Weakest of the trilogy

Rating: Null/10 (29 August 2018)

By far, this is the weakest of the trilogy. The German opponents are silly, cartoonish and not even that good (unlike the villains in PP3--what great rendition of Zombie). The attempt to inject new blood and get younger flops miserably. Hailey Steinfeld is not up to the task in charisma, acting ability or singing ability. The supposedly great finale with Flashlight is actually kind of tepid because of Flashlight's arrangement. (Yes, it's a great song--just not as done here, with a limp performance that echoes the early PP1 scenes that showed why the pre-Kendrick Bellas were deemed to be so bad.) Every moment with Steinfeld on screen reminded me how many better performers were available. The rationales for the international competition are silly--the concept that Fat Amy is doing acrobatics is absurd.
In other words, there is no shortage of flaws here--yet, for all of that, it is still a fair bit of fun. It's well worth watching, warts and all. The franchise revives in PP3, returning to its roots in many ways.