5/5 Stars
The “Pitch Perfect” movie series consists of three silly, relatable and family-friendly movies following a group of diverse college aged girls who participate in a cappella. Jason More directed the first of three movies in 2012. Three years later, Elizabeth Banks directed the second film, both producing and starring in all three films as an a cappella competition spokesperson. Trish Sie produced and directed the third movie in 2017.
The story revolves around a first-year at Barden University, Beca Mitchell, who is played by Anna Kendrick. When entering college, Mitchell had her eyes set solely on producing music. However, when she met Aubrey Posen and Chloe Beal at the campus activities fair, as played by Anna Camp and Brittany Snow, she became a part of the Bellas, an all-female a cappella group. Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy, Hana Mai Lee as Lilly Onakuramara and Ester Dean as Cynthia Rose Adams all join the Bellas alongside Mitchell in the first film.
The writers make a strong effort throughout the film franchise to ensure that the Bellas and the TrebleMakers, the male a cappella group at the same college, stand apart from each other. Benji Applebaum, played by Ben Platt, and Jesse Swanson, played by Skylar Austin, join this group at the same time as Beca joins the Bellas. Bumper Allen, played by Adam Devine, leads the TrebleMakers.
Rotten Tomatoes gave the first movie 81% and IMDb gave a rating of 7.1 out of 10. The second and third movies in the series follow the same set of characters in addition to a few extra a cappella singers and are rated lower as the franchise goes on.
The Bellas go international in “Pitch Perfect 2” (2015). The Bellas feel disappointed in their unsuccessful performance for President Barack Obama on his birthday — Obama actually starred in the movie during this scene.
During the World’s competition, the Bellas bring a bunch of surprises that really blow the minds of everyone in the audience. Hailee Steinfeld joins the group in this movie and shines light on how important it is to support one another. Personally, the end scene of the second movie where the Bellas perform is the best scene in all of the three movies. It’s really a must-see!
The third movie verges more on action than comedy. “Pitch Perfect 3” (2017) starts out with a complication of scenes that express how everyones’ lives have been since college when Seinfeld tricks the girls into a reunion. At this point, the girls take on a tour journey where, one could say, all hell breaks loose. The girls still manage to share quite a few quirky, laughable moments with the audience throughout the film. The plot was also considerably more developed, a main reason why the audience enjoyed the third film.
There are rumors that a fourth film will be released in the near future, however, the date is uncertain due to production challenges. “Pitch Perfect” can currently be streamed on HBO, Hulu and Amazon Prime video platforms.
