Sing - movie review

Sing

Plot: 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.
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane
Director: Garth Jennings
Certificate: U (very mild bad language, threat, rude humour)
Runtime: 1hr 48 mins
Release Date: Friday 27th January 2017

To you, the reader, in your entire life, did you ever think you'd hear Matthew McConaughey voicing a Koala bear singing Call Me Maybe? Me neither. Whether I ever wanted to is an entirely different question but Sing doesn't really give you much of a choice. After multiple creative and ingenious animated films recently (Moana, Zootopia), Sing is all about animals competing in a singing competition. Because that's never been done before has it? Wait. Actually, it hasn't.

As mentioned in the introduction, Matthew McConaughey is one of the multiple characters that star in Sing but he mostly keeps his musical lungs on the down-low by playing theatre lover and owner, Buster Moon. Judging by the trailers, I expected Buster to be this strict judge that challenges his contestants to be the best they can be, like an animated J.K. Simmons from Whiplash. In actual fact, Buster has an absolute heart of gold, couldn't hurt a fly and only wants the best for his new friends and theatre. McConaughey's voice is actually a solid fit for the character and, like Dwayne Johnson in Moana, goes beyond the recognition of a celebrity voice and allows himself to just immerse into character. Out of all the characters in this film, and there are quite a few, Buster was the most relatable and deservedly drives the story forward. The only real friends that aren't part of the show that Buster has are John C. Reilly's Eddie (a lackadaisical sheep resting on his parents' fortune) and Miss Crawly (a one eyed, crazy, old lizard). Apart from delivering comedy, their characters are fairly simple to the grand scheme of all proceedings. The contestants is where Sing shines as they all are either very comedic or enjoyable to watch through their voices and reasons for competing. Reese Witherspoon plays a pig named Rosita (probably not a sentence I ever thought I'd be writing) who, because of her  stoic husband (aptly voiced by Nick Offerman) and gigantic number of piglets, is always unable to follow her true dream of performing. Rosita teams up with Gunther, a German, glittery unitard wearing pig voiced by Nick Kroll, and the two do make for an entertaining duo. Witherspoon is good as the voice of Rosita and her character is sweet but her overall story is nothing you've never seen before. That's Sing in a nutshell. Sweet and entertaining but wholly unoriginal. 

Seth MacFarlane appears as Mike, a down on his luck, saxophone playing mouse who gets in trouble with the type of people (in this case, animals) you don't want to cross. MacFarlane is the perfect voice to have in a film like this, both for acting and singing. Apart from being in trouble with Russian gangster bears (Yes, Russian gangster bears), Mike is Seth MacFarlane if he was a mouse. His character may be the cocky and annoying contestant that we all loathe on talent shows but nevertheless, when he sings, we applaud. Mike's final performance, and as for that matter, Seth's singing, is really something special. One of the only weak links in Sing is Ash, a rock star porcupine voiced by Scarlett Johansson. I liked her character and her story but sadly, Johansson's voice is so noticeable that Ash just came across like Scarlett Johansson voicing an animated porcupine rather than a complete character. Maybe it's because Johansson's at a point in her career where everything she does is noticeable but hey, from the way Ghost In The Shell looks, she's trying to disappear into an Asian woman next. Gotta love whitewashing!! (*Insert sarcasm). Ash isn't the most interesting character in the film but her story is fairly pleasant but nothing inventive. The final two contestants are probably the most compelling. Taron Egerton voices Johnny, a gorilla getaway driver for his criminal dad and friends. His character was by far the most heartfelt and I attached to his story the most, alongside Buster's. It also helps that Egerton can really sing. Really really sing. Completing the lineup is Tori Kelly as Meena, a shy elephant with the voice of an angel. Meena might be entering into clichéd territory but ultimately, that is saved by Kelly's endearing personality emanating through and an astonishing singing voice.

FACT: The film features over 85 hit songs from the 1940s to 2016.

If you have ever seen a movie in your life, then watching Sing will feel like déjà vu for numerous instances. Each and every character, excluding ones that have small one scene appearances, have a story that plays out like it's fresh and new but in reality, the only difference for all of these interweaving stories is that it's from the perspective of an animal. Allow me to elucidate:
- Buster is a struggling theatre owner who is late for many payments. Guess how that ends?
- Rosita doesn't feel appreciated by any members of her family and never seems to find the ability to achieve her dream. Guess how that ends?
- Mike begins as a harsh and cocky mouse that doesn't seem to appreciate any of his fellow contestants. Guess how that ends?
- Ash is part of a rock duo but is stuck in the background wanting her time to shine and write her own music. Guess how that ends?
- Johnny feels like he isn't accepted by his father and has to juggle his singing rehearsals and practice for the robbery. Guess how that ends?
- Meena suffers from terrible stage fright meaning that she lacks the confidence to perform for the show. Guess how that ends?
I'm not hating on the movie because ultimately, I did have a good time but the story is inexcusable. With other animated films like Zootopia dealing with racism and sexism for themes and Moana explaining a deep cultural mythology, it's underwhelming to find Sing going through the most generic and basic motions. Everything from the dialogue to the revelations are beyond conventional at this stage of filmmaking we are treated to nowadays. On the contrary, the film is still told with care and grace. It's like someone giving you a compliment that you continuously hear once every week. Humour works in Sing's favour because it gave me multiple chuckles. Many of those laughs come during the audition stage which actually transpire into full belly laughs but mostly, Sing never wiped the smirk off of my face.

It seems obvious to say in this day and age but the animation is beautiful. The photo-realism of the animals is very impressive but whereas some animated films are striving to look as real as possible, Sing still maintains a cartoon look which isn't a problem so long as it wasn't attempting to look real. A specific highlight for animation is a elongated destruction sequence which, as well as being quite touching, is animated with bucket loads of class and expertise. It looks, dare I say, Pixar-like. If the title didn't give it away, Sing is also a musical. I don't mean in the sense that it has a couple of songs to get kids dancing a little. I mean that Sing is nearing Les Misérables as a constant musical only less depressing. It does feel a bit heavy handed at times switching between current songs, especially in the opening where we zip across the city to meet our characters but nearly ten songs are thrown immediately in our direction. That being said, when the show comes into fruition and we actually get to see it in its entirety, Sing becomes amazing. Albeit, that amazing-ness only lasts for roughly twenty minutes but it's amazing nonetheless. All of those final songs payoff in spades and even a few had me tapping my feet and grooving in my seat. What can I say? I'm partial to a good dance now and again. However, they made one fatal error when it come to one specific song. During the audition stages, a sheep bleats (literally) Seal's Kiss From A Rose. As funny as that was, imagine how much better it would be if an actual seal was in it's place. Can we all admit that would have been hysterical? Just me? Oh well, I'm easily pleased.

Kids will love this. Adults will probably enjoy it but they'll be more thankful that their children had a good time. The singing is good and I enjoyed my time watching it. As far as voice acting is concerned, no one has revolutionised the talent nor done it a disservice but at the root of Sing's few problems is that I've seen films like this a million times before and some of them are far better. It's on that border between mediocrity and greatness. It's fine.

My Verdict: 6.5/10

What did you think of Sing? What was your favourite song? Sound off in the comments below.

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