With a movie like “Pitch Perfect” there’s a lot to critique, as most of the cast members not only act but they also sing. For this movie to be any kind of success, the cast members need to be able to excel in both of these areas.
Audiences may recognize lead actress Anna Kendrick as Jessica from “Twilight” or Katherine from “50/50.” In “Pitch Perfect,” she plays a college student aspiring to become a music producer. It’s not until about 20 minutes through the movie that she starts to sing.
Kendrick’s voice range is definitely lower than a lot of the other girls, so it helps to harmonize as several of the girls in the a cappella group have noticeably higher voices.
On the acting side, Kendrick plays her character Beca very well. It is a completely different than Jessica in “Twilight,” who was a more static character. Beca has more of a drastic change from the beginning of the movie to the end.
Audiences may also recognize Brittany Snow from different films such as “Hairspray” and “John Tucker Must Die.” While Snow sang in “Hairspray,” she mostly sang in a group, so “Pitch Perfect” is one of the first times she had any solos.
Snow shines in her solos at the beginning of the movie where people get to hear her high-range voice, but after her character gets “nodes” – a condition that caused her vocal chords to rub together – her voice isn’t often heard, except for a deep bass which was most likely a male voice that Snow lip-synced.
Snow performs well as an actress in practically every movie she’s been in, and this movie is no exception. A few of Snow’s movies have been at least slightly antagonistic, so it is nice to see her character Chloe is not that way in the slightest.
Still, Snow’s wasn’t the most notable performance in “Pitch Perfect.”
One of the best performances would have to be by Rebel Wilson. Her character “Fat Amy” has some of the best and most quotable one-liners in the movie.
Wilson also had a really good voice and did a profoundly good job when it came to exemplifying her character while singing.
Newer to the big screen was Skylar Astin, who played Jesse – Beca’s love interest. Broadway fans may recognize him as Georg from the Tony Award-winning musical “Spring Awakening.”
Jesse is introduced as the “boy-next-door” type of character, a genuinely good guy who most girls would want to take home to their parents. He soon grows to be disdainful of Beca always pushing him away, forcing her to learn to not shut people out.
Astin also had a very strong voice that became apparent the first time he sang and when he was given a solo, as a freshman, at the national competition.
Also new to the big screen was Hana Mae Lee who played Lilly. Her one-liners were a bit more soft-spoken than Fat Amy’s, and it was hard to hear her singing voice until the very end of the movie because she spoke in whispers for most of the time.
Overall, the movie was quite good, and definitely something worth seeing. The cast, crew and writers did an excellent job with the whole production, which is probably why it is in the top three at the box office
