So Pitch Perfect 2 is the sequel to Pitch Perfect in a way that sequels used to be sequels to earlier movies that were surprise hits. This sounds like doublespeak and nonsense, I know… but what I’m saying is that most movies these days get planned sequels but back in the day, the sequels were largely just “hey… that movie made money. let’s do it again”.. and this is that kind of sequel.

Which isn’t to say it’s bad. It’s charming and moderately funny but what it isn’t is very original. It’s pretty much the last movie… which, hey, isn’t bad if the last movie was ok (which it was) and as long as they aren’t being lazy this time (which they aren’t… well, the script is a little lazy but I think everyone is working hard otherwise).

To put it mildly, whether you enjoy this movie or not is largely based on whether you can stand the mashup a cappella tunes it presents. Happily I found most of them enjoyable… with another competitive “street” sing-off being the star of the movie (hey, just like last time).

There’s new plot points like Anna Kendrick’s character trying to get a job for after college that is ok and seems to have a peek and then is ignored… there’s a newcomer to the group played by Hailee Steinfeld… Fat Amy gets a love story, the Asian girl continues to be creepy, there’s a hispanic girl who makes endless racist jokes that are apparently ok to tell, etc. Really though, the movie doesn’t exist for the plot… though I guess it’s cute they think it needs one when it barely seems to be able to focus on it.

The movie is fine. You kind of know if you want to see it… so I’ll just say if you think you do, you should. If you hated that last movie and you want to shoot Glee into the sun, you shouldn’t. If you aren’t familiar with any of this somehow, check out the first movie.

Score: 80