Predictable, but not as bad as it could of been

Rating: 6/10 (24 June 2015)

When I first heard of this movie, I simply thought: no. I knew it was going to be like any other team based competition movie where the main team we're supposed to be cheering for works their way through the competition until they hit a low point, but then still wins in the end or at least wins morally. I'm not saying that's completely bad, but it gets tiresome watching those types of movies after awhile, and there is always a steady flow of them being released. My friend and I usually agree on what movies we like and dislike, so when I heard he wanted to watch Pitch Perfect 2, I was a little surprised, but I decided to finally give this movie a chance.
The main character, Beca, is the most relatable character in the movie to me. She's that person that has a dream of doing something, but is still going to college for other things, and a loner. The most prominent male character, Jesse, doesn't act like a complete idiot. There are scenes where I just wanted to yell "What are you doing!? Sit your ass down and think about what you just did.", but for the most part he is just your average nice guy. These two characters are the ones I looked to for sanity while everyone else was acting stupid or crazy. It doesn't always work, however, because there are bumps in their relationship that I thought were stupid. "Oh, you wanted to help me? I hate you now" "Oh you hate me now? Fine, I hate you too" And then later after the final song:"You sang the song I showed you, so let's kiss".
That leads me to the next thing: the other characters are too over the top to be believable. Aubrey was against the changes Beca was trying to make irrationally. It makes more sense when she reveals what her dad's stance would be on them winning: "If at first you don't succeed, pack your bags.", but still. When all the Bellas were in Beca's room and Beca was about to play some of her songs, Aubrey still refused completely even though it would take no effort at all to just listen. Also, the way Bumper treated Benji when he was trying to introduce himself was extremely obnoxious. Who acts like that in real life? I guess if I hated them so much during those scenes, they are doing their job right, but it is too unbelievable for me, and not in a good way like the ridiculous announcers. They were hilarious.
Some time early on, I wondered if the Bellas actually deserved to win because at times they seemed like just a bunch of annoying girls, but we got to see them work at it and rehearse. Besides that, there was also significant character development, so that by the end, the main characters were much more likable. We don't get to see the other team practice, but I kept thinking: why would they allow that jerk to be in charge? Near the end, Bumper leaves them to do his own thing, and they realize that he was a jerk, so that was kinda nice.
The singing itself, and the performances were entertaining to watch, and nice to listen to. That's to be expected, though, and without them, the movie would fall apart. My favorite was when the teams were having a singing battle outside of the competition. I forgot what they called it, but I liked the spontaneous feel it had to it.
I picked up on a couple of general themes throughout the movie. The first being that music is for the ears, and it doesn't matter who is singing as long as it sounds good. Examples: Benji, Fat Amy, Beca. Second is ironically that the same formula won't always work.
Like I said, the actual singing holds this movie together, and keeps it from being an irredeemable clichéd college movie. The other scenes can be hard to watch, but are not all bad.