Book to Film Review: Pitch Perfect

About the film

Pitch Perfect is a musical comedy film that was released at the cinema on 21^st December although it was released much earlier, in September, in America. The film is based on Mickey Rapkin's non-fiction novel of the same name. The film has a run time of 112 minutes and is rated 12A.

Plot

Beca Mitchell has just started her first year at Barden University, mostly because of her dad making her. Really, she wants to be in L.A. making and producing music. Even though Beca gets a place as an intern for the university’s radio station, she realises they won’t actually let her play any music so is forced to join musical a cappella group, The Barden Bellas. The previous year, The Bellas made it all the way to the finals but didn’t win due to one of the singers being sick over everyone. The Bellas know they need to win this year but are stuck in the past, only singing older songs. Beca knows the group needs a new look and sound but is having a hard time convincing the leader of the group to change their ways.

What I thought

I love a good musical film and TV shows like Glee so when I saw the trailer for Pitch Perfect at the cinema, I knew it was something that I had to go see. The trailer was funny and only showed clips of songs sung so it didn’t really give too much away. The plot is pretty basic and quite predictable but that’s normally what you get with this kind of film anyway. In a made up university, different a cappella groups battle it out for places in the national championships and to prove which group is the best in the university.

Anna Kendrick has begun to do quite well for herself since having a small part in the Twilight films. I really liked her in What to Expect When You’re Expecting and because of that, it made me want to watch this film even more. Kendrick plays main character Beca, who can be described as alternative compared to the other girls at this particular university. She has a strong interest in making her own mixes of music and generally walks around with a big pair of headphones on. Beca is a witty and outspoken character which I liked about her. She isn’t afraid to state her mind when she thinks she can make something better or thinks that something is wrong. Kendrick was really good in this role and played in perfectly.

Being a film about musical groups, there is quite a large cast. From The Bellas, next to Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Rebel Wilson shine in particular. Snow plays one of the leaders of the group and is one of the nicer girls while Wilson plays Fat Amy, a larger Australian girl. I loved the character of Fat Amy so much because she was just hilarious. She has some amazingly funny lines throughout the whole film. Actually, she was probably my favourite character in the whole film and now I want to see more of what she has been in. Unfortunately, the male characters/ cast in the film were nowhere near as good as the girls and even love interest Jesse played by Skylar Astin was a let-down.

Pitch Perfect has a pretty strange soundtrack. Along with some really current songs such as Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars and Right Round by Flo Rida, there are also songs such as The Sign by Ace of Base and Eternal Flame by The Bangles. However, the mix of songs was something that I found to be really interesting and something that set this film apart from other musicals. The mix of songs is done in such a way though that they go really well together and there are certain reasons for some of the songs. The soundtrack to this film is fantastic and one I would actually like to own.

Overall, as cheesy and predictable as this film is, I loved it. The cast and characters are what made this film so good and along with a funny script and great songs, it was an instant hit for me. This will definitely be getting a place in my DVD collection.