Sing

"Very Good"

Sing Review


The quality of the animation in this musical comedy may not be up to Pixar standards, but the story and characters are thoroughly endearing. And the music is fabulous. As it follows a group of likeable animals through a variety of plots and adventures, there's plenty for everyone in the audience to connect with. So even if the climactic action mayhem gets a bit ridiculous, the movie keeps us laughing. And it also makes us want to get up on that stage and belt out a few numbers.

It's set in a city populated by animals. Buster (voiced by Matthew Mcconaughey) is a koala who has been obsessed with musical theatre since he saw the diva Nana (Jennifer Hudson then Jennifer Saunders) perform when he was a child. So he grew up and bought the theatre. Now with audiences waning, he stages a musical competition to save the theatre. In the auditions, he selects his finalists: anarchist porcupine Ash (Scarlett Johansson), jazzy mafioso mouse Mike (Seth Macfarlane) and silky voiced gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton). He also teams up two pigs as a double-act: frazzled housewife Rosita (Reese Witherspoon) and German dancer Gunter (Nick Kroll). There's also golden-voiced elephant Meena (Tori Kelly), who's too shy to face the audience so takes a role backstage. Of course, nothing goes as planned.

The key conflict comes from Buster's frantic efforts to avoid bankruptcy, plus rather half-hearted action subplots involving a gang of bears and Johnny's criminally minded relatives. These generate quite a bit of tension that erupts into rather outrageously destructive slapstick along the way. More interesting are the personal journeys of the various contestants, especially as Ash, Meena and Johnny all discover their voices and Rosita finds inventive ways to balance her long-lost career with her role as a mother to 25 rambunctious piglets. Yes, the film is rather crowded with characters and storylines, and the animation looks plasticky, but everything comes together cleverly,

The starry voice cast does a great job creating vivid characters the audience can identify with as each critter deals with the realities of pursuing their long-held dreams. This may be a rather obvious message in the age of TV talent competitions, but writer-director Garth Jennings knowingly combines it with some pointed commentary on the importance of art in everyday life. And there are other solid themes that are touched on with a refreshing subtlety, because of course the most important thing here is to get the audience laughing and singing along with infectious pop hits from the Beatles to Taylor Swift.

Watch the trailer for Sing:



Sing

Facts and Figures

Genre: Animation

Run time: 108 mins

In Theaters: Wednesday 21st December 2016

Box Office USA: $165,051,490.00

Box Office Worldwide: $407.3M

Budget: $75M

Distributed by: Illumination Entertainment

Production compaines: Universal Pictures, Fuji Television Network, Dentsu, Illumination Entertainment

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 3.5 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes: 69%
Fresh: 82 Rotten: 37

IMDB: 7.3 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director:

Producer: Christopher Meledandri,

Starring: as Buster Moon (voice), as Rosita (voice), as Mike (voice), as Ash (voice), John C. Reilly as Eddie (voice), as Johnny (voice), as Meena (voice), as Gunter (voice), as Norman (voice), as Miss Crawly / Additional Voices (voice), as Big Daddy (voice), Beck Bennett as Lance (voice), as Nana (voice), as Young Nana (voice), as Meena's Mother (voice), as Meena's Grandfather (voice), Rhea Perlman as Judith (voice), as Meena's Grandmother / Additional Voices (voice), as News Reporter Dog (voice), Adam Buxton as Stan (voice), Brad Morris as Baboon (voice), Oscar Jennings as Piglet (voice), Leo Jennings as Piglet (voice), Caspar Jennings as Piglet (voice), Asa Jennings as Piglet (voice), as Additional Voices (voice), Chris Renaud as Additional Voices (voice), as Additional Voices (voice), Jon Robert Hall as Frog (voice), Asher Blinkoff as Piglet (voice), Laura Dickinson as Spider (voice), Jen Faith Brown as Singer (voice), Jessica Rau as Additional Voices (voice), Áurea as Voice 1, Marisa Liz as Voice 2, Mickael Carreira as Voice 3, Deolinda Kinzimba as Voice 4, as Additional Voices (voice), Sara Mann as Additional Voices (voice), Daamen J. Krall as Additional Voices (voice), as Additional Voices (voice), as Additional Voices (voice), Doug Burch as Additional Voices (voice), as Additional Voices (voice), Jason Pace as Additional Voices (voice), Townsend Coleman as Additional Voices (voice), Abby Craden as Additional Voices (voice), as Additional Voices (voice), John DeMita as Additional Voices (voice), Willow Geer as Additional Voices (voice), as Additional Voices (voice), as Additional Voices (voice)

Also starring: ,

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