2022 Reviews – Sing 2

Let me round out the kids’ movies I missed at the start of the year with Sing 2. I think the first Sing movie was the last movie I saw in 2016 and I loved it so much, that it placed eighth on my list of Top Movies of the Year. It excelled in a word that I don’t use often enough in these reviews – cinematography. It was also a mature, well-thought-out script, which is especially commendable when we’ve seen that kids’ movies don’t always have to go that extra mile 🤏 I’ve been seeing Maccas toys for Sing 2 pop up in my bohemian travels, and I wonder if I should be nabbing a set for myself or letting them through to landfill – future decisions will hinge on how much I enjoy this movie, so let’s get crackin’!

The theatre is enjoying its most successful run since Buster Moon took over. During a modern interpretation of Alice in Wonderland, there’s a talent scout in the crowd, who, unfortunately leaves early and informs Moon that she believes this theatre’s troop doesn’t have what it takes to make it in Redshore City (a sort’ve pseudo Las Vegas). And you think that’s going to stop this stubborn koala from having a go?! With a bit of encouragement from sheep-investor Nana, Moon collects his loyal performers for a trip to Redshore City to force the issue. There’s Johnny the gorilla, Rosita the pig (and her dance partner Gunter), Meena the elephant, and Ash the porcupine, who has been off touring with her own music for quite some time. Extremely high expectations are quickly on show at these auditions, but Gunter blurts out an idea for a Space Musical that gets wolf-producer Jimmy Crystal’s attention. Moon also misfortunately promises that he can acquire recluse-lion-singer Clay Calloway out of retirement for the final act. Moon has his work cut out for him now, as does returning writer and director Garth Jennings with this grand sequel.

I love this world. I love the bright sunny cityscapes and the random animals that populate the streets as if they were people. It’s a feast for the eyes (!), and it seems there’s an active effort to animate more, and different animals, to show up in the background than the original had, which shows a compulsive care. From a technical standpoint, the progressive quality of animation continues to astound me – I found myself mesmerized by the detail in Calloway’s jacket and the brass on Crystal’s office door. Another great thing about Sing 2, and Sing before that, is the large soundtrack, that contains songs and repurposed song covers ranging genres from anywhere in the last 50 years. Some might say the Sing soundtracks ‘is like a box of chocolates’ – you never know what you’re going to get. The audition montage is hilarious again, just like in the first movie, but I think my biggest laugh came from iguana-assistant Mrs. Crawley bopping out to ‘Chop Suey’ by System of a Down on the drive to Calloway’s home 😂 Fun fact, Mrs. Crawley is also voiced by Garth Jennings himself, so 10/10 for ingratiating himself into the movie without it feeling overbearing 👌

But negatively, it seems Sing 2 has to take a wrench to the parameters of the first movie to ratchet up a second plot. In the first movie, our cast of colourful characters all auditioned for a singing competition, with a huge cash prize where most of them could’ve use the money. In Sing 2, it’s assumed that they all wanted to be actors too and carry on performing for Buster Moon. It took me a little while to come around to the fact that Moon would even be concerned with going to the big city (a bigger city, really), when he loves his little theatre so dearly, which was the driving force of the entire first movie, as it’s explained he dreamt of owning that theatre since he was a small boy. I find there’s a similar opacity between this movie’s plot, and perhaps that of Pitch Perfect 2, or Pitch Perfect 3, where finding a new story is to build bigger stakes when the original movies weren’t really about that – like many sequels are but try not to be, this feels like an afterthought. Eventually, I guess I can believe that Moon, long enough a hit in his own pond, would want the bigger fish to notice him, and Johnny and Meena didn’t have much going on in their home lives, and may want to pursue acting; Rosita needed another interest outside her duties too. It’s a bit harder to ascertain that the likes of Moon’s crew should be taken seriously as potential big stars though, after knowing in your bones in the last movie that they could damn-well sing, but perhaps I’m bigoted.

And the wolf-boss, tries to murder a guy… twice!! He tries to kill Moon over creative direction of a Broadway show 😱 I am shocked and appalled! It’s a pretty intense way for the movie to justify our heroes, you know, taking over this guy’s establishment to put on a free show as they like, but hey, singers gotta sing. But kids, if you do attempt to murder someone, then 5 police officers are going to arrest you and take you away to jail; I think it’s important to show that Crystal gets his comeuppance through the legal system, and I’m glad the movie agrees.

But even through these times where I may’ve felt the premise was a little contrived and disheveled, I had hope for the third act – the movie’s poster and trailer seemed to bank on it too. And, well-aligned with its predecessor again, Sing 2 delivers a knee-shaking, toe-tapping rollicking good time in its finale. These Sing movies sure know how capture that unashamed sentimentality of an Idol show, whilst weaving the narrative conclusions for our characters in with the final showstoppers. I really enjoyed how the movie is able to land a redeeming arc for the vain wolf Porsha – instead of her being an insensitive selfish jerk for the entire movie, she betters herself and becomes an asset to the show. The street-performing lynx, Nooshy, is a great new addition to the cast too, although we don’t see all that much of her; she’s cool and spunky. She helps out Johnny, and I’ve got to say, these movies really put Johnny through the ringer, ey? That gorilla just wanted to sing, but Johnny had to learn piano in the first movie, and now he has to know how to dance up sticks here… perfection is pain. Bono hit the jackpot, voicing a character whose entire catalogue is U2 songs – I wonder how that came to be? Was it Jenning’s idea, or Bono’s stipulation? But how cool must it have been to be rocking Ash, as not only does she get to sing with her idol, and also sooth him out of retirement? Scarlett Johannsen has got to play some pretty accomplished characters over the years – Black Widow probably still has Ash beat though, saving half of all lifeforms…

And where’s Mike?? Not even a cameo? He was a brash little mouse, but he was one of my favourites… Mike’s dead though, isn’t he? The Russian bears got him at the end of Sing? I’m sure of it.

3.0