Pitch Perfect 2

PG-13  |  115 mins  |  Musical, Comedy | May 13, 2015 (Philippines)

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow, Adam DeVine, Skylar Astin, and Ben Platt

The Barden Bellas' shameful wardrobe malfunction blunder in front of US Pres. Barrack Obama at Lincoln Center cost them their chance at defending their title as 3-time national acapella champions. 

Then came another shot at redemption, the acapella World Championships in Copenhagen, which no US team has ever won. The Bellas take on the formidable reigning world champs, German powerhouse Das Sound Machine (led by Birgitte Hjort Sørensen and Flula Borg). 

This sequel shows how the all-girl group, Barden Bellas recover their harmony and musical identity as they welcome a bubbly new "Legacy" Bella to the group (Hailee Steinfeld) and face college graduation then life after collegiate acapella singing. 

Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) and Becca (Anna Kendrick) provides the fun and charm, but the breakout star of this movie was the surprise package named Flo (Chrissie Fit). The other Bellas (Ester Dean, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee ) have their own spotlight moments throughout the film. Jesse (Skylar Astin) and Benji (Ben Platt) and the rest of the Treblemakers pretty much stayed in the background this time. Oh, and did I mention Fat Amy gets an official boyfriend and Benji snagging himself a Bella for a girlfriend? And the cameos! Yes, the cameos.

There is a throwback scene to the "Cups Song" which was a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for Anna Kendrick long after the film had left the cinemas. The original song featured in this one, "Flashlight," is promising potential hit as well,

The Filharmonic, an LA-based Fil-Am acappella group featured in NBC’s “The Sing-Off”, represents the Philippines as a band called Manila Envy in the World Championships singing a Journey song in Tagalog. Pentatonix represents Canada.

Pitch Perfect 2 is racist and misogynistic, but funny and enjoyable. I'd say the more controversial remarks were mostly courtesy of competition commentator John Smith (John Michael Higgins) which overall is very hilarious - unless you belong to the specific sector he is slamming.  Screenwriters and director Elizabeth Banks (who also plays commentator Gail and producer in this film) use the same effective formula from 2012's Pitch Perfect— spot-on humor plus the Riff-Off plus song after song after song after song. 

A sequel worth seeing and singing about.

RATING: 7/10

Pitch Perfect

PG-13 | 112 mins | Musical, Comedy, Romance | October 10, 2012 (Philippines)

Director: Jason Moore
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin and Rebel Wilson



It is about young adults. It involves music and has a romantic element. 

LOL.

Pitch Perfect is something between Bandslam, Glee and Easy A. Only, imagine that all of the characters are in uni, and imagine they're more hilarious, more talented, and more badass.

Pitch Perfect follows a female acapella voice choir, The Bellas, competing to be the best of all the universities. I loved how understated Beca (Anna Kendrick), the main character, was. Her love interest, Jesse (Skylar Astin), was cocky yet cool. Everyone else in the cast were all exaggerated and funny characters. Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) is easily my favorite character. She's so funny I found myself eagerly waiting for her witty one-liners. 

As far as the music was concerned, it was topnotch. Man, they could sing! Awesome harmonies, great mash-ups. Our office has had to endure hours of people singing the same songs!

This movie is not your usual cheesy teen rom-com; the predictable love story and the girl bitching aside. It has funny puns via singing (watch out for the riff-off) & projectile vomiting. Haha.  

Apart from Anna Kendrick (Twilight, Up in the Air, Rocket Science) & Brittany Snow (John Tucker Must Die, Hairspray) the cast aren't exactly 'star studded'. But each one of them has 'one-to-watch' potential, which you may know by now because you realize you've heard about them all over and seen them in one or more other movies. 

Boys might not like this film as much, because there aren't any guns (although Fat Amy assumed she's been shot in one scene). So, yeah, this may sound unlikely as f*ck, but I want you all to know that I loved the movie. I thought it was quite good and didn't complain once!

Everything in this movie is musically and comically on key. It's what Glee wishes it could be! Kidding. It's refreshing to see a musical and comedy combo like this.

If you like a feel-good movie with excellent music and lots of really good laughs, then this one is definitely worth checking out. You're gonna like it whether you want to or not.

RATING: 7/10