Aca-bysmal.

Rating: 3/10 (23 December 2017)

Why I ask you? Why oh why oh why oh why oh why do the scriptwriters of Pitch Perfect 3 - Kay Cannon (the original PP screenwriter) and Mike White ("The Emoji Movie") - think that this dreadfully lazy set of loosely connected scenes represent a viable basis for a movie? Is the view from the guys who green-lit this thing that the crowd that loved "Pitch Perfect" and the pretty dreadful sequal "Pitch Perfect 2" will pay their box office money regardless? Let's advertise the hell out of it and cash in our chips before word of mouth gets out!?
In this 'adventure' the Bellas go on a US Forces overseas tour (though this is not really explained until they suddenly appear in Spain - what? how?). The really really annoying commentators John (John Michael Higgins) and Gail (Elizabeth Banks, "Love and Mercy") tag along, filming some lame half-arsed documentary about them until even the scriptwriters get fed up of that tedious plot-line and it quietly withers on the vine.
Fat Amy (is this still an acceptable nickname in 2017?) also runs into her nefarious father again after many years (John Lithgow, "Interstellar", "Daddy's Home 2"). Lithgow - sporting a wonderful Australian accent - is about the best thing in the film. The "plot" (sorry, I can barely bring myself to use that word) revolves around Daddy trying to get something of Amy's that he needs, for reasons - given the yacht he sails - that makes no sense whatsoever. Will he succeed? Will the Bellas get selected to headline with DJ Khaled (who is apparently a thing, but I've never heard him on BBC Radio 2)? Does anyone really care?
As my wife pointed out, it's a bit unfortunate that the only Bellas who are not stick-thin size zeroes are the obese loud one, the black lesbian one and two that nobody knows why they are there. The message to the target female teen audience is clear: if you want to be "in" you'd better diet... hard. Nice.
What can I say that's vaguely nice about this film?

Some of the acapella song and dance numbers are fun enough, particularly "Toxic" that opens the film;
The closing number by Anna Kendrick ("Table 19") is quite appealing;
There are also about 5 funny lines that made me smile: not laugh... smile;
It's also a relif John and Gail, unlike in "Pitch Perfect 2", only come out with one xenophobic/racist comment in the film (and that's about the French, so that hardly counts ).

And I'm out...
There will be no doubt die-hard teenage fans who will love this one too. But my wife was a great fan of the first film (as indeed was I); she tolerated the second one; but even she declared this to be "Aca-Awful". It's not as toxically dreadful as "Dirty Grandpa"... what could be? But, seriously, life is too short for this.
(For the full graphical review, please visit bob-the-movie-man.com or One Mann's Movies on Facebook. Thanks).