely work as a better ensemble this time round. Also, Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins (the sarcastic announcers) are utilized better here than they were in the first movie.

German badassery

Unfortunately, the friendship and character arc between Beca (Kendrick) and Emily (Steinfeld), which should have served as this sequel’s heart, is glossed over. Instead, the heart of the film surrounds the fact that by the end of the movie, the Bellas would have graduated and moved on from their a Cappela singing days. This doesn’t really work, due to the fact that when some of these characters (i.e. Lilly and Fat Amy, among others) talk about the future and leaving their Barden Bella days behind, you just can’t take them too seriously considering how humourous their characters are. The heart of a film works best when it surrounds characters that are down-to-earth and relatable (or when funny, over-the-top characters are given more realistic lines and purpose) – like Beca and Emily.  One can imagine how much more impactful the film’s closing performance could have been had the film spent a little more time developing Beca and Emily’s relationship with one another, because that final performance was a good one, one that’ll put a smile on your face and feel happy for these characters.

Oh look, Effie Trinket!

A few other things I didn’t like about this movie were that some sequences feel borrowed from the first i.e. another riff-off that isn’t as good as the one in the first. Even some of Pitch Perfect 2’s musical sequences feel a notch below the bravado of the ones from the first movie. Besides that, it struggles to find a proper reason for Jesse (Skylar Astin’s character) to be in the sequel, which was a bummer for me because I quite liked his character in the first movie. He really doesn’t do much to serve the story in this one.

Hailee Steinfeld on the left

    In the end, Pitch Perfect 2 is fun sequel, even if it isn’t as good as the first. It's a good first directorial effort from first-time director Elizabeth Banks, who also stars as Gail in the movie . If you liked the first, you’re likely to have a good time with this, but you’d probably not remember it as fondly as the first time you saw the Barden Bellas on screen in 2012; kind of like how that novelty of seeing the Avengers in Age of Ultron isn’t as memorable as it was the first time they teamed up in the very first Avengers movie.

Final Verdict

Pitch Perfect 2 gets 6.9 out of 10 stars - Okay okay only