SING REVIEW

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Illumination Entertainment previously released The Secret Life Of Pets last summer and, despite it being appealing to children and receiving over $875 million at the box office, I didn't think it was any special. Illumination are best known for releasing the hugely popular Despicable Me films and the Minions spin-off which were both successful in terms of animation, storytelling, characters and creating an engaging motion picture suitable for the whole family. This is Illumination's second original animated feature and is an improvement on The Secret Life Of Pets. 

Sing tells the story of Buster Moon (voice of Matthew McConaughey), a koala bear who is a theatre director who is determined to keep his theatre open and comes up with the idea of a singing competition. Unfortunately, he can only offer $1,000 in prize money but his clumsy assistant, Miss Crawley (Garth Jennings), accidentally makes a typo and prints out flyers that offer $100,000 for the prize. Unsurprisingly, this leads to hundreds of hopeful animals turning up, wanting to be in with a chance of winning that big prize money. The lucky finalists include: Rosita (Reese Witherspoon), a pig who is the mother to 25 piglets and is always busy looking after both her children and husband (Nick Offerman); Mike (Seth MacFarlane), a tiny mouse with a big voice; Ash (Scarlett Johansson), a porcupine who prefers rock'n'roll music than the pop songs that Moon offers her; Johhny (Taron Egerton), a teenage Cockney-accented gorilla who wants to sing, though his father wants him to follow his criminal footsteps; Meena (Tori Kelly), a talented elephant but struggles with shyness and stage fright and Gunter (Nick Kroll), a confident pig who isn't afraid to show off his dance moves and teams up with Rosita. All are very talented individuals but Moon is worried about the prize money.

Sing features a star-studded cast which was one of the first things that made me interested. This is McConaughey's second animated film (the first being Kubo and the Two Strings which was released last year). He makes Moon a determined and optimistic person and someone we root for. We want him to succeed but it's incredibly difficult as the bank are threatening to repossess his theatre. His Mud co-star, Witherspoon, is perfect as Rosita who is struggling mother and, at first, is unsure about being paired with Gunter. Fortunately, the two develop chemistry and provide one of the best renditions of Taylor Swift's number one song, Shake It Off, I've ever heard. MacFarlane's Ash is conceited and selfish and will do anything to win the prize money. He's not one of the most likable characters in this film but he does provide most of the film's comedy with his one liners and sounds a lot like Frank Sinatra when he sings. Johannson's Ash is a typical teenager who is heartbroken after splitting with her boyfriend (Beck Bennett) but is actually better off without him. Egerton's Johnny breaks the stereotype that all gangsters are meant to be tough and, despite the lack of support from his father, follows his dream. Kelly's Meena is like many singers who suffer from stage fright but with Moon's encouragement, she is able to beautifully carry out a tune. Kroll's Gunter provides most of the laughs with his impressive dance moves. All in all, this is a great cast and it's worth watching just for them.

Sing features a whole range of well-known, popular songs ranging from the 1940s to 2016. This is why it's perfect for the whole family, as I doubt young children will recognise any of the songs in this film. In a entertaining montage near the beginning of the film, we see animals performing renditions of songs including a bull that sings Crazy Town's 'Butterfly', a group of bunnies singing Nicki Minaj's 'Anaconda', a group of shrimps that perform the chorus of Beyonce's 'Crazy In Love' and Gunter's performance of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' adds to the humour. Unintentionally, Sing pays tribute to many iconic artists who passed away in 2016. David Bowie's collaboration with Queen, 'Under Pressure' is played during a montage; George Michael's 80s hit, 'Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)' is a ringtone and Meena does a beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'. Of course, this will go over children's heads but will cause many parents and adults to feel nostalgic. This is what I loved most about this film. There's a whole range of songs that feature in Sing. In one scene, Rosita dances in a shop to Gipsy King's 'Bamboleo' which adds to the humour. 

I also loved that the characters were so diverse. Every one has different backgrounds and Sing proves that no matter who you are, you still have the ability to do whatever you want to do. Johnny is part of a team of gangsters but he would rather sing and play the piano. Ash is a teenage girl but refuses to sing the pop songs Moon offers her and never changes her rock'n'roll style. 

Sing succeeds in being an engaging, feel-good animated feature that'll entertain the whole family and will, hopefully, encourage audiences to follow their dreams. I'm sure that there'll be at least one viewer who will be able to relate to being like Meena but watching her sing on the stage will motivate other talented singers to be more confident. 

No, the story isn't anything new, but that's not a bad thing. It's perfect for this kind of film and makes it suitable for family viewing. 

8/10