Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
Kids-In-Mind: 5.3.4
I watched this movie recently after hearing for months about how great and funny it was. Maybe that just set my expectations too high, but this movie was pretty much a flop for me. Sure, it had some funny parts and the ending was kind of cute in a chick-flicky way, but overall Pitch Perfect wasn't that impressive. I supposed what bothered me most was that the characters were all stereotypes, from the girl who pushes everyone away to the controlling cheerleader type who leads the a capella group and the sweet boy who's just trying to get the girl's attention. All the characters were depressingly flat, predictable, and cliche. It's kind of amazing really that they could have so many characters without a truly unique one among them. And then there's the plot. I find it strange that they would actually make fun of cliche endings of movies and then go and have a perfectly standard chick flick/underdog story ending, complete with (spoilers!) a win and a kiss. I've been told this movie is mostly about the music, and it really is. The music was by far the best part of the movie, and I didn't even find it that impressive. Admittedly their music isn't really my kind of stuff anyway, so I can't really be one to judge. But I think I am decently qualified to judge movies, and this the kind I recommend to either watch once for kicks and forget about or just not bother with at all.
What about Fat Amy? Wasn't she a unique character? And the girl that you could barely hear?
ReplyDeleteHmph. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to disagree with pretty much everything you just said. First, the thing with the stereotypes. There is a reason stereotypes are stereotypes and that is because for the most part they are true. The main character is actually pretty representative of an actual person who has divorced parents and is mad at her parents for it, and also is rebelling against her dad's wishes for the future. I'm not really sure what you expect out of a main character, but I kind of think you are asking too much. And I think that you're wrong when you say that there isn't one unique character in the movie. I would say that Fat Amy is pretty unique because although she's a big part of the comic relief, it's not all that common for someone to be that confident of themselves. And lastly, how can you say the music isn't that impressive?! It's obvious that you've never sang accapella, because some of the music in that movie is just plain difficult. And also the dancing was pretty amazing too, wether you realize it or not. So maybe you should go sing some accapella and try to dance like that at the same time and then come back and tell me that it wasn't impressive.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the reason why these characters are stereotypes is because none of them really have any depth to them. They have about one character trait and that's it. Beca is a rebel, Aubrey is stuck-up, Fat Amy is confident, Jesse is sweet . . . I could go on about all of them. Beca does develop a little sensitivity over the course of a movie and show another side to her character, but that's about it. I don't think it's too much to expect a main character to be somewhat human (aka more complex). Complex characters have to explore both sides of the spectrum. As I already said, Beca (and somewhat Aubrey) both touch on other sides of their characters, but not until the end of the movie. It really bothers me that neither of them even doubt that what they're doing is right until something drastic happens. In real life, people doubt themselves whether they're doing something right or wrong, and not only when something drastic occurs. Admittedly this is a flaw that many fictional characters have, but that's why you're supposed to actually get to know your characters before writing about them. Otherwise they end up very two-dimensional.
ReplyDeleteAs for the music, I already said I'm not qualified to judge a capella singing and dancing. But I do have to say that just because something is difficult to do does not automatically make it good or interesting. I also don't think a movie can be considered good just because it has good music. If it was just a concert movie or a music album, then sure, that can just have good music and dancing and be fine. But when you're actually trying to produce a believable story, there has to be more involved. Take August Rush, for example. That movie is also very centered around music. But the characters are interesting enough (and indeed human enough) that the story holds up as well (except for the ending, but that's a different discussion). That said, I think Pitch Perfect is good enough to stand one viewing just for the music and some of the better parts of the story, but I wouldn't want to watch it again.