SING 2

 *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Illumination Entertainment are known for their animated features including the Despicable Me trilogy, The Secret Life Of Pets and its sequel and adapting two of Dr. Seuss’ children’s books, The Lorax and The Grinch, into two feature films. However, in 2016, they found success with Sing, which featured an all star cast and provided audiences with entertainment through lively animation and catchy pop tunes. It was received well by critics, who praised the colourful animation, and even more so by audiences, making over $634 million at the box office. This lead to a sequel being released five years later, however, does it meet the quality of its predecessor?

The sequel sees the return of most of the characters from the first film, including the optimistic koala and owner of the New Moon theatre, Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey), and his talented performers, hard working and motherly Rosita (Reese Witherspoon), the eccentric Gunter (Nick Kroll), talented gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton), rock’n’roll hedgehog Ash (Scarlett Johansson) and shy elephant Meena (Tori Kelly). Although Moon has found success with his show at his theatre, he dreams of putting on a show in Redshore City but fail to impress entertainment mogul Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale), however, he changes his mind when Moon suggests that they get legendary musician, Clay Calloway (Bono), to perform in the show. The main problem is that Calloway has become a recluse following his wife’s death. The drama increases as times runs out for Moon to put on an extravagant show. 

A lot of sequels are disappointments and fail to match the quality of its predecessor as they repeat the same story, leading to a dull and boring watch. Fortunately, that’s not the case with Sing 2 which is just as entertaining as it’s predecessor. Although the story is predictable, the bright and vibrant animation and the catchy pop songs more than make up for this flaw. Those who liked the first film will almost certainly enjoy what director Garth Jennings has created with his follow up as it provides viewers with more of the same and will definitely keep younger viewers entertained throughout its 100 minute runtime.

There are two types of animated films: those that are simply made for children and those that appeal to a wider audience by telling a meaningful and thematic story. Sing 2 undoubtedly belongs in the former category as it’s obviously been created with children as its target audience, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean that parents will be bored by this sequel. The story is easy to follow and moves at a brisk pace with hardly a dull moment to be found in its 100 minute runtime. Younger viewers will have fun watching the anthropomorphic characters preparing for the climatic big show, whereas older viewers will be entertained by recognising the many pop songs and the famous voice cast.

At the time of writing this review, Sing 2 already knocked the highly successful Spider-Man: No Way Home off the top spot at the box office within just a few days of its release in the United Kingdom. The weekend saw cinemas across the county packed full of families watching this fun follow up to the 2016 film. Currently, the only family friendly films that are available to watch are Disney’s latest animated film, Encanto, and Clifford the Big Red Dog, so I can understand why so many parents took their children to watch Sing 2. 

It’s almost hard to believe that it’s been two years since cinemas were forced to close when the UK went into a lockdown following the pandemic. Fortunately, since they’ve reopened in May last year, audiences have finally felt safe at returning to the cinema. Sing 2 is a great film to watch on the big screen as it provides 100 minutes of escapism through its bright and colourful animation and entertaining pop songs.

7/10