Aca-fun time!

Rating: 7/10 (20 May 2015)

Yes i used the cliché of giving this film an aca-pun in my summary.. But who can resist it? When i first saw Pitch Perfect i didn't think it was great and i didn't laugh all that much, saw it again and enjoyed it a lot more! I was actually kind of looking forward to this film and no it is not as good as the first, but i still had a lot of fun with it. The Barden Bellas all return in this sequel to the surprise hit and for the most part don't disappoint.
Pitch Perfect 2 starts out fairly similar to the first film, the Barden Bellas however are now better than ever and at the top of their game. After a humiliating wardrobe mishap from Fat Amy in front of the president of the United States though (Barack and Michelle Obama appear in what is probably reused footage) the Bellas must refind their sound and compete in the aca-pella world finals to keep the Barden Bellas together. I had a few more problems with this film than i did with the first film, thats not to say it is a bad film, but sometimes it is a bit clear that Elizabeth Banks didn't really know what direction she wanted to take it in. We have the initial plot, yet it doesn't really kick in until probably an hour into the film as a lot of it is either focused on Beca (Anna Kendrick) working for a job internship, which was funny and all and had good moments to it including a great cameo from Snoop Dogg, but it never really played into the film all that much. Then we had the bizarre romance story between Rebel Wilson's Fat Amy and Bumper, which is fine but sometimes took us away from the plot.
That being said, what we are really here for is the aca-pella and it was absolutely awesome! Skylar Astin returns and his groups aca-pella performance at the beginning was great but he sort of disappears halfway through and i wanted to see more of him singing. One scene in particular though i really did enjoy. We got a 5-way aca-pella battle including the Barden Bellas and it really was great to hear these different sounds combined. I really enjoyed the aca-pella from Das Sound Machine, and was even more surprised to see that the hilarious Flula, known for his bizarre song covers on youtube, was in the group. The last songs at the aca-pella finals from both Das Sound Machine and the Barden Bellas were also very good and had me smiling throughout.
So whilst the humour doesn't always fit, like some jokes do fall flat and the Asian girl was just weird in an uncomfortable way. And whilst i feel the film went on a little too long, the bootcamp scenes should have come a lot sooner and the whole story with the new member of the Bellas was completely unneeded. I still feel that when the humour hits it really hits (feel kind of bad for finding the commentators racist humour so funny). The performances were once again great and the songs were incredible. I would say fans of the original will love this and even if you didn't love the first and merely liked it you will still have fun with this film. I'll be singing these songs for days and suspect if you see it then you will too!