Pitch Perfect 2 – Aca-great

Quickie Review:

The a cappella group Barden Bellas fall from grace after a humiliating performance at the Lincoln Centre. As a result they are disqualified from participating in collegiate competitions. Now they must redeem themselves and regain their right to perform by winning the international a cappella competition. Pitch Perfect 2 like the first film brings back a lot of the colourful characters with great comedic chemistry. The sequel remains formulaic, story structure is practically the same as the first. Nevertheless, the movie delivers on the humour and the characters are so likeable that you have fun with their antics. This is a worthy sequel for the fans and they will be thoroughly entertained.

Full Review:

It took me a while to watch the first Pitch Perfect because admittedly I scoffed it off as some singing version of Step-Up. Afterwards due to all the good buzz and word-of-mouth I eventually gave it a shot and ended up really liking it. So I was looking forward to Pitch Perfect 2.

The great thing about the movie is the cast, mainly the chemistry between Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, and Brittany Snow. Of course everyone has their funny moments but it is these three that are carrying the movie forward. Each of them have their own story arcs that led to some hilarious moments. For instance Anna Kendrick’s character Beca is interning at a music studio run by one of my favourite comedians Keegan-Michael Key. His commitment to the role of a big time egotistical producer was hysterical. Rebel Wilson has a very unconventional love story in this film, which perfectly suits her sense of humour. Wilson was on fire with joke after joke, all of them had me laughing out loud or at the very least made me chuckle. The rest of the cast all have their unique funny quirks that could’ve gotten annoying if overused. Luckily that situation was prevented with a well-balanced use of the supporting cast.

What prevents Pitch Perfect 2 from being exceptional is that it has the same story structure of the first movie: embarrassing moment, risk of never being taken seriously, bad major performance, team building moment, and then the final competition. This is not a spoiler, you will realize this formula from numerous other competition driven plots. It doesn’t ruin the movie but I would have liked to have seen the characters progress beyond their lives in college. They do attempt that with Kendrick’s story arc but in the end it’s rather inconsequential. Also there are segments in the middle that feel repetitious in conveying that the team isn’t functioning as well as it used. So there were moments in the movie that could’ve been cut out to make it more concise.

It is easy to dismiss Pitch Perfect 2 as some random generic chick flick (I am pointing at you macho man who thinks this franchise is a waste of time). I even convinced two of my friends to check out the first film before going into watch Pitch Perfect 2. Sure we felt a little out of place as three guys in a cinema largely filled with a female audience, but we had a really good time. If you are fan of the first one, this is obviously a must-watch and deservedly so. However, if you aren’t a fan then this movie will not convert you into one because it is more of the same.