1004. Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Running Time: 115 mins

Pitch Perfect 2 is an American film and the sequel to Pitch Perfect. After becoming the centre of a national controversy following a disgraceful performance, the Barden Bellas are excluded from the national championships, leaving them only able to redeem themselves at the world championships.

This is basically the exact same film as the previous one. On the whole, despite having some laughs and very impressive singing, this is a bit of a lazy sequel as it’s taking on the exact form of the first film.

The problem is that the genre that this film is stuck in (effectively sports) makes it hard to make fresh, new and unpredictable stories. As a result, this is one of the most obvious plots you can see, and although it’s somewhat disappointing to see that they couldn’t come up with something new, what’s most irritating is the way in which it knows you know what’s going to happen, so rather lazily skips over explaining important plot details because they’re so predictable anyway.

However, in a film like this, the plot isn’t the most important thing, what is is the singing, and it’s absolutely fantastic. While some of the singing battles may not be as down-to-earth and familiar as those in the first film, it’s always a lot of fun to hear the songs and the excellent voices of the performers throughout. Even though some numbers go on a little too long and don’t add too much to the story, you’ve got to say that, much like the first film, the singing is the best part.

The singing isn’t the only part, however. In a film as light-hearted as this, there needs to be some good comedy to complement the dull story, otherwise it would just be a boring two hour-long music video. The problem is, however, that the laughs here just aren’t big or consistent enough.

Most of the really good jokes have all been used up in the first film, and a lot of the humour is repeated in this sequel, and although there are one or two decent laughs, the majority of it just isn’t funny enough to be a properly entertaining comedy.

Overall, I’ll give this a 6.4, because it’s pretty equal to its predecessor, with similarly flat comedy and a predictable story, but absolutely brilliant singing that does breathe some life into it from time to time.