Back in 2012, the original “Pitch Perfect” was the kind of unpretentious and a different musical comedy that had everyone impressed with a squad of talented, beautiful female casting with a hint of dirty jokes.
If you’ve watch the first “Pitch Perfect”, I’m truly sorry to inform you that “Pitch Perfect 2” was a little draggy. The movie was pretty much filled with overstuffed scenes with sub-plots, and had neglected scenes that goes along with the main plot which I will further elaborate on later.
Back then, I was a die-hard “High School Musical” fan, followed by “Glee” because I was obsessed with musical movies and drama series ( still am now). So when the “Pitch Perfect 2” trailer started with Bellas singing “Cups”, I was one of the audiences that fell for the hype and was convinced that this movie will be a good one. I went into the cinema with high hopes, but ended up yawning in between, exiting the venue with disappointment.
Let the movie review begin, shall we?
Directed by Elizabeth Banks, “Pitch Perfect 2” continues their journey as Barden Bellas, a group of competitive and 3 times defending US a cappella champions from the fictional Barden University, performing for President, Barack Obama’s big birthday bash at the Kennedy Centre. Well, unforeseen accidents do happen, so on comes Fat Amy (played by Rebel Wilson) who has a wardrobe malfunction putting the entire team to disgrace. The unfortunate event lead to sponsors pulling out from a cappella events and the authority had no choice but to suspend the Bellas from all activities.
Now, the Bellas have a shot at redemption to gain what they had lost at an upcoming international competition but they must first rediscover both team harmony and their sounds to defeat the fearsome German group “Das Sound Machine” (DSM). With a new member joining them, a legacy, will the team succeed in what they desire?
I assumed that they were going to work their butts off to win the championship but sadly, the sequel was focusing too much on Beca (played by Anna Kendrick) interning in a record label company trying to establish herself as a music producer. First, it was Snoop Dogg trying to compose a Christmas album and then out of the blue comes Emily (played by Hailee Steinfeld) collaborating with Beca to produce music.
Here’s the question: Is this a “Pitch Perfect 2” movie, or a movie about “Beca, the intern”?
The movie was not given the time it deserves, the scenes are imbalanced. I was uncertain about the idea of Beca being intimidated by the Germans, Bellas was part of the 3-time national champion group yet she stutters when confronting the DSM leader. Is the director trying to portray that Beca is a timid leader or hinting to the audience that the Bellas are leaving without the championship?
Apart from the negative gripe, there is no doubt that plenty of laughs and jokes were provided especially from the commentator (played by John Michael Higgins) and Fat Amy with her overreacted expressions and gestures.
There’s one winner though, and that’s Amy. They shone the limelight on a minor character despite of her notable size, the effort of giving her an arc and personality beyond the running joke, unlike the typical love story where majority main characters are able to experience the taste of love.
With Fat Amy’s relationship denial, I learned that courage is the key to everything you need in order to accomplish. On a side note, I thought the opening was rather interesting with Fat Amy doing stunts, presumably floating yoga to again, portraying that she could do anything, everything with her plus-sized body.
So while the movie is far from perfect, the songs are stuck in my head and got me humming the songs all day in the office. Especially the first 2 sentences, “When tomorrow comes, I’ll be on my own”.
Whether the “pitches” will be “aca-awesomess” in the upcoming “Pitch Perfect 3“, we will look forward to improvements for the threequel.
Watch the trailer here:
“Pitch Perfect 2” is slated to be released in Malaysian cinemas nationwide on 14th May.
For more information, log on to the movie’s official website and visit their Facebook page.
