The Barden Bellas are back in the much-anticipated sequel to the smash hit, Pitch Perfect. The film, directed by Elizabeth Banks, picks up three years after the end of the first movie, with Beca Mitchell (Anna Kendrick) now a senior at Barden University and head of the most popular a capella group on campus, the Bellas. Chloe Beale (Brittany Snow) is also still there, having purposely failed her classes every year so that she does not have to leave the group.
The film opens with the Bellas singing for President Obama, when Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) accidentally exposes herself to everyone in an unfortunate incident involving her being suspended in the air. The Bellas are banned from collegiate competition, but they make a deal to be re-instated if they win the World Competition and beat their biggest competition, the haughty German group Das Sound Machine.
Simply put, the film lived up to its hype. The songs were better, and the production was bigger. In the first film, many of the Bellas’ performances consisted of them singing “Turn the Beat Around,” “Eternal Flame” and “The Sign,” which quickly got boring. In this film, all the performances are exciting and different, and there was even original music in the form of “Flashlight,” an awesome addition that was written by Sia and Sam Smith.
The budget for this film certainly seemed to be more impresive; the sets were nicer, especially for the performances at the World Competition in Copenhagen. There were also some awesome cameos, including an amazing scene with Snoop Dogg.
The jokes this time around were a mixed bag. Some were undoubtedly funnier than the first, while others failed to land—there was even a long-running joke about one of the character’s Hispanic background that could be viewed as offensive and was definitely uncomfortable.
There are some ways that the first film overshadows the sequel; the riff-off in Pitch Perfect 2 is not as good as the one in the first movie, and, disappointingly, Jesse Swanson (Skylar Astin) is not nearly as present. The film also tends to get side-tracked quite a bit. It would feel like a stronger and more cohesive movie if it did not have quite so many sub-plots and change focus quite so frequently.
Overall, Pitch Perfect 2 was by no means a perfect film or sequel, but it certainly warrants a trip to the theater, if only for the exceptional performances throughout.
