Not all three Pitch Perfect movies are made equally, but; they all had a good deal of humor and, of course, entertaining a cappella performances.
The raucous college comedy and teen jukebox musical were merged in the Anna Kendrick film franchise, and it seemed to succeed for a variety of viewers. Not bad for a musical comedy, the Pitch Perfect movies ranked earned a combined $588 million at the worldwide box office. Nevertheless, each had a distinct influence.
The Pitch Perfect movie trilogy centers on Beca Mitchell (Kendrick), a freshman in college who decides to join the Barden Bellas, an a cappella group. Despite her initial reluctance, she eventually becomes close to her fellow Bellas and develops feelings for Jesse (Skylar Astin), a competitor a cappella group member.
Every one of the Pitch Perfect movies ranked that comes after it maintains this obvious passion and devotion to music while also kicking the ridiculous comedy from the first movie up a notch or two. All in all, the movies are a lot of fun, especially for fans of music, but which is the greatest? Here are all three Pitch Perfect movies ranked from worst to best.
3. Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)
The opening scene in Pitch Perfect 3, which concludes with Beca (Anna Kendrick) and Amy/Patricia (Rebel Wilson) jumping off the back of a burning boat, serves us our first hint that nothing in the movie should be taken seriously. This is a film about an a cappella group, right?
Yes, it is! Kind of. After Pitch Perfect 2, the majority of the Barden Bellas we are familiar with from the films graduated and are now attempting to venture out on their own in the real world. Beca is a poor music producer living with Amy, who is attempting to get momentum for her one-woman act, “Fat Amy Winehouse,” which she performs on sidewalks, and Chloe (Brittany Snow), who works as a veterinarian’s assistant and spends her days with her hands up in animals’ behinds. The other Bellas yearn for their heyday as college a cappella champions and are also dissatisfied with how their lives have turned out.
Knowing this, Pitch Perfect 3 slightly modifies the formula. The entire ensemble is present, but the film often makes self-aware jokes about “Jessica and Ashley,” two group members who have always been in the background and with whom no one has ever spoken or interacted.
This time, they each receive a line. Even though the girls have broken up with their previous movie boyfriends, they still have amazing hair and tons of pop songs, contributing to the 3 Pitch Perfect movies ranked. Matt Lanter, who the Army deployed to keep the girls safe, and Guy Burnet, who works with DJ Khaled, are two cute guys the girls may hang out with. (Yes, the DJ Khaled, who shows up in this film in a shockingly big part as himself.)
As the concluding installment in the series, Pitch Perfect 3 was always marketed as such, and this is clear throughout the movie. Most of the Bellas that were first shown in the first movie, such as Kendrick’s Beca, have graduated from Barden and are attempting to launch their careers. Nevertheless, none of them is having a great time, which motivates them to reunite for one more European tour. The final performance will include a fresh twist this time around—the a cappella group won’t be singing a cappella.
Even less time was spent in Pitch Perfect 3 trying to explain the plot, as little as the Bellas singing with an orchestra makes sense. The threequel elevated the self-aware humor that has always been a part of these movies to a whole new level. Pitch Perfect 3 nearly seemed to be making fun of viewers in an attempt to make light of itself and emphasize that this was unquestionably the last movie in the series, but this didn’t quite work out the same way.
Furthermore, compared to earlier movies, the individual plots of the many individuals were significantly less engaging or fulfilling. In the end, it should come as no surprise that this franchise capper only received a Rotten Tomatoes review score of 28%, influencing the 3 Pitch Perfect movies ranked.
2. Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)
In terms of comedy sequels, Pitch Perfect 2 is undoubtedly far from flawless. Its script has a lot of pitchiness to it. And there are at least two reasons to take issue with how it treats Anna Kendrick’s Beca, the once-outsider freshman who elevated the all-girl Barden Bellas to unprecedented levels of competitive a capella in the witty, sassy, and endearingly modest original film that became a sleeper hit that was largely watched on DVD and cable in 2012.
Furthermore, Beca’s actual role in the movie has diminished. Rather than dedicating her senior year to supporting her fellow Bellas, she actually spends a large portion of it guiltily skulking off to an internship at a recording studio to pursue her dream of becoming a music producer, contributing to the 3 Pitch Perfect movies ranked. Less time spent snuggling with Skylar Astin’s character, tenor Jesse, means that his all-boy Treblemakers are now more of allies than rivals. The one bright spot: Keegan-Michael Key, who plays her preoccupied boss, throws a brilliant jab at hipsterdom with a reference to that strangely trendy condiment called sriracha.
However, for every instance of ingenuity (such as how the Universal Studios fanfare was handled and this Fat Amy’s comment, “You’re the most talented person I know, and I’ve met three of the Wiggles—intimately”), there appear to be countless attempts at comedy that are meant to make people laugh, without much success.
Pitch Perfect 2 was fortunate enough to capitalize on the success of its predecessor, and it did a respectable job of doing so. The most fulfilling aspect of the film is probably how much more at ease Beca is in her own skin compared to her freshman year, which takes place throughout her final year of college as she begins to figure out what she wants to do with her life.
Pitch Perfect 2‘s storyline was a very clever transition from the first movie; instead of the Bellas becoming too monotonous, they are now starting to act a little too extravagantly, which results in an awkward mishap where Amy, played by Rebel Wilson, flashes her nude crotch to the audience, including President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama.
Pitch Perfect‘s Barden Bellas compete in a worldwide competition to show the world that they still deserve the opportunity to sing, and Beca has to come up with something original to add to her repertoire of mashups. Of all, a big portion of what made Pitch Perfect so entertaining was those mashups, contributing to the 3 Pitch Perfect movies ranked.
Pitch Perfect 2 felt like a mediocre copy of the first movie, despite the song “Flashlight” doing a fantastic job of offering something fresh. Even so, this sequel brought in $287 million worldwide at the box office, making it the most successful of the three; nevertheless, its financial success was probably boosted by the popularity of the first Pitch Perfect.
1. Pitch Perfect (2012)
When executed flawlessly, there’s nothing quite as amazing as hearing human voices melt into a smooth, multicolored swirl without the assistance or diversion of music. Pitch Perfect is based on the totally human wonder of a cappella singing, but it also tries to be a little gross-out comedy, a reminiscence of the embarrassing first few dates, and a Mean Girls-style parody of college hierarchy. That might be too much for one small comedy, but one thing is certain: the singing in Pitch Perfect is excellent.
In the end, the follow-ups simply fell short of the first Pitch Perfect, contributing to the 3 Pitch Perfect movies ranked. The Kendrick movie was somewhat expected, given it was released right in the middle of the Glee television series. But thanks to its distinct comedic style, it was able to reach a much wider audience than just the target adolescent demographic.
All of the amusing Bellas, such as Brittany Snow’s Chloe, Wilson’s Amy, and Anna Camp‘s tough but endearing Aubrey, were first introduced in Pitch Perfect. And then there were John and Gail, the perpetually inappropriate critics (portrayed by Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins, respectively).
All things considered, Pitch Perfect was successful because it presented a novel idea while captivating viewers with well-chosen song mixes, powerful vocal performances, and hilarious antics. It’s a straightforward idea in the grand scheme of things, which is why it proved challenging to maintain for several movies. But for the original, it had that Sister Act quality that captivates viewers and holds them there for the whole movie. This explains why Pitch Perfect is still one of the greatest in the series and why it’s still a lot of fun to watch more than ten years later. Thus, this is the perfect order of the Pitch Perfect movies ranked.