'Pitch Perfect 2' Review (1 Viewer)

In short:


In Pitch Perfect 2, director Elizabeth Banks and returning screenwriter Kay Cannon take a page — or several dozen — from the first film, as the Barden Bellas (Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and Hailee Steinfeld, among others) find themselves stripped of their title as a cappella national champions and must claw their way back to the top by defeating the reigning world champs, German power group Das Sound Machine. With only a few storyline tweaks separating the movie from its predecessor, the result isn't something that too many moviegoers will feel absolutely compelled to go see. However, if you count yourself among the fan base for the first film, you'll certainly get a fair bit of mileage out of this franchise entry (if only for the sheer number of songs and the hilarious cameos). Essentially, what the movie delivers is more of the same as the first film — much, much more. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. Pitch Perfect 2 may not live up to its title, but as far as sequels go, it mostly hits the right notes.


Click here to read my full review.


Film rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Judging by turnout...

Fat Amy just might get her own Big Fat, maybe not Greek, movie...

She was definitely the highlight of the sequel, much more so than the first movie which was squarely Beca's story.
The row boat scene with "We Belong" just about killed me.

Otherwise, it was a decent enough sequel but it suffered from the problems most sequels do, especially trying to cram too much stuff in.

They were obviously setting up Hailee Steinfeld's character to take up the baton from Anna Kendrick should there be a third film, and I don't think it was handled especially well. Steinfeld is unquestionably a talented actress, who richly deserved her Oscar nomination for True Grit, but I don't think she was the right choice to take over the franchise. To headline these movies you need to have both terrific comedic timing and an absolutely dynamite voice. Kendrick had proven both before the first film. Steinfeld's comedic timing was adequate, and her singing voice was adequate (though autotuned in a couple spots), but adequate isn't enough to be out in front. She also wasn't helped by being saddled with the wide-eyed, aw-shucks character in a cast of cynical, crude and blunt young women.

I really enjoyed the stuff with Beca's internship at the recording studio and Keegan-Michael Key's perpetually frustrated record producer. I liked that her character actually moved forward and didn't just regurgitate her arc from the first film. But I wish it'd been fleshed out a bit more. In the first film, Beca ate, slept and breathed music. You didn't feel the same passion this time around.

John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks as the ICCA commentators continued to have some of the best lines.

Even though it was spoiled by the Superbowl ad, the Green Bay Packers definitely had the best cameo.

It's amazing how Adam DeVine can be such a sweet little puppy dog on "Modern Family" and such a colossal douche in these movies.

If they do do a third one, I hope they scale it back down again.

I thought the script had terrible, groan-worthy dialogue, rarely any punch-line landed in this movie. Passing the Perfect Pitch torch of the new girl was "meh" in my book. Only when the group(s) are singing did I enjoy what I was watching and listening to during the film. So, a total mixed bag for me.


I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+ (mostly for the singing numbers, not much else)

I'd say more B-. This wasn't great, but there were a few jokes that really worked for me, lighthearted fun, it wasn't nearly in the same realm as the original, but passable entertainment.

I was discussing this today and realized that while I enjoyed it, when I was talking to a friend I basically ripped it apart... it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy.. but a few comments that came up in my discussion today..


The baton hand off was poor, and the actress set to fill the shoes is wrong for the part..


But the part that I kept circling back to was this (SPOILERS)




The jokes in it when good were very good (I laughed at a throw away near the end, talking about Hayden Christian Anderson and making a Star Wars reference).


Still, the problems in the film were pretty significant.. the plot just isn't very good.. and moments that I thought should be good weren't.. the basic premise was stretched too far.. "we're going to shut down your entire organization" after 3 national championships.. seemed over the top silly in what we've seen..


The film was fun, and the good moments were good, but it isn't remotely in the same league as the original.

Fat Amy is still funny but Pitch Perfect 1 is way better!

I live near the LSU campus so there was the novelty of seeing it all over this movie, but IMO this film lacked the charm and zest of the first one. A very by-the-numbers cash grab. And heck, the German acapella team was better anyway, LOL.


3/10 stars

I thought "PP2" was a mess. It has no actual plot. Nominally, it's about the Belles going to the world championships, but honestly, that's a MacGuffin of sorts. It motivates some action but is ultimately meaningless, especially since we know the Belles will win. (No, that's not a spoiler - if you don't know they'll win, you need psychological help! )


I thought "PP2" was somewhat funny for the first 20 minutes or so, but then two problems emerged. One stemmed from the aforementioned lack of plot and character development. The movie include plot points but no real movement. We get bits and pieces of various characters, but unlike the first movie - which had a real beginning, middle and end - this one just throws out various character elements without focus. It all feels gratuitous and half-hearted.


The other problem is that the comedy gets very stale and predictable as it goes. The jokes all feel the same and it becomes repetitive. I stopped being amused by the "witty asides" and started to be annoyed.


Entire sections of the movie exist just because someone thought they'd be fun, such as the weird "secret lair" sing-off hosted by the David Cross character. That scene went on forever and did nothing to advance the "plot".


That's the whole movie in a nutshell: scenes that someone thought would be fun cobbled into a messy whole. Blech!

PP2, like Get Hard, was funny enough to justify my time but it's unlikely I'll ever watch it again.