'Pitch Perfect 2': Sequel hits the crowd-pleasing notes

Sequels have a bad habit of taking what made their predecessors popular and augmenting those aspects to the point where they just aren't fun anymore. As in thin supporting characters becoming major players or two-bit gags becoming full-fledged plots.

But Pitch Perfect 2 avoids becoming a bigger, dumber version of the 2012 sleeper hit. Structurally, the movies are entirely similar, but writer Kay Cannon (30 Rock) refocuses the story so the crowd-pleasing parts are intact, without drowning out any semblance of a coherent movie.

The smartest move Cannon makes is understanding that the romance of the first film was lackluster and the real love story was between the women who make up the all-female a cappella group the Barden Bellas.

After they humiliated themselves during a performance for the president, the Bellas are underdogs once more. They must take a road to redemption, culminating in a performance at the a cappella championships where they compete against groups from the around the world, including the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Masala (with a name change for the film) and the Bellas' German arch rivals, Das Sound Machine.

Sound familiar?

Yep. It's pretty much the plot of the first movie, all the way down to an impromptu a cappella showdown, this time hosted by a cappella-loving millionaire David Cross and featuring the Green Bay Packers.

Yes, the Green Bay Packers. They are pretty glorious.

But the sameness of the two movies doesn't make the second feel like a re-tread. If anything, it feels comfortable.

Fat Amy, played by Aussie great Rebel Wilson, was the first movie's breakout character. A screening full of excited teen girls erupted into cheers when Fat Amy appeared for the first time.

But rather than make the sequel about Fat Amy, Cannon deftly remodels Pitch Perfect 2 as an ensemble film, adding a new Bella (True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld) without decreasing the importance of main character Beca (Anna Kendrick), who is looking bit beyond her college years. (Keegan-Michael Key is, as usual, excellent as her new boss.)

The movie becomes about sisterhood, how hard it is to keep those bonds, and about how entirely worth it they are.

Pitch Perfect 2 is nowhere near flawless. A Guatemalan Bella (Chrissie Fit) has her entire character, for instance, relying entirely on jokes about her immigrant status, and a romantic subplot involving Steinfeld is underdeveloped and unnecessary.

But Elizabeth Banks - who adds director to her title for this film, along with producer and supporting character - has a deft hand for the movie's bigger scenes, giving it the same familiar energy and pop as the first.

Directed by Elizabeth Banks. With Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow. Distributed by Universal Pictures.

Running time: 1 hours, 55 mins.

Parent's guide: PG-13 (innuendo and language).

Playing at: Area theaters.EndText

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@mollyeichel