Film Review- "Sing"

Sing
Directed by Garth Jennings
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, and Scarlett Johansson

Outside of the original Despicable Me, the films of Illumination Entertainment haven't had a lasting impact on me. The second Despicable film was good but never matched the original, and the Minions spinoff bored me. The Lorax got too preachy instead of celebrating its source material, I never saw Hop or The Secret Life of Pets, the former's trailers didn't wow and the latter appears just to be Toy Story with pets. Then Sing came along with its flashy trailers, selling a delightful animated musical like something right out of the nineties. Those trailers were enough to get me into the theaters this past weekend, and did Sing deliver? Well, for the most part.

Koala Buster Moone (McConaughey) has always loved musical theatre since his father took him to his first show as a child. Now the owner of his own theatre, Buster's facing financial woes, with the threat of the bank seizing control of his assets. After a long string of flops, Buster now thinks he's got the show to save his theatre: A singing competition open to the public.

Some of the selected contestants include Johnny (Taron Edgerton), a gorilla reluctant to be a part of his criminal father's gang, Rosita (Witherspoon) a pig who's an overworked stay-at-home mom, and Ash (Johansson) a porcupine reduced to background vocals by her singing partner/lousy boyfriend. They and the other contestants all have something standing in their way of the spotlight, while Buster scrambles to make sure the show is a guaranteed success and his theatre is saved.

First off, if a musical about a bunch of anthromorphic animals trying to make it in show business sounds familiar, it is. Sing shares a lot of similarities to the forgotten gem of 1991, Cats Don't Dance (and if you haven't seen that I recommend it). Hell both the second act of each film bizarrely ends the same way. But without going into spoilers, Sing's storyline is pretty predictable. It's nothing we haven't seen before in movies.

All the contestants' story lines have been done before. Johnny? The one reluctant to follow a dream because of the disapproval of a parent. Rosita? The one letting their domestic life prevent them from following a dream. Meena the elephant (Tori Kelly)? She has to gain some confidence and overcome stage fright for everyone to see her real talent. Honestly how many times in a musical has a significant other squandered the talent of a character like Ash? There's even a subplot for Buster with the old "liar revealed" cliche' where there's a misunderstanding about the amount of prize money, but it goes nowhere and adds nothing to the film's plot.

Devil's advocate here: Just because the script isn't original, doesn't mean it's not written well. All the characters are still likable and you want to see them succeed. Sing is also one of those musicals where all the songs are just covers of already existing songs, with the exception of one original song in the film sung by Johansson's Ash and another in the end credits. The covers are pretty good though, and the songs they choose match the characters pretty well.

Whoever casted this thing must have gone to the Dreamworks Animation/Blue Sky Studios School of Animated Film Casting, meaning even the smallest of parts are voiced by big celebrities. Seriously, you know all the major players from the trailers, but did you know the likes of Nick Offerman, Leslie Jones, and Jennifer Hudson were also in this?? Me neither until the end credits, but I think it's a testament to their performances. I mean it's nice to see Leslie Jones not screaming and doing her usual schtick, or Nick Offerman not delivering his Ron Swanson dry wit once in awhile. But still, if you're going to have these character actors in small incidental roles, why have them at all?

Tori Kelly as is the true powerhouse of pipes in this musical's ensemble as Meena, who's got an incredible voice. Seth MacFarlane as Mike the mouse (Wait a minute. Mike…Mikey…Mick-I swear to God Illumination…) is doing all of his usual, from his Rat Pack (That's not a pun) style of singing to his typical albeit censored humor. Taron Edgerton gives a lot of heart to Johnny, and who knew he could sing so well? Personally he sings my favorite song in the film. Reese Witherspoon fits Rosita well, and we already knew she could sing. Nick Kroll plays her partner Gunter, who isn't as funny as he should have been. McConaughey, ironically the star of the film, doesn't sing, and I really wanted to know what his singing is like. Anyway he gives plenty of emotion and charisma to Buster.

So Sing isn't an original or groundbreaking film, but it's entertaining enough thanks to its likable characters and good music. Sometimes a film doesn't have to be original or groundbreaking, sometimes we just need something to hold us over for two hours. But is Sing your best animated option for that? No probably not, but I don't regret seeing it, and I enjoyed it enough. If time allows it, I might give it an encore performance.