That’s especially true coming from female pop singers like Beyonce who make it seem like even at the top of their game, it’s necessary to roll around on stage floors and video sets wearing next to nothing in order to get attention, rather than relying on actual singing talent or songwriting chops to succeed. One big reason the first “Pitch” was a hit was the fact that it almost seemed like the perfect pushback against the insidious messages spewed forth by the music industry.
It didn’t have a complex story to tell, just an infectious spirit of joy and explosive musical talent that made it a worthy successor to the Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland, “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!” musicals of the 1930s and 1940s. After conquering the box office and the pop charts with the soundtrack, “Pitch Perfect 2” opens Friday in an attempt to build on the success of the first one.
The Bella's are back, and this time they’re reaping the rewards of their championship by giving a command performance at the Lincoln Center to a packed audience of dignitaries including the president and Michelle Obama (seen in hilariously obvious stock footage). But when Bella member Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) rips her pants widely and reveals – offscreen and implied – that she’s not wearing any underwear while spinning on a swing high above the stage, the Bellas are disgraced and stripped of their right to defend their American championship and the right to recruit new members.
But soon they find a loophole to get their honor back, by taking on a German championship team called Das Music Machine at the world a cappella championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. The road to that showdown, filled with musical numbers, funny montages and a non-stop sense of fun, is a silly ride to take, but one that’s seemingly impossible not to enjoy.
The filmmakers behind “Pitch Perfect 2” deserve some real credit and praise for showing us young women who (aside from the offscreen disaster with Fat Amy that opens the film) are creative, ambitious, smart, team workers and essentially sisters working together for positive goals. Aside from using the “B” word a couple times regarding the German team, there is almost no foul language, as well as no violence, no onscreen sex and no onscreen nudity.
In fact, this is a rare Hollywood movie focused upon young attractive women who are either in relationships or heavily pursued for dates, yet who do not engage in premarital sex or even imply it onscreen. The first “Pitch” has a few more sexual references than this one, which means that Banks and her team actually cleaned up the script compared to the first movie (whose one big morally questionable moment was a singing contest set to songs about sex, albeit not graphic songs. Overall, the first “Pitch” is perfectly fine for teens and adults, while the new sequel could likely be fine for younger kids too since the sporadic innuendoes would likely fly over young ones’ heads completely.)
