The Bellas are back Aca-people! In the second installment of the Pitch Perfect franchise, The Barden Bellas are at the top of the Acapella world and have won numerous competitions since the first film. After a performance for the president goes haywire, the Bellas have to compete and win the International Acapella competition, which no American group has ever won, or their group will be kicked off campus. Throughout the film, the Bellas butt heads with a foreign Acapella group that has taken over their tour. The Bellas have to get their groove back and defeat the dominating German team, Das Sound Machine, before time is up.

Pitch Perfect 2 simply tries too hard. You won’t find anything out of the ordinary in its story; however, the film constantly finds a way of keeping your attention during its 115 minutes runtime. Pitch Perfect 2 is exactly what you think it is, a lesser sequel that has a few laughs and musical numbers that will make every music lover scream.

The best parts of the film have to deal with the comedic relief of the Pitch Perfect series, Fat Amy. Rebel Wilson kills it again as her iconic and dimwitted character. As for the rest of the cast, Anna Kendrick is the lead of the film, but has her own side story that doesn’t involve the Bellas. Her character is thinking more about her future and less about her Acapella friends when she gains an internship with a record company and uses her musical knowledge to help out a famous performer, Snoop Dogg.

The film introduces a new actress, whose character will probably be the lead of the third film, Hailee Steinfield who plays Emily Junk. Since the majority of the original Bellas are graduating, they need new blood for their group. Emily is a freshman at the university and is a legacy of the Bellas. The problem with Pitch Perfect 2 is that viewers lose interest in the story about the Bellas and how they are the bearers of bad news in Acapella within the first act. I would much rather have a story dealing with Beca and her internship or a film about the life of Fat Amy. However, there are some nice cameos from other famous Acapella groups such as Pentatonix, and The Philharmonic.

The film made $183,785,415 in its domestic box office run, so it is a no brainer that Universal would push for a third installment in the franchise. Pitch Perfect 3 is set to be released on July 21, 2017. The original cast including Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and Hailee Steinfield will all be returning for another round.

While Pitch Perfect 2 isn’t that bad of a movie, it is seen as yet another sequel that sadly isn’t as good as its predecessor. I would say if you are a fan of the first film or lover of Acapella music you should give this film a try. Pitch Perfect 2 is available on BluRay and DVD September 22^nd.