"Pitch Perfect 2" Review

Courtesy: IMDB.com

Pitch Perfect 2

3 out of 5 stars


Family appropriateness rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Rated PG-13
-Some mild language.
-Some of the jokes are about sex or body parts
-Some of the song lyrics are about sex










"Pitch Perfect 2" amps up much of what made the first film enjoyable. In some ways, this is a good thing, but in others, not so much.

The Barden Bellas are progressing. Instead of singing the same boring song, they perform creative mash-ups thanks to Beca (Anna Kendrick), who in the first film got the group to break out of its rigid mentality, and — much like an Apple commercial — to think different.

The fact that the characters are progressing is one thing this sequel has going for it. The main protagonists do not revert back to where they were at the beginning of the first "Pitch Perfect," and they end up in a different place as the film closes.

This is especially true of the Beca character. In this installment, she gets an internship and realizes the real world is not easy. She has doubts that her dreams can become a reality, and she spends much of the movie dealing with it. This plot point hits home for me because I am in the same boat as her. I too will be graduating college soon, and I am not entirely sure what I will do. I have big dreams, but I am concerned about whether or not they are realistic.

When I saw the first film, I thought it was decent, but it was overhyped by every girl in Utah. I saw it about five times the year it came out because people played it at most get-togethers. The film slightly disappointed me because there were not a lot of musical moments. The ones it had were good, but there were not enough. The second "Pitch Perfect" solves this problem by giving us more music. In that way, it is better than the first one. It finds every moment it can to add another song, and it has another, longer version of an a cappella battle.

Another aspect from the first film this movie amps up is the comedy, which does not work as well. Things happen in this film that are so ridiculous, they are unbelievable. The very premise of the story is Fat Amy rips her pants, revealing her private parts, during a performance in front of President Obama, and this causes so much controversy, the school threatens to break the Bellas up unless they can win the world a capella competition.

Not only does this joke take a little too much suspension of disbelief to buy, it sets the tone for a lot of other jokes in the film: forced and unfunny. I realize I am making it sound like the entire film is unwatchable. That is not the case. The the jokes are hit and miss. Some are funny and even quotable. There are certain lines I may repeat in future conversations.

The hyper-focus on humor puts the plot on back burner. I had to constantly remind myself that the characters want to win the world competition. By the time they either accomplish or fail (no spoilers), I honestly did not care very much.

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