SING 2:
SECOND VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Buster Moon and friends are back for another spectacular show in Sing 2, the latest animated feature from Illumination and follow-up to the 2016 film, Sing. I remembered seeing the first film in theaters around Christmas 2016 and thought it was a perfectly decent movie for kids with a lot of fun songs and charming characters while also working in some genuinely heartfelt moments, though I hadn’t touched that film ever since despite owning the Blu-Ray.
I did revisit the first film again last night prior to watching this one and…my thoughts remain the same. I still think it’s a fine choice for kids and families, personally I can only listen to Firework, Call Me Maybe, and Haters Gonna Hate so much before my brain explodes into mush.
Anyway, in the tradition of making sequels and franchises out of Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets, and Minions (The latter of which comes out next summer!), it was only a matter of time before those lovable and furry animals from Sing would give their big encore show. While the idea of giving Sing a sequel didn’t bother me, the advertising certainly did, I got this trailer before so many movies this year (Mostly before family movies, but I also saw the Sing 2 trailer before films like F9, Free Guy, Eternals, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife which felt very out of place!) and constantly hearing Nothing’s Holding Me Back or that dreadful “What do you want with me?” song, My God that trailer got on my nerves with its choices of songs…second trailer was okay though!
Despite all that, I pretty much came into this movie with no expectations whatsoever, I mean, it’s a sequel to Sing, I can’t really picture anyone having high or low expectations when watching it. After seeing it…yeah, it pretty much gives what it promises, a nice, wholesome animated film with a lot of popular songs, familiar characters and equally familiar plot, and their show-stopping performance that pretty much overshadows the rest of the movie.
The film follows ever-optimistic koala, Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey-Dazed and Confused, A Time to Kill, Interstellar) and his all-star cast performing a live show at the New Moon Theater, but when a talent scout (voiced by Chelsea Peretti-Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation, Saturday Night Live) tells him that they aren’t good enough for the big league, Buster rounds up his crew for a road trip to the big city and put together their greatest extravaganza yet. And what is their greatest extravaganza you may ask? A completely bonkers space show with Rosita (voiced by Reese Witherspoon-Election, Legally Blonde 1 and 2, Wild) hanging on a wire and flying, Johnny (voiced by Taron Egerton-Kingsman franchise, Eddie the Eagle, Rocketman) learning how to dance-fight, Meena (voiced by Tori Kelly) falling in love with a male elephant who works as an ice cream vendor named Alfonso (voiced by Pharrell Williams), and Ash (voiced by Scarlett Johansson-Lost in Translation, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Her) trying to find and convince the world’s most reclusive rock star, Clay Calloway (voiced by Bono) to join their show while also outsmarting a ruthless record producer and media mogul (voiced by Bobby Cannavale-Will & Grace, Ant-Man, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) who would do anything to drop the curtain on them…and even drop Buster off a building (Yeah, this movie gets pretty crazy)!
The film also features the voices of Nick Kroll (Kroll Show, Sausage Party, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie) as Gunter, Garth Jennings (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Secret Life of Pets 2) as Miss Crawly, Halsey as Porsha, Letitia Wright (Doctor Who, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Death on the Nile) as Nooshy, Eric André (The Eric Andre Show, The Lion King (2019), The Mitchells VS the Machines) as Darius, Adam Buxton (The Adam and Joe Show, Hot Fuzz, Stardust) as Klaus Kickenklober, Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Shaun of the Dead, Guardians of the Galaxy) as Big Daddy, Jennifer Saunders (Shrek 2, Coraline, Minions) as Nana Noodleman, Nick Offerman (Gravity Falls, The Lego Movie 1 and 2, Hotel Transylvania 2) as Norman, and Julia Davis (Love Actually, Phantom Thread, Fighting with My Family) as Linda Le Bon.
Overall, Sing 2 doesn’t really do anything new with the formula, but fans of its predecessor and those looking for a cute little movie with talking animals and pop songs will likely get their fill. The plot is very standard and predictable (Misfit performers VS big bad corporation) and relies on a lot of musical genre tropes and clichés, but there’s still a hefty amount of visual imagination, humor, and very heartfelt moments to balance everything out.
It really is the movie equivalent to an encore showing where it’s like “Hey, did you like what you saw the first time around? Here it is again for round 2!” It doesn’t even try to be deep and meaningful and is more like an excuse to just have some fun and sing cheesy pop songs, but still with a very likable charm.
The climax on the other hand feels like a completely different movie altogether and I’m not just talking about the show (Which is spectacular and has some of Illumination’s best animation), but also the evil record producer pretty much trying to murder Buster Moon which is so completely insane and strange that you have to see it to believe it (Almost like a so bad it’s good movie just got stitched into this mostly harmless kids’ movie).
Aside from its wild final act, this film does mostly what worked in the first one, which isn’t a bad thing necessarily. It’s a familiar musical comedy film but is also sweet and wholesome enough in its familiarity to warrant a watch.
If that’s the show for you then grab your ticket, sit down, and enjoy some manufactured but charming fluff. However, if you’re looking for a musical with brilliant songs, likable characters, and very bold storytelling that’s really going to change your life, then I’d suggest watching Disney’s Encanto instead.
From the blog www.moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com
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