Sing: "Everyone In The City Gets A Shot At Being A Star, Live On My Stage"

Director: Garth Jennings
Writer:     Garth Jennings
Starring: Matthew McConaughey
                Reese Witherspoon
                Seth MacFarlane
                Scarlett Johansson
                John C. Reilly
                Taron Egerton
                Tori Kelly
                Nick Kroll
                Jennifer Saunders
                Jennifer Hudson
                Leslie Jones
                Nick Offerman
Rating:    ***

Release Date: 27 January, 2017

Animated movies can easily fall on the childish side, or be fairly boring and just rely on lots of colours and zany characters too keep their younger audience interested. They can also be full of wit, drama and of course have a sharp and interesting script. The latter happens when everyone is considered as a potential audience member. This film, Sing, falls somewhere in the middle of these two types of animated films. 

Tori Kelly & Matthew McConaughey

A film about a koala holding a talent competition in a city full of anthropomorphic animals to save his theatre, could easily become stale, repetitive and silly; and to a certain extent it does do that. But it has a stellar cast, and an entertaining soundtrack that is more than enough to pull it from the grasp of total disaster. 

Reese Witherspoon is a mumsy pig, and Matthew McConaughey a conning koala. Seth MacFarlane is an arrogant mouse and Scarlett Johnasson voices a rocker porcupine. The zany characters are out in full force. But rather than become one dimensional, they are multi-layered and endearing. Tori Kelly's stage fright suffering elephant is the perfect example of this.

The script is slightly less inspiring, relying on tried and tested plot lines and reliable, yet tired, jokes. To compare it to a Pixar film would be pointless because it doesn't come close to touching it, but that doesn't mean it is terrible.

Nick Kroll, Reese Witherspoon
& Scarlett Johansson

The animation is colourful and enjoyable, and the storyline itself is fairly fresh, maybe feeling old because of the various reality shows like it in the world. Its biggest saving grace is the soundtrack, jam packed with over 60 songs ranging from old classics to the most recent hits. The songs are full of energy, life and cheer; with the cast delivering impressive vocals to match the songs productions.

It is not a groundbreaking animation, and it isn't necessarily an entertaining piece for the whole family. What it does do though, is entertain the younger audience, and actually, that is clearly who this aimed at. They don't try and add in subtle comedy for the grown ups,it is is in your face and loud, and whilst many won't be a fan of that, I can bet the children in the cinemas will be.

Sing - Trailer