Pitch Perfect 2 was released into theaters on May 15, 2015. When the directors of Pitch Perfect announced news of a sequel to the worldwide phenomenon, the news was met with an uproar of excitement. The releasing of the movie trailer left fans of Pitch Perfect anxiously sitting on the edges of their seats awaiting the release of the film.

The highly acclaimed Pitch Perfect hit theaters in 2012 and took the world by storm. The movie followed a struggling collegiate all female a-capella group, the Barden Bellas. The ‘Bellas’ took a hit when Audrey Posen vomited into the crowd during her solo at the a-capella nationals. In an attempt to redeem themselves and restore their good name, they recruit new members. Beca Mitchell, an incoming freshman is very against college because she is restrained from pursuing her dream of becoming a music producer. When her father, whom she has a strained relationship with, finds out that she has not been attending her classes, makes a compromise with her. She has to join a club and if by the end of the year she still wants to leave, he will allow and pay for her to go to Los Angeles. The rest of the movie followed Beca’s transition into the Barden Bellas and finding herself along the way. She gradually takes the group out of their comfort zones and leads the Barden Bellas to be the first every all female group to win a national title.

The sequel, Pitch Perfect 2 follows the group in their senior year three years after the events of Pitch Perfect. The Bellas, who were about to go on tour, found themselves in the middle of huge scandal. After a botched performance for the president, during which ‘Fat Amy’ revealed herself on national television, the Barden Bellas were stripped of their performing privileges. During a meeting with the Dean of Barden University, they came to the conclusion that the Bellas must win the a-capella world tournament, which no American team has ever won. Emily Junk, an incoming freshman is a legacy of the Barden Bellas. The story also follows her acceptance into the group. Beca secretly takes a internship at a recording studio which takes away from her time with the Bellas. Her time apart from them creates a rift between the whole group, so they enlist Audrey, the former leader of Bellas to help them bond. The Bellas biggest competition is a group from Germany, DSM (Da Sound Machine). After their reconciliation, the Bellas graduate from Barden University (minus Emily) and head to Copenhagen for the “Worlds”. The Bellas are the last to perform and they feature Emily’s original composition, Flashlight, which no a-capella team has ever attempted to do. Their braveness to perform an original song wins them the title. Following their win, the girls give Emily a proper initiation into the Barden Bellas. The credits rolled as Emily christened the house by sliding down the stairs, just as the other Bellas had done.

Like most all sequels Pitch Perfect 2 did not live up to the first movie but stayed true to the appealing awkwardness and comical aspect of the original movie. Although the plot was somewhat forced, the fans were satisfied. The actors and actresses delivered equally great performances if not greater than the first movie. The reception of the film was mainly positive but many hardcore fans were disappointed. Lexi Wilens (9) stated that, “It was really funny but I still liked the first movie a lot more. The songs in this movie were a lot better though.” Hannah Flink (10) had a very similar thing to say about it, “It was funny and had better music than the first one but the first movie had a better storyline.”