Review: Elizabeth Banks-Directed ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ Starring Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, And More

It’s not necessarily a novel observation, but “Pitch Perfect,” the Universal studio comedy about the world of competitive college-level a cappella, a surprise 2012 hit, is modeled after a classic sports comedy picture. The girl-powered sing-along comedy had the exact same paradigm: there’s an reluctant outsider cajoled into joining a foreign, often “uncool” world (think Jackie Earle Haley in “The Bad News Bears”) and the team sport personnel is a rag tag group of misfits that can’t get it together. Of course the disinclined outlier is always the missing link that helps the team discover their voice and identity. Outside of the too-colorful color commentators — a more contemporary trend lifted from films like “Dodgeball” and “Best In Show” — the surprisingly diverting but enjoyable “Pitch Perfect” followed the classic sports movie formula to the letter. But if the charming and lighthearted original film hit all the right notes, then “Pitch Perfect 2” is analogous to...