Pitch Perfect (2012) is an amazing a cappella arrangement of music that is amusingly fun at no expectations of grandeur.
Beca Mitchell (Anna Kendrick) reluctantly attends college at Barden University at the persuasion of her professor father, Dr. Mitchell (John Benjamin Hickey) as she instead wants to pursue a music career in Los Angeles.
In college, she enjoys her secluded world of music; making mash-up songs and internship at the school’s radio station where she meets fellow freshman, movie and music lover, Jesse Swanson (Skylar Astin). Jesse becomes instantly attracted to Beca. As her father discovers that she has not been attending classes, he makes a proposition. If in a year she still does not want to be in college he will allow and pay for her to follow her dreams in Los Angles for as long as she goes to class and joins a school club.
Beca joins an all-girls a cappella club, The Barden Bellas, through Chloe Beale (Brittany Snow), the club’s other senior member. The club’s traditionalist and controlling leader, Aubrey Posen (Anna Camp), hesitantly welcomes (rebellious) Beca.
On the other hand, Jesse joins Bellas’ rival, an all-boys a cappella club, The Treblemakers.
In the Southeastern Regional Competition, Beca is arrested for a brief scuffle and her budding relationship with Jesse turns gray as he tried to help her by contacting her father to bail her out. The incident voids the earlier proposal of her father to pay for her Los Angeles dream.
At the semi-finals, Beca tries to improvise the customary line-up of songs for which infuriated Aubrey. And Beca leaves the club.
As the competition for glory is high and at stake at the Nationals, will Beca return to the club? Will the traditional Bellas adapt a new repertoire or will they be outlasted again by The Treblemakers? Will Beca and Jesse reconcile?
Though predictable and not as flawless, Pitch Perfect is entertaining to watch. Its remarkable mash-up of songs is a modern music feast. And its script timingly saves technical glitches.
If you are a music and movie enthusiast who wants to relax and enjoy the weekend (or any given day), Pitch Perfect (with popcorn and soda on the side) might be the right getaway for you.
Pitch Perfect encourages us to be adventurous. To improvise. To be better. To be open to change.
The movie also paints a truth about our voice. It is powerful. It can distract or attract.
Angry. Tyrannical. They confuse. They frustrate. They destroy.
But when voices harmonize, they create beautiful music. They inspire. They empower.
Our voices (literally and figuratively) can make a big difference.
Is your voice a nuisance to evade? Or does your voice waft like a breath of fresh air?
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© rooks 2014
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