Sing (2016) Review!!!

Synopsis – In a city of humanoid animals, a hustling theater impresario’s attempt to save his theater with a singing competition becomes grander than he anticipates even as its finalists’ find that their lives will never be the same.

My Take – Honestly, this film turned out quite different than I expected to be. When the 1^st trailer of the film came online, it was quite obvious that this film would be one of those incredibly obvious ideas, that it’s a wonder no one had thought to do it before. By taking the mold of a “let’s-put-on-a-show” style revue, the film aptly intermingles two of the most widespread popular culture phenomena cooked up over the last quarter-century: singing competitions and talking furry animals. I am sure we all can agree that; if there’s one thing that animation has always done well in is bringing worlds of anthropomorphic animals to life. What this means is that while the inhabitants of the world are animals, they will act and live like people. Disney is probably the best example as they have created Robin Hood, Chicken Little, and most recently, the acclaimed Zootopia. All of these films have no humans and that all of their characters are animals with different personalities. What animation can also do with this concept is to let the characters take on their animal-like traits. That is what I enjoyed about Zootopia; it took those animal instincts and created a story about prejudice. I guess that at the same time, Illumination Entertainment had their own anthropomorphic animal film in the works. I seriously had started to doubt Illumination‘s films after the disaster known as “Minions”, I really had lost my appeal in their films and “Secret Life of Pets” didn’t help me win them back, plus being the third computer-animated film in a row that features actual singing by the characters after Trolls and Moana, I kept my expectations quite low. But this Christophe Lourdelet & Garth Jennings directed film proves that just because the film lives comfortably amid expected clichés, and risks very little in being upbeat, doesn’t mean it’s any less vibrant, sincere and fun. The thing you always hope for in a kid’s film is a fun adventure for the audience (both adults and kids) and the film does its job of providing laughs and energy, having a variety of jokes that will tickle your funny bone from time to time.

The story follows Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey), a city-dwelling koala bear who owns a musical theater! Wanting to the run the theatre since he saw his first live performance at the age of six, Buster’s koala dad slaved away at a car wash for years until he made enough money for Buster to realize his dream. Buster bought the theater that he first visited with his father and has run it into the ground. The shows that he stages keep losing money, he can’t afford to pay the help and the bank is threatening to repossess the theater. But Buster has always been a dreamer and he’s no quitter. His latest idea is to stage a singing competition with open auditions. His best friend, a sheep named Eddie (John C. Reilly), thinks it’s a terrible idea and encourages him to consider selling the theater, but Buster is undeterred. Buster has his loyal, elderly and scatter-brained one-eyed iguana of an assistant, Miss Crawley (Garth Jennings) to print out fliers advertising a prize that he really can’t afford to offer and animals from all over the city line up to audition. The film shows several different aspiring animal singers as they pursue their dreams, but focuses a little more on a frazzled homemaker with a great voice. Rosita (Reese Witherspoon) is a pig who is burdened with a brood of 25 piglets and a self-absorbed workaholic husband (Nick Offerman). What’s more, for the show Buster pairs her with a fat German pig named Gunter (Nick Kroll) whose larger-than-life personality is the complete opposite of the reserved Rosita’s demeanor – and Gunter insists that she dance in their performance. The contestants whom Buster selects are all talented singers, but, like Rosita, each of them has personal issues that may prevent them from even making it through the rehearsal process. Johnny (Taron Egerton) is a cockney-accented gorilla who has kept his love of singing secret from his dad (Peter Serafinowicz), a criminal who has been getting Johnny involved in his gang – & Buster wants Johnny to learn to play the piano in time for the show! Ash (Scarlett Johansson) is a teenage porcupine who is cast in the show without her boyfriend (Beck Bennett), with whom she auditioned – and then she is asked to sing songs that she feels are too cheesy for her punk-rock sensibilities and wants to try writing her own music. Mike (Seth McFarlane) is a mouse who croons like Frank Sinatra and has an ego bigger than any member of the human Rat Pack… which gets him into trouble with some big, bad, card-playing bears. And then there’s Meena (Tori Kelly), an elephant with a gorgeous voice, but paralyzing stage fright. As each of these dreamers tries to work through his or her individual challenges, Buster works desperately to bring his last-chance show together and hold his theater together financially, emotionally and even physically. Much of the film juggles between the stories of its supporting cast, all of which we only get cliff notes of their foibles. At times it can be a bit jarring; like listening to the radio while someone else if flipping through your favorite channels. Yet when the film finally settles into its groove, the diversity of the cast, and how well they gel together, goes a pretty long way. Not all of them get along, and as with any stage show, things don’t always go according to plan, forcing them to test their metal. At the center of it all is Moon, the stubborn, foolhardy Koala whose dreams are barely held together by a defiant can-do attitude. The film did this very interesting thing where all the characters are given just enough screen time to flesh them out, encouraging the audience to find patterns and realize the overarching moral. It strangely made the moral much easier to feel and realize. No main character felt unnecessary, and it made all of them easier to love (I love every single one of the characters, actually).

). I think I liked it better this way than how it would’ve ended up with one main character. It gets the message across much better than it would have before. By seeing everyone’s own stories and problems and determination to pursue their dreams, it provides a larger umbrella for all audiences, that no matter what you’ve been through, you can still keep going. Basically, the film focused more on the message than the story. I really appreciated that, and I’m sure the kids do too. I also like this thing that’s been happening in films lately: a theme of wanting the past to be popular in the present. And the fact that Mr. Moon isn’t the usual stubborn traditionalist is refreshing and makes him a lot more likable and unique making him a sturdy pillar amongst the messy lives of the singers who search for solutions throughout the film. So basically, whenever I saw the guy, I felt like everything was going to be okay. Mr. Moon didn’t care as long as he kept running his beloved theater, and I think that’s a type of conviction that’s rarely found today. It all pretty much unfolds as you would expect. The only real surprises to be had don’t come up within the story but rather the audience guessing which character will be flipping the switches most often on the plot mechanics. Since that burden is so evenly divided among the cast, we feel like we’re spending more valuable time with them and get a sense of satisfaction when our favorite character’s circuit is finally closed. Little kids will find the slapstick antics of characters farting, tripping on stage, or crashing into some sort of scenery. Adults on the other hand will embrace the funny voices, well timed delivery, and popular culture references. Whatever your style of humor, this one will surely entertain most audience members. For a film with the obvious title, you hope for a little singing and dancing, right? Good news, there is some of that in this film. The film’s song and dance numbers keep with the cute theme of the film, filled with explosive colors and energy. The twists on some of the classics are certainly enjoyable, though they quite come together like the originals. However the film has moments where its lazy screen writing does prevail, such as the handful of montages we get that show a goofy pig dancing to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” or kangaroos singing the Men Without Hats’ “Safety Dance.” They’re moments of brief amusement until you realize how entirely vapid and distracting they really are. Also some of the supporting characters have limited roles, their story lines hastily wrapped up and lost in the musical numbers. And the result of all this is again an entertaining story, but one that is kind of bland and lacking suspense. The incomplete use of characters and the lack of the contest aspect took away the suspense of rooting for your favorite animal, diluting this film’s potential to really drive the emotions home. The film features an amiable cast of characters with familiar voices – Matthew McConaughey and Seth MacFarlane are very good, for that matter – and the rest of the gang consisting of Reese Witherspoon, Taron Egerton, Scarlett Johansson, Tori Kelly, Nick Offerman, Peter Serafinowicz, Nick Kroll, Jennifer Hudson, John C. Reilly and Garth Jennings are great too. On the whole, ‘Sing’ is an entertaining, beautiful to look at, full of life, pure-hearted comedy with enough going for it to earn a mild recommendation.