Pitch Perfect 2 (2015, PG-13)

Given what I felt were the main detractors in the original Pitch Perfect – it takes the Bellas a long time to find their sound, the bonding is told more than shown, and there can be a bit too much cattiness between Bellas – I figured the sequel would be past these issues and be all the better for it.  Unfortunately, Pitch Perfect 2 has some sequel-itis problems and generally isn’t as tight as its predecessor.  On the plus side, seeing its missteps gives me greater appreciation for the original.

Three years after the end of the first movie, the Bellas are at the top of their game when a high-profile onstage catastrophe earns them notoriety.  They’re booted from the collegiate a cappella competition circuit, and their only hope of being reinstated is to take home the top prize at the world a cappella championships.  Their problems are, mainly, a) no American team has ever won, b) their fiercest competition, the incredible German group Das Sound Machine, shakes their confidence in their own style, and c) unbeknownst to the others, group leader Beca has scored a record-label internship, seriously reducing the time she can devote to Bella duties.

The Bellas find their sound over the course of the first movie, but early in this one, they lose sight of it again.  They’re intimidated by Das Sound Machine’s well-oiled, avant-garde, concentrated-wall-of-music style, and they become convinced that the only way to beat the Germans is to emulate them.  This means they spend a big chunk of the film floundering in a technique that doesn’t suit them, so I still don’t get nearly as much awesome a cappella ladies as I want.  (Das Sound Machine, though, is fantastic.  I love it every time they’re onscreen.)

Beyond that, the story is a little more unfocused, the jokes are a little lazier, and the broadest elements of the original film get a little too much use.  I was excited when I realized that Hailee Steinfeld (Mattie Ross in the Coen Brothers’ version of True Grit) was joining the cast, but her rather bland character feels out-of-place amongst the other girls.  In a way, the film suffers from the same problem as the Bellas themselves:  it’s grown less sure of who it is, and in its desire to please, it tries to force stuff that feels less authentic.

That said, it’s not a write-off.  There are still some great music performances; I already mentioned the wonderful (and hilarious) Das Sound Machine, and a number of groups, including the Bellas, make a fabulous showing at an underground a cappella-off.  Bonus points for including songs by Muse and MIKA, both of which delighted me immensely.  I also feel the connection between the Bellas more strongly here.  I enjoy the female bonding, and even when they fight or fall out, their affection for one another gives it more weight.  Additionally, Beca’s internship scenes are a lot of fun, chiefly due to her boss’s hysterical tirades and one-liners (Keegan-Michael Key is amazing,) and I like that the main romance is just kind of chill, present and sweet without monopolizing Beca’s story or screentime.

Warnings

Swearing, sexual content (including masturbation references,) drinking, and some gross-out humor.

Pitch Perfect (2012, PG-13)

Finally dipping my toes into this franchise.  It was only a matter of time – I mean, female friendships, copious amounts of singing and dancing, woman-driven stories, and Utkarsh Ambudkar?  Come on.  Although, ultimately, I’m not quite as fond of it as I hoped I’d be, it’s a lot of fun, and I plan to see the sequel posthaste, before it leaves theaters.

Beca isn’t crazy about the whole liberal-arts-education thing.  She wants nothing more than to move to L.A. and start working her way up to producing music, but her professor father wants her to get a degree and the “college experience” that goes along with it.  At his insistence that she join one campus activity, she winds up with the Bellas, one of several a cappella groups at the university but the only all-female one.  The Bellas are in serious need of a reboot, coming off of a major last-season disaster and near-total member loss after the previous year’s graduation.  However, despite the new Bella crew’s body, style, and genre diversity, tightly-wound group leader Aubrey clings insistently to the tired, staid routines that just aren’t working anymore.  Beca’s more inventive ideas clash with Aubrey’s adherence to “tradition,” and the group becomes a warzone of opposing beliefs about what it’ll take to be a hit at competition.

I think my main issue with the movie is this central conflict.  Narratively, it works and makes sense for both characters involved; there’s no question that it makes for good, clear story drama.  The problem is that the trailers offer up the promise of a bunch of talented young women tearing it up with their badass vocal harmonies, and while that definitely happens, and it’s awesome, there’s way less of that than I would’ve liked (to make room for repeated scenes of the group performing Aubrey’s single, listless number,) which makes me feel a little gypped.  Surely there would’ve been a way to maintain that differing set-list stance while incorporating a bit more show stoppage.  I also think that, for much of the film, the Bella bonding is slightly more tell than show, and there’s a little too much Catty Bitch stuff for my taste.

Aside from those complaints, it’s a pretty great movie.  The story’s tight, the dialogue’s sharp and bitingly funny, and, with the exception of Aubrey’s recycled routines, all the music performances are excellent.  The major Bellas (and some of the supporting ones) are nicely varied, bringing different types of humor to the film.  I like that they can be funny, gross, driven, smart, crude, talented, stubborn, and confident.  When you get down to it, it’s about women who work for what they want, who learn to collaborate and use their assorted talents in tandem, and I’m all about that.

As Beca, Anna Kendrick is very rootable and in great voice.  Anna Camp is note-perfect as the incredibly Type A Aubrey, and Brittany Snow’s amusing performance is worth a mention as well.  On the gents’ side, we have Skylar Astin (Spring Awakening alum!) and, as I said above, the terrific Utkarsh Ambudkar (Mindy’s brother Rishi on The Mindy Project, and even cooler, he’s in a freestyle hip-hip troupe with Lin-Manuel Miranda – love it.)  Not bad at all!

Warnings

Swearing, sexual content (included a masturbation reference and an implied sex scene,) drinking and drug references, and some blecchhh gross-out humor.