Sing 2
A menagerie of musical critters follows its dream to put on a show in Garth Jennings’ witty, resourceful animated sequel.
A spine-tingling Scarlett Johansson as Ash
What’s not to like? A hit parade of popular songs, a menagerie of colourful animals, a constant flow of visual ingenuity and a story of impossible odds – it’s a recipe that’s hard to resist. It’s the old ‘let’s put on a show’ formula, but with more obstacles than you’d find at a British prime minister’s Question Time. But more than anything else, the Sing films are about talent. However, as anybody in the entertainment industry will tell you, talent alone cannot guarantee you success. There’s already a lot of talent out there. You also need determination, self-belief, self-discipline, constant graft, innovation, an unbeatable spirit and a whole lotta luck.
In Sing (2016), an idealistic koala called Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) attempted to save his theatre by mounting a talent competition. He then became the unwitting saviour to a hotchpotch of damaged but highly musical creatures. Directed by the London-born Garth Jennings, the cartoon went on to gross $634.2 million worldwide and, knowing the animation studio Illumination Entertainment, a sequel was inevitable. Yet compared to the company’s less-than-inspiring Despicable Me films and animated The Grinch remake, it was the freshness and inventiveness of Sing that made it so appealing. It was a hard act to follow.
Buoyed by their initial success and currently playing packed-out houses with their Alice in Wonderland spectacular (at Buster’s own theatre), the gaggle of performers is now hoping for greater exposure. But when a talent scout – just one talent scout – deems that they are not good enough for the big time, Buster is inconsolable. Then a pep talk from the successful ovine singer Nana (Jennifer Saunders) turns his head. And so on a whim and a prayer, Buster and his troupe head to Redshore City, the Vegas-like entertainment capital of the world. Their subsequent audition in front of the talent mogul Jimmy Crystal (think Simon Cowell with fangs and fur), does not go well, though. However, when the ever-imaginative Gunter the pig suggests a sci-fi musical – or sky-fi musical – Crystal is roused to give them a shot, but only if they can persuade the leonine, famously reclusive rock star Clay Calloway (Bono) to appear in the show.
The scene in which an increasingly unimpressed Crystal rejects a string of amazingly talented contestants would make a classic animated short in its own right. In fact, Sing 2 is full of such comic invention, its cast of weird and wonderful anthropomorphic characters ripe for a series of spin-off films of their own. Once again, Taron Egerton returns to voice (and sing) the self-doubting gorilla Johnny, as does Reese Witherspoon as the equally timorous pig Rosita and Scarlett Johansson as the punk guitarist porcupine Ash, with a yearning to meet her idol, Clay Calloway. There is also nifty vocal support from Letitia Wright, Eric André and Garth Jennings himself (as an elderly, doughty female iguana) and a sublime soundtrack featuring the likes of Billie Eilish, Elton John and U2. And, being the last word in diversification, Sing 2 proves to be a crowd-pleasing singalong triumph.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Voices of Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Bobby Cannavale, Tori Kelly, Nick Kroll, Pharrell Williams, Halsey, Chelsea Peretti, Letitia Wright, Eric André, Adam Buxton, Garth Jennings, Peter Serafinowicz, Jennifer Saunders, Nick Offerman, Bono, Julia Davis, Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman, Fisher Stevens, Edgar Wright.
Dir Garth Jennings, Pro Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, Screenplay Garth Jennings, Ed Gregory Perler, Music Joby Talbot, Sound Josh Gold.
Illumination-United Artists.
110 mins. USA. 2021. US Rel: 22 December 2021. UK Rel: 28 January 2022. Cert. U.
