Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Skylar Astin, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Ben Platt, Adam DeVine, Freddie Stroma, Hana Mae Lee, Alexis Knapp and Ester Dean
Director: Jason Moore
Genre: Musical comedy
Running time: 112 minutes
Movie
Now showing at Cineplex Cinema
Music and drama are what Pitch Perfect is all about as a cappella girl group called The Barden Bellas competes against another group from Barden University to win the nationals. The film is loosely adapted from a book of the same name by Mickey Rapkin. It revolves around the Bellas who have just lost at the International Championship of Collegiate a Cappella and are now struggling to find new members.
The team of the Bellas is assembled from interesting characters, of Beca who is disinterested in joining college but pushed by her dad, a homosexual Cynthia Rose, the sexually-driven Stacie Conrad, the quiet and almost inaudible Lilly Onakuramara, and the bubbly Fat Amy.
They will be trained by Aubrey, who is controlling, constantly critical and a bit conservative. She insists the new team of Bellas should use the same set music list the Bellas have been using for years, which clashes with Beca’s contemporary style.
She is unhappy because she has several of her own mixes of contemporary songs and when they reach the semis, Beca notices how bored the audience is with Aubrey’s traditional arrangement, so she provides impromptu back-up, going on to perform La Roux’s Bulletproof, which earns her a third position in the singles category. Her trainer is not impressed and yells at her. She gets emotional and leaves the group. The drama starts there and is sustained through to the end.
Some of the songs in the movie include The Treblemakers’ Don’t Stop the Music, Let It Whip, Ester Dean and Skylar Astin’ s Since U Been Gone, and Anna Kendrick’s Cups among other songs. The choreograph is done by Aakomon “AJ” Jones who is famous for choreographing dance moves for Justin Bieber and Usher.
The movie, according to Wikipedia, opened to positive critical reception, with 80 per cent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 124 reviews. The performance of Rebel Wilson who plays as Fat Amy was particularly singled out by critics.