Review of 'Sing'
In a world populated by talking animals down on his luck theatre owner koala Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) seeks to revive his fortunes with a singing competition. When his assistant Ms Crawley (voiced by Garth Jennings) accidentally changes the prize from $1,000 to $100,000 his contest sparks a lot of interest: Johnny (voiced by Taron Egerton) is a gorilla with a wonderful voice but is trapped helping his burglar father escaping crime scenes; The pig Rosita (voiced by Reese Wetherspoon) is an overworked mother who dreams of being able to escape her busy existence and sing; Porcupine Ash (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) plays second fiddle in a performing duo who wants to break free with her own music; Finally, Mike (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is a selfish mouse with the voice of a crooner who has cheated some very dangerous animals of their money…They are all selected by Moon to star in his show but can they rise to the challenge and can he escape his creditors for long enough?
A good lot of fun. The music is amazing as are the voices with the voice actors putting on tremendous performances. In a refreshing change for big budget American animations of recent years the film here has a lot more to it than you see in the trailer with a lot more laughs. It is a good load of fun and despite most such animations being fairly predictable I found that the ending was unexpected (though a happy ending has to be pretty much guaranteed).
Children will be pretty entertained here but it is the older audience that will appreciate the trials of the main characters with some fairly serious and nuanced character study going on here. However, to be sure, the story and action never really lets up throughout the more than hour and a half running time. There are a lot of funny moments. It will keep everyone entertained.
By the way, do check out the “Mini Movies” created to accompany the film as they are also quite amusing.
Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”
Review Date: 2017-12-30
Directed by: Garth Jennings and Christophe Lourdelet
Studio: Illumination Entertainment
Year: 2016
Length: 108 minutes
Genre: Animation
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3470600/
Other reviewed films by Garth Jennings:
Other reviewed films by Garth Jennings and Christophe Lourdelet:
- Sing 2 (2021)