Item: Sing
Rating: 7.9
Author: NextFlicks

The animated kids movie, Sing is a delightful and heartwarming movie about the adventures of a group of talent show contests who must overcome personal obstacles to realise their dreams. A sweet and lovely film that is perfect for all the family.

Who knew that a computer-animated movie could generate such love from fans, not to mind $634 million worldwide at the box office? But that's exactly what Sing, from director Garth Jennings, did in 2016.

Produced by Illumination Entertainment, the people that brought you Despicable Me, Sing stars a solid voice cast from Hollywood A-Listers, including Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane and Scarlett Johansson.

What Is The Sing Movie About?

Based on an extremely enthusiastic pig called Rosita, the animated movie Sing focuses on an ensemble cast preparing for a talent show. They mistakenly believe they are competing for a vast amount of money in this surprisingly lovely film that has tons of heart.

When you have a large number of characters and a somewhat generic framing device (singing competition), the movie lives or dies by how successfully you can invest in each character's journey.

For the most part, Sing does this well. Rosita (Reese Witherspoon, Home Again) is a stay-at-home mom who wants to break free of the routine.

Ash (Scarlett Johansson) is every talented woman who is kept under the thumb by an arrogant and sexist man.

Meena is a big elephant girl who is painfully shy and suffers from stage fright. And in typical ‘X-Factor' style, has the most angelic voice by far.

Sing Official Trailer

In particular, there are strong emotional hooks from big ape Johnny's relationship with his father. Johnny's family are criminals and expect him to follow in their footsteps. His passion is music but his fear of letting down his father is done with just the right amount of both bite and love.

In fact, the prison scene in which this comes to a head has caused my lip to wobble on every viewing so far!

Similarly, ringmaster Buster's (McConaughey) motivation is to do justice to the dream that his father had. He just wants to make the historic theatre venue a modern success.

Is Sing Worth Watching?

Koala Buster Moon is the core of the story. As the linchpin of a talent-based movie, he is wisely pitched just right. He isn't a Simon Cowell ‘mean' type. Despite the lie, he is a permanent optimist who genuinely encourages the best out of everyone. However, one very sharp piece of grit in this otherwise lovely movie is that of Mike, played by Seth McFarlane.

Mike stands out as a character with no characterisation whatsoever. He serves only as a vehicle for insult-based humour that stands out like a sore thumb. He doesn't learn. And the movie never brings him to task.

So Mike's constant fat shaming, verbal and physical threats, and treatment of women as disposable adornments is left unchallenged. It's like someone wanted a slice of that Seth McFarlane pie and just squashed it into a movie where it didn't belong.

This grating misstep aside, Sing takes a well-worn framing device, some relatable characters and uses the power of music, combined with genuine reliability to shine the whole thing up delightfully.

It is cheerfully undemanding entertainment, and you'll finish the movie with a smile and want to be the best version of yourself. The way that the world is going, a message of self-empowerment is a very welcome thing.

Words by Michael Record