During my freshman year of college, I managed to trick Marquette University’s coed a cappella group into thinking I was a competent singer. For the next three years, I spent a significant chunk of my free time with about 15 other people, making various tuneful "tums," "dms," "oohs" and "bops" that somehow melded together to create the Eurythmics’ "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" or some other pop song.

Sure, there were some flat notes – normally courtesy of yours truly – and flatter decisions (there was an attempt to do Taio Cruz’s "Dynamite" that was the whitest mess since an explosion at the glue factory). But more often than not, those few off-key notes were happily washed out by the overall experience of enjoying fun and laughs with good, sharp-witted company and catchy, hopefully not sharp music. 

Now, if only there was some way to connect this experience as some sort of metaphor to describe my feelings about 2012’s surprise a cappella comedy hit "Pitch Perfect" – perhaps as the opening to a review of its minorly flawed but still majorly funny sequel. Hmm …

Directed by Gail Abernathy-McKadden-Feinberger herself Elizabeth Banks (who serves as a producer on both films), "Pitch Perfect 2" finds the first film’s musically gifted freshman misfits now seniors – or super super seniors in the case of Chloe (Brittany Snow) – on the three-time college a cappella champion Barden Bellas. However, the group’s reign – and its continuing existence – risks coming to an end after boisterous Australian songbird Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) ends up a little too free in front of the leader of the free world, accidentally exposing herself to an archival footage President Obama in a mid-performance gaffe.

Turned into national news laughing stocks, berated with hate mail – including a letter from an outraged Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor – and suspended from performing or holding auditions, the Bellas’ only chance of reinstatement is winning Worlds. However, that means overcoming the über-flashy and über-intimidating German squad, as well as overcoming America’s winless record at the competition. The reason? "They hate us … the whole world," laughingly warns a cappella’s most entertaining, least competent broadcasting duo (Banks and John Michael Higgins).

The Bellas’ problems aren’t limited to outsiders either. Leader Beca (Anna Kendrick) is secretly trying to split her time between both the Bellas and her new record company internship, becoming frustrated that the other ladies aren’t looking to their future as well. Meanwhile, a new freshman add-on Emily (Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit") struggles to fit in with the frazzled pack, and Fat Amy battles her affections for former Treblemaker nemesis Bumper (Adam DeVine, "Workaholics").

Comedy sequels typically serve as an invitation for disappointment. Old jokes are pulled out again and made bigger, if not necessarily better, while the extra effort put forward to maintain the spark of the first installment just ends up extinguishing it instead. There are a few exceptions (see: the meta mayhem of last summer’s "22 Jump Street"), and thankfully "Pitch Perfect 2" slides in amongst them.

Returning screenwriter Kay Cannon brings much of the same sharp-tongued sass and tart sense of humor to this fairly familiar second verse (the plot’s chain of events is pretty predictable, though not too problematic). She also has the same band of funny oddball characters and performers to work with, and they’re still a blast. Kendrick is still a charmingly spunky star, dishing out plenty of funny withering zingers – or the equally funny opposite of those when faced with stumblingly trying to diss the German team’s musical and physical perfection.

After serving as the lead in the last film, however, she now shares much of the narrative spotlight with the first film’s other breakout star, Rebel Wilson. The character seems much broader this time through – a common comedy sequel sin – with a slight emphasis on physical, overweight gags that border but thankfully avoid going into full-on Melissa McCarthy Syndrome. Instead, she’s a pretty hilarious force of nature, with Wilson scoring a laugh regularly – even when she’s just slumped on a couch, still commanding the room as though her seat were the Iron Throne. 

The rest of the Bellas and the returning a cappella community are still a blast as well. Hana Mae Lee’s Lilly is still hilarious with her barely audible but completely bizarre asides, while Banks and Higgins steal multiple laughs as the two uncouth competition commentators – the former amusingly always "on," the latter fitting his blatant sexism casually into their stiff banter. The edge on Higgins’ lines in particular seems to have been turned up since last time, even drawing some shocked "ooohs" from the audience, but the joke – a routinely funny one at that – is always on him and his confused, aggressively retrograde doltishness.

The additions to "Pitch Perfect 2" score some strong laughs as well. Keegan-Michael Key of "Key & Peele" fame is particularly funny as Beca’s short on temper, long on name-dropping boss ("The second time I listened to the album it was in Eminem’s rocketship!"). Then there’s the cameos, ranging from a carol-singing Snoop Dogg to, yes, Clay Matthews and the Green Bay Packers offensive line, who are surprisingly not only in the film longer than a quick one-shot cameo but also snag some of the film’s stronger laughs. Almost everyone adds a laugh to the movie’s comedy tune, all while Banks keeps a sharp, energetic hold on all the jokes from the director’s chair. It’s certainly a step up laugh-wise from her feature debut short from (shudders) "Movie 43."

Banks keeps that momentum up during the movie’s multiple musical numbers as well, arranged to peppy perfection by Deke Sharon, The Underdogs and Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh. The performances are a burst of fun energy – the German team’s in particular are so good, you might find yourself placing your vote at Worlds on them – filled with cool mash-ups and vocal tricks. It helps that some of the talent involved includes a cappella superstars Pentatonix cameo-ing as a Canadian team and beatboxer/comedian Reggie Watts.

Of course, not all of the jokes work. New addition Steinfeld is sweetly dorky, but her character doesn’t add much in the humor department (a problem for the inevitable third film if they stay with the otherwise depleted Bellas). Plus, like the first movie, the script also sometimes relies on some easy, one-note stereotypes for jokes. Alexis Knapp’s Stacie is solely typed as the overly sexual one; the jokes from Cynthia-Rose (Ester Dean) are all about her being a horny lesbian. And less said about the new Bella from Guatemala (Chrissie Fit) and the predictable Latina immigrant jokes, the better.

Comedy sequels tend to overemphasize the personality traits that made their characters loveable and funny the first time through. As hinted at before, it’s a sin "Pitch Perfect 2" edges dangerously close to committing. Everything's maybe a touch bigger and bolder, and not quite in a positive way. For the most part, though, the movie’s jokes are generally more in tune than pitchy. It’s easy to forgive the flops when you’re mostly laughing (the opposite of what happened with last month’s "Get Hard," where the laughless silence just made its touchy politics harder to ignore).

Plus there’s still a sweetness to "Pitch Perfect 2," of a colorful group of oddball girls joining together to make great music, singing in a competition where the whole world joins together to make even more great music – a point made near the end with a montage of all the countries near the end performing variations on "Any Way You Want It." It, and the big final performance, are almost poignant musical moments in a movie whose story is kick-started by flashing the president. 

In the end, whether it’s the comedy or the music, "Pitch Perfect 2" winds up pretty harmonious.