“Pitch Perfect 2” bursts on to the summer scene singing

There’s something special about sequels that is hard to explain. Sequels are interesting because they are always yearned for and hyped, but then after they come out they are shamed and said to be not as good as the original. Why as a society we put ourselves through such an anguishing paradox is a question that cannot be answered. If it must be answered though, we do it because we long for “Pitch Perfect 2” sequels.

Three years ago when “Pitch Perfect” came out, the world was unaware of how ready it was for a group of unconventional girls singing a cappella. With a fairly low budget and lots of up and coming actresses, “Pitch Perfect” was the underdog of the 2012 box office. While this surprised some, a look at the 2011 summer line up showed that “Bridesmaids”, which arguably set a new precedent for female comedy movies, was ranked third by Rotten Tomatoes trailing only behind “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” and the inevitable first place “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2”. Additionally, 2011, while “Pitch Perfect” was in production, was the year in which “Glee”, a show about a group of unconventional teens who love to sing, similar to the plot of “Pitch Perfect”, was at the height of its success, receiving over 12 million viewers in its season premiere.  Ultimately, “Pitch Perfect” was designed for success and it achieved it, so it’s no surprise that “Pitch Perfect 2” maintained that success.

When we left Beca Mitchell (Anna Kendrick) at the end of “Pitch Perfect” she had just finished her freshman year at Barden University and her a cappella squad, the Barden Bellas, had just won the a cappella national competition. “Pitch Perfect 2” begins with Beca and her friends starting their senior year by performing in front of the president, ruining their reputation and losing their privileges. To reclaim their glory they must beat an evil German a cappella group and win one for America.

Image courtesy of IMDb.com