Sing
Koala Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey: Kubo and the Two Strings) loves theater. He has achieved half of his dream. He owns a theater, but he has no audience.
Facing foreclosure, Buster makes a desperate decision to host a singing competition. To draw local talent, he plans to offer a $1,000 prize. But his secretary types $100,000 by mistake, and soon the whole town turns out to win a fortune.
Surely he can raise the money later, Buster decides, so he holds auditions. A motley crew competes. Johnny (Taron Egerton: Eddie the Eagle) is a softhearted gorilla with a sweet voice who seeks to get away from his criminal father. Ash (Scarlett Johansson: Captain America: Civil War) is a prickly teen porcupine finding her voice as a songwriter. Rosita (Reese Witherspoon: Hot Pursuit) is a housepig worn out by caring for her husband and 25 piglets. Meena (Tori Kelly) is a shy elephant with the voice of an angel but crippling stage fright. Mike (Seth MacFarlane: Family Guy) is a mouse with the voice and attitude of Sinatra.
As the contestants struggle to find their voices, Buster struggles to find funding for his musical spectacular. Will he get the ovation he’s always wanted? Or is this his curtain call?
Sing is the latest in a long line of inoffensive animated films that will keep small children quiet for 90 minutes. There’s nothing special about writing, acting or story, but all are satisfactory. Illumination Studios has settled into making movies — like this and the Minions film — that entertain small viewers while offering adults passable fare. It’s not a bad formula. At my screening, children paid close attention to the singing animals while adults huffed a few laughs.
If you pay attention, you’ll notice two big problems. First is the story. Writer/director Garth Jennings (Son of Rambow) makes Buster’s journey his theme. But we don’t connect with Buster, as he’s a bit of a jerk and McConaughey’s vocal performance is flat. Our hearts are with Johnny, caught in a fraught relationship with his robber father. Instead of his story, we get dozens of B storylines and flatulence jokes.
There’s also too little music for a movie called Sing. What there is — mostly small snippets from popular songs — seems contrived to keep adults entertained.
A DVD of Zootopia or The Secret Life of Pets will cost you less than movie tickets to Sing and give you and your children better stories and cuter animal characters.
Fair Animation • PG • 108 mins.