Does “Pitch Perfect” Deserve a Sequel?

Can we handle another pitch-slapping?

Pitch Perfect (2012) is without a doubt one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. It’s also a very important movie – too often, singing solo and in groups (especially a capella) has been portrayed as easy, or in same vein as a Glee type of experience intermixed with unnecessary drama. However, Pitch Perfect shows not only a movie which incorporates humor that will get your attention (for better or worse), it also gives us genuine musical execution! These actors are not doing the fake Hollywood thing where someone else is singing for most of them – all of them, whether at the forefront soloing or just in the ensemble, had to endure an ‘a capalla boot camp’ in which they rigorously learned the songs, how to harmonize, how to capture an authentic sound within each group, and extensive choreography. Combined with a familiar, yet risk-taking story and memorable characters, Pitch Perfect gave us something very important indeed: a movie with effort, laughs, and heart.

That being said, does this movie merit the upcoming sequel that Elizabeth Banks is spearheading to be released in 2015? Should we leave well-enough alone? Is it too soon? Or is this timing just right while the iron is hot? Well, let’s take a look at what makes Pitch Perfect either great enough to warrant this sequel, or reasons why we should let it be.

**What Makes Pitch Perfect Great**

1. The Music – Now, I know just a few people who said this movie isn’t their cup of tea, and that’s just because the “edgy” humor used by college students in the movie. That’s subjectively fine. However, the quality of the music in this movie is objectively undeniable. Nothing about this is phoned in, and the work put in here restores the hope in a positive image of a capella music being fantastic, fun, and a disciplined art form at the same time (my favorite part). Christophe Beck did the score for the film, and it just kills. The actors, no matter how much or how little experience they had singing before put a lot of great work in what Beck and other music staff gave them, and it really shines. Adam Devine (Bumper) even stated what he felt nowhere near qualified as a singer before filming; but with all he learned in the process, he was now “an a capella whiz kid!” And look at him there, charming his way into your heart as the lead singer at the start of the movie!
   
2. Music Upgrade: The covers of popular songs from the last two decades are the BEST renditions of some of these songs, putting the originals to shame just because of their great combo of creativity, effort, arrangement & talent. (FloRida’s Right Round, Rihanna’s Don’t Stop the Music, Miley Cyrus’ Party in the U.S.A….they even have a bonus feature on the DVD there of cast members & fans singing Nicki Minaj’s Starships that kicks butt)
   
3. Characters – These guys make you laugh. They make you think. They might make you cry. They make this story beyond great. Here are my standouts:
   1. Beca – Her journey to getting over herself and letting her guard down while getting out of her comfort zone with these girls works as the chief plot. We’ve seen this character before, but get a different edge with Beca as an aspiring DJ.
      

      “If we want to win, we have to try some new things!”

   2. Aubrey takes the entire film to get past herself as well, but for different reasons – she feels all the pressure of taking the lead and doesn’t want to screw anything up while she’s in charge, so why not just stick to tradition since it works? The only problem is their new Bellas group is very different, which ruins Aubrey’s plans immediately. But like Beca, when she finally opens up, it opens the door for her to finally be the comfortable person she’s been hiding underneath.
      
   3. Chloe, the goofy buy loyal redhead is so much fun. Nodes has never been such fun a life-traumatizing saga. And that shower scene? Who else could make that funny?
      
   4. Jesse: What I love about this guy is that when you meet him, you think he’ll be the goofy guy who somehow turns into the “male romantic lead” and you don’t know why. But he’s so much more than that! He has a heart. He genuinely cares about Beca and getting her to stop being so rocky until it really does test his limits. He’s got great pipes and loves using them for good. He’s not really like the other competitive Treblemakers – he just wants to sing & have a good time. He’s a problem solver. He’s enough to keep various plot points going in the story, as well as provide some great times & songs along the way.
      

      “I’m one of those a capella boys and you’re one of those a capella girls and we’re gonna have aca-children. It’s inevitable.”

   5. Benji – I was so happy when this guy finally got his break at the end of the movie. I mean, we might have seen it coming…but who cares? It was very well-played, well-deserved, and well done.
      
   6. John & Gail – John Higgins & Elizabeth kill as the announcers & I always laugh at their lines. I’m partially curious as to what kind of music “The Menstrual Cycles” performed.
      
   7. Fat Amy – She singlehandedly became the most quoted character from the movie & turned into a huge phenomenon, but here’s what is truly good about Fat Amy: she is the prime example of the Bellas’ future from the time we meet her. She is nothing like the stuck-up, snooty, nasty-teeth (seriously! Look!) Bellas we met at the start of the movie. She’s not trying to be the best musician in the group, but darn it, she’s gonna give it her all every step of the way, even when it’s uncomfortable. She’s also not afraid of kicking at that line of rules over a little bit with actions and words. She’s definitely the most memorable, but if Beca is the leader of the new class of Bellas, Fat Amy is totally the embodiment of what we can expect from them – fresh, confident, different, and open-minded in all the right ways. Oh, and a hot mess.
      
4. Chemistry – This cast has a tremendous chemistry on and off-set, and boy, does it show. Part of that comes from the time they had to spend in boot camp learning the songs & choreography. If you check out the behind-the-scenes stuff on this, that time really helped bond the cast and crew. When they accomplished different songs and did a show-and-tell for each other, they were SO PROUD of themselves and each other, and it truly was a group effort in which they were highly supportive of each other. THIS is what Hollywood needs to show more and more of – a cast of people who are not only talented, but can show this kind of a work ethic and support of each other behind and in front of the camera. It made the film that much stronger when they got behind the camera, Rebel Wilson started improvising, and everyone could easily work with it in the story.
   

   “Might not get tomorrow – let’s do it tonight!”

5. Story – What’s great about this story is that it takes what has been done before and gives it different angles and twists. I can tell that a lot of creativity went into planning the twists of this story with the characters and it’s anything but one-dimensional. This leads me to my most important point:
   
6. Effort – Most of the negative comments any movie critic/reviewer has to say about aspects of a film not working likely stem from a lack of effort on someone’s part. However, it’s hard to find an area of Pitch Perfect in which something wasn’t worked on very hard AND it worked! Even if a joke wasn’t for you, it wasn’t just a dumb throwaway line – it was genuinely thought-through comedy. Every single note executed in the songs, even the bits in the Riff Off that go by so quickly, are crafted to perfection. The crew who mixed the Bellas & Treblemakers sound in the studios made the quality given top-notch, getting it to sound even closer to the ideal emulated sounds in each song. Every angle of the story and the character development made it seem much more realistic/relatable, even when it was incorporating something as ridiculous as someone meeting you in the shower to harmonize, while still remaining very charming. All the extra a capella groups that cameo in the movie are good as well! One was even a real group that travelled across the country to sing Final Countdown in the movie. My point: this movie is the perfect example of something you can do for fun that still make a point, and be a blast, and feature good music, AND leave such a positive impact, because they worked very hard into knowing what would work. Plenty of experimental shock-value stuff (how long was the projectile vomitting again?), but balanced with charm and care, the effort is what drives every angle of this film.

So having said all that…does Pitch Perfect warrant a sequel this time?

In my opinion, I think it’s okay to do this. I won’t say it’s totally necessary. It would have been just fine and understandable to leave things in the good spot where we left Jessi, Beca and friends. They’ve all proved that they can build a great story, characters and legit music with strong effort as the driving force. I’m a fan of not making a sequel unless the characters have another genuine story to tell. And based on where we left these guys…I wouldn’t be surprised if they did! I don’t know what the angle is this time around, but I’m sure there could be plenty for Beca to show us as the leader of a new crew of Bellas heading in a different direction. There are plenty of avenues to head in and TONS of music they can capture, whether covers of popular songs or original music. Maybe there’s new perils Jesse has to endure this time and Beca has to be the support for him. Maybe the Bellas meet their match with another strong female a capella group. Maybe Benji strikes a record deal and gives Bumper & his “sports sandals” fame a run for his money. Maybe Fat Amy gets to actually do some mermaid dancing during the opening number of the movie. I don’t know – whatever the case, I cautiously anticipate this sequel the same way I anticipated Anchorman 2 – I look forward to it because of what they were able to accomplish the first time, but I hope they concentrate on their strengths rather than trying to simply “go bigger” the second time.

Is that fair?

Don’t get nodes singing along with the new trailer when it comes out, though. 🙂

Yours in horizontal running,

-BB2

P.S. These guys deserve their own sequel. Or Album. Or miniseries. ANYTHING!