Anna Kendrick has been making headlines for a number of reasons in the last few months. Anna Kendrick is probably best known these days for her starring turn in Pitch Perfect 2, the long awaited sequel to the surprise hit. The movie again picks up with the Barden Bellas, a college acapella group that was once considered the worst of the worst managed to get quite good. Then Anna Kendrick’s group had another mishap and must compete in an international competition in order to get back into their school’s good graces.
When it comes to the reviews for Anna Kendrick’s newest comedy, there are a couple of mixed reviews. The reason for this is probably no different than the original. While Anna Kendrick and company were well liked in Pitch Perfect for the most part, there were plenty of people who weren’t all that interested in watching a movie that involved some rather crazy shenanigans and a bunch of singing. Pitch Perfect 2 is Anna Kendrick and company doing quite a bit of the same kind of crazy as the original, and that means that the same people who didn’t love the first aren’t going to love the second, even if Anna Kendrick looks like she’s quite a bit more comfortable in this second film.
As the Los Angeles Times reports, “The comedy choir wars are more intense, more absurd and more low-brow fun than ever in ‘Pitch Perfect 2.’ It is almost impossible not to be amused by the cutthroat world of competitive a cappella.” There are plenty of other people that found the film that much fun and better but there are also people who understand that the film doesn’t exactly come off as perfect. The New York Times is one of those that believes the success of the first film has basically forced Anna Kendrick and crew to be bigger, louder, and crazier.
EW’s Leah Greenblatt adds that “the story also gives big, joyful voice to groups whose members have spent their whole lives being targeted because of who they are, be it black, gay, overweight, female, or just deeply uncool. Now–to quote Beyonce, a patron saint of ‘Pitch’ery–they run this mother.” Anna Kendrick and company can take those good reviews, they’ll certainly be willing to take “mostly good” but it’s probably not as good as they had hoped.
[Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]