The Barden Bellas are back making music with their mouths in an aca-xplosion of song, dance,
and wisecracks. In the first movie, the Bellas went from being
underdogs to the cream of the a capella crop. But how long can they stay at the top? Not
very, it turns out as they come a cropper right at start of this movie and have to fight
back to prove their aca-credentials.
Pitch Perfect 2 very much marches to the same beatbox as the first movie, which was a huge
sleeper hit back in 2012. The sequel sees relationships cemented between
Bellas old and new, and adds some aca-dork-able new connections to the mix.
Having worked together before, there’s an easy chemistry between the film’s stars,
which is exactly what’s needed to bring their on-screen characters back to life in
this musical tale of growing up.
Anna Kendrick’s on fine form as Beca, who’s trying to juggle finding her feet outside
college with her a capella duties. Rebel Wilson is once again the joker of the
pack, and puts her improv skills to good effect as Fat Amy.
Brittany Snow as Chloe, who’s done everything to stay in the Bellas, Ester Dean as Cynthia
Rose and Alexis Knapp as Stacie all put in nice turns, even if their characters don’t
get a ton of development in the script. And as Lily, Hana Mae Lee continues to amuse
and disturb in equal measure with her totally off-the-wall and out-of-nowhere statements
in the middle of conversations. Oh, and Anna Camp gets to put Aubrey’s controlling
ways to somewhat different use than when we when we last saw her.
This time round, the boys mainly take a backseat, though Skylar Astin’s Jesse and Adam DeVine’s
Bumper both get some aca-action.
The Bellas get a transfusion of new blood thanks to Chrissie Fit who plays Flo, a Latina
who punctures many a melodramatic moment from her fellow singers with tales of her own extreme
life experiences. And Hailee Steinfeld, who was stunning in
True Grit alongside Jeff Bridges, brings a sweetness and innocent enthusiasm to the role
of Emily, a first-year student keen to follow in her mother’s footsteps by joining the
Bellas. Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, star of Danish political
drama Borgen, and YouTube star Flula Borg are spot-on as leaders of the Bellas’ rivals,
Das Sound Machine, a ruthlessly efficient 18-strong German group of tall trash-talkers,
who are all slicked-back hair and monochrome military-style leather and fishnet outfits!
Plus there are some fun cameos including Keegan-Michael Key’s scene-stealingly good turn as a top
music producer who gets some eminently quotable lines.
Expect lots more totally inappropriate banter between Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins
who put their perfect comic timing on display again as they reprise their roles as the riotously
non-PC a capella commentators, Gail and John. Yes, the movie trades in stereotypes, but
it feels like it does it with a self-awareness, an ironic eye-roll and a wink to the audience,
though sometimes it does miss its mark. Speaking of winks, I could definitely have
lived without Fat Amy’s ‘no means yes’ joke, which also featured in the movie’s
trailer.
By the way, Pitch Perfect 2 also marks Elizabeth Banks’s debut as a feature-film director
and she does a good job maintaining a nice pace throughout.
As for the music, there’s a shed-load of awesome mash-ups arranged by the movie’s
music director Ed Boyer, with songs from pretty much every decade from the 1940s to the 2010s,
from hip-hop to electro pop, country to R&B, and even a brand new track.
I’m pretty sure they’re headed for another mega-smash hit with the movie’s soundtrack,
which is insanely catchy and full of feel-goodness! Just like in the first movie, we get another
superb riff-off scene as well as an a capella championship that take the Bellas out of their
collegiate comfort zone. As for the routines, they’ve certainly got
the moves going on again this time! There’s lots of ingeniously designed numbers
by choreographer Aakomon Jones including ones that take props and pyrotechnics to the max.
Oh, and do stick around for the credits as otherwise you’ll miss an aca-treat!
So, to sum up: Thanks to its cast, compositions and choreography, Pitch Perfect 2 manages
to mostly hit the right notes for a satisfyingly fun, if rather familiar, sequel.
Expect feel-good musical comedy that puts a smile on your face.
Pitch Perfect 2 gets 3.5 out of 5 Flicks.
So what do you think of Pitch Perfect 2? Who’s your favourite character and why?
And if there’s more Pitch Perfect movies after this, what would you like to see happen?
Let me know in the comments below! If you like this video, hit the thumbs-up
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Thanks for watching and see ya next time. Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!