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Rating: 9/10 (17 May 2015)

Any time there's a sequel audiences are divided.
Die-hard fans of the original will say anything but something critical about the film, casual fans will approach with apprehension, and anyone who doesn't fall into those two categories will trash it because something that started out small, as a cult like sleeper hit, is now popular and in the mainstream. So this is the battle facing everyone involved with Pitch Perfect 2, and thankfully it's a battle the cast and crew come out of as close to the top as possible.
It's impossible to make a perfect movie, even more impossible to make a perfect sequel. Any fault found in Pitch Perfect comes at the expense of trying to both honor the original film and outdo it. After a hilarious and effective opening scene, the film loses its momentum as it sets up new story and realizes how high its own stakes are.
Fortunately, the lagging doesn't last too long after the Bella's endure a mishap setting them back into their underdog status. As underdogs, this is when the characters shine, and a real positive to this movie is showing characters that are not just what they appear to be on the surface. Unusually for a sequel, Pitch Perfect 2 allows characters to grow and begins pushing them in different directions.
A key argument among fans seems to be the change in Beca's character. She is not as surly and sarcastic as she is in the first film, likely because the changes her character faces do not permit her to rely on what she has used to deal with her life before.
Like in the first, the film works best when all the Bellas come together. It's good to see a film full of multifaceted characters who fight, argue, deal with uncertainty, but ultimately support each other and find some success. Hailee Steinfeld is a pleasant surprise as the new legacy joining the Bellas, giving the film a breath of fresh air and letting the other characters grow up a little.
Surprisingly, giving all the press that surrounded the music chosen for the film, no song is a particular standout, aside from maybe "Flashlight". Some of the songs chosen have already been redone in television and movies recently, so it's a wonder why those songs were picked to feature in a movie about a group trying to find a competitive edge. Still, the songs lend themselves to inspired numbers in the movie, ending with a finale performance that is worth the movie ticket price alone.
Pitch Perfect 2 does not manage to escape some of the bloated-ness of stuffing a lot of material into a sequel to top the original (as well as obligatory product placement), but more than makes up with it from earnest performances from the entire cast. While the film skewers almost everyone with its humor, warm direction save it from being cruel, and no one in the film performs from a standpoint that they were contractually obligated to. Aca-applause to everyone involved.