Sing!

A film with a title as simple as Sing! doesn’t as stand out as something that’s going to be breaking any new grounds in terms of animated history. Released in 2016 from Illumination (who to this point still hadn’t made a solid after their first feature with Despicable Me in 2010) it’s no surprise that the film looked as bare-bones and predictable as you’d expect, with the advertisements showing the entire film despite the premise being about ”who would win the singing competition” because they know people didn’t care about what happen, but rather would sucker them in with popular music, and for the most part, it did work. In the anthropomorphic city of Calatonia, a struggling theatre owner named Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) is a koala with a lot of enthusiasm for his craft but doesn’t have the money required to draw people in anymore, with the threat of his family-owned building being foreclosed on very soon. Desperate for another success which could save his theatre, he throws a singing competition that draws the attention of several different animals who are going through their own life problems; an overworked housewife pig of 25 children named Rosita (voiced by Reese Witherspoon), a gorilla with aspirations to sing whose stuck being part of his father’s crime gang named Johnny (voiced by Taron Egerton), a smooth-taking street musician mouse named Mike (voiced by Seth McFarlane), a recently cheated-on teenage punk-rock porcupine named Ash(voiced by Scarlett Johansson), and a shy elephant teenager named Mina (voiced by Tori Kelly). After these five along with a passionate dancing pig named Gunther (voiced by Nick Kroll) are chosen to compete, they prepare to perform under the lie of a much bigger prize reward than was advertised (promising $1 million as opposed to what they actually have with $1 thousand) and maybe along the way, find a way to solve all their personal problems and keep Buster’s theatre open. The film doesn’t have very complex characters, a very basic cut and dry narrative, tons of pop songs and a lot of modern humor that usually fails in Illumination’s other movies, but for some reason, the film somehow manages to deliver a decent product. Doing decently from a critic standpoint and grossing $634 million worldwide, Sing has enough likeable basic characters, very impressive animation, a nice uplifting presence, and some fun musical numbers to make it, while nothing that will last the test of time, a simple charming film with enough passion, color, and hummable moments that will be able to attract families.

Even an animation company that usually doesn’t come up with the most original ideas for stories, this film has a pretty weak narrative with cliched characters, dilemmas, and conflicts all over the place with pretty much nothing new added to make it feel the least bit different. It feels like the film is aware of this fairly early on and knows to make it more about the characters moreso than anything else, which despite still being cliched, does lead the film to contain a decent sense of heart. It could very easily be pandering and manipulative considering the company creating it as well as the advertising behind the film, but despite an occasional stupid line or joke, it does feel decently sincere. The film goes at a nice pace and because of its simplicity, it’s almost impossible for it to waste time for very long without drawing back to something relevant. It probably didn’t need a running time of around 107 mins as you know everything that’s going to happen in this film the second it starts, but it’s not intrusive to the point of annoyance and it does keep focus as opposed to other Illumination film where the jokes and side characters can overtake a good chunk of what was set up as the main plot. The dilemmas all the characters face are pretty standard and when the film does try and sit itself down and discuss them like its real drama, it doesn’t really connect with how little the audience is invested, which also counts for the climax where all of it is miraculously resolved by a single performance, but for the most part, they are kept at a simple level and come from an emotional and even relatable place that can help people connect with them. The script is pretty generic and while not containing a lot of great funny moments, at least doesn’t feel like it’s painful to sit through and can occasional get a wholesome smile every once and a while. That’s honestly one of the best ways to describe this movie as, its wholesome and nothing groundbreaking, but has its heart in the right place. It has a lot of inspirational lines and moments where it trying to get across this hopeful spirit, and while that could easily be cheesy and forced, it’s done with enough care put into its pacing, writing and characters that it doesn’t come across like that, and it does lead to a decent feel-good experience.

These characters are very cookie cutter and feel like they’re banking on the voice actors drawing people in rather than writing them as actual three-dimensional people (or animals), but with that said, they work well enough in the movie. The motivation for each character is frequently stated for each character over and over again despite it being pretty clear what it is, but they do keep it consistent, and they are very understandable fears and turmoils that you could feel kids connecting with to some level. Much like with Despicable Me, the characters weren’t amazing, but were held up due to the heart that was at the centre of the film, and this one does kind of follow that track a little. The film does essentially have seven lead characters that it has to juggle between and because of this, some of them get less time to shine than the others and don’t come off as memorable like Seth MacFarlane as the mouse or Scarlett Johansson as the porcupine. Almost all the voice actors in the film do a pretty good job bringing an earnest likability to their roles, regardless of how small they are, and they make for decent faces to be with for the majority of the film. The biggest highlight and surprise of the film in terms of acting is Matthew McConaughey as Buster Moon. For one of his first voice acting outing and for someone who is pretty much known for playing into his created persona to the point of sometimes coming as hoaky, he is very likeable, has a lot of energy, and he handles both the comedy and the heartfelt stuff surprisingly well. He does act as the heart of the film as well as the main driving force behind the plot, and against all odd, he actually holds that position quite nicely. All the other actors feel incredibly comfortable in their parts and have real talent when it comes to their singing. The film was smart enough to know that this film needed not only good actors, but also good singers, so the film was very well casted. Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon, Seth McFarlane, Taron Egerton, these aren’t only names that adults could recognize and want to see, but people that fit nicely into the kid’s movie and animation space and all of them have great voices for singing, and bit parts like John C. Riley and Jennifer Saunders and even the director of the film Garth Jennings as the Moon’s female administration assistant,  do a good job bringing some levity in their bit roles.

The animation in this movie is unbelievable and makes the movie much more appealing than it normal would be. Illumination, even when they make bad movies, have always excelled at making their projects look great, but their style of animation is usually a lot smoother and much more cartoony than other animation companies, with a lot of large expressions and weird designs with slow human-like motions. This film however has a fair share of some standard cartoonish looking animals, but they have great expressions, amazingly vibrant colors, and some very impressive textures, particularly on the koala. The environment has a very California style to it being very colorful and beachy, but the buildings and architecture have a very realistic old fashion feel to them (which is fitting as it clearly seems to be based of the location with a named like Calatonia). Every pavement has cracks in it, every tree blows in the wind, most of the faces crease in time with their breathing, it’s remarkable and even for this company, stretches itself to new realms of visually impressive, particularly a scene where the theatre is flooding. Maybe it has something to do with the lighting or the mix of cartoonish animals in a very colorful semi-realistic settings that makes the visual have more of an impact than usual, but regardless, it leaves a very strong impression. The music is clearly the star of the film and why it was made, and though a juke box musical which are more often than not, not the easiest kind of musical to get through, this one actually handles it pretty well. Every song chosen has something tying back to the characters that sing them and their little mini arcs that is eventually overcome, which is a little forced and obvious come the conclusion, but for the kind of film it is, it works okay. The performances are very good, and they are properly built up throughout the film, as it knows that the final act needs to be the show-stopping portion of the film, and to its credit, it is where the best moments of the film occur.

Sing is a perfectly straightforward kids’ film that has some great acting and singing, pretty and impressive visual effect, and some hummable music. Though very basic and can easily fall into obscurity, the pros that it brings out are nice, enjoyable and make it one of the better films to come out of Illumination’s library. It’s a feel-good movie by every meaning: not something that requires that much thought or complexity, but enough entertainment and catchy beats that make up for the lack of anything special. Very simple, but overall, very endearing, and surprisingly motivating, Sing has the right beat for kids and enough to tolerate form the adults, a decent jam to get into.