Respond to these rapid questions in our Sing quiz and we will tell you which Sing character you are. Play it now.
Does it make you a bad person to fall in love with a soulful-eyed animated Cockney ape named Johnny, who has the physique of Dwayne Johnson and sings like a boy-band angel? If that’s the case, I don’t want to be proven correct. My shivers were triggered by his silky and all-too-brief rendition of Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me.”
That is not to say that my affection for this leather-jacketed gorilla of my dreams (voiced by British actor Taron Egerton of “Kingsman: The Secret Service” and “Eddie the Eagle”), just one of several standouts among the warbling menagerie that populates “Sing,” has completely blinded me to the fact that this jukebox musical barely has an original anthropomorphic bone in its fur-bearing body.
Don’t go into “Sing” expecting it to be some kind of cartoon answer to “La La Land,” with animal wise-crackers taking the place of snappy human toe tappers. Despite its similar heartfelt portrayal of the highs and lows of showbiz and sunny candy-hued cityscape, don’t go into “Sing” expecting it to be some kind of cartoon answer to “La La Land.” But, fortunately, its creators are well-versed in the art of fully exploiting the power of a memorable pop song. As the selections intelligently span the decades, there are more than 65 dynamite ditties, ranging from the Beatles and Irving Berlin to Beyonce and Carly Rae Jepsen, all of which are exploited to their full crowd-pleasing potential.
This story of a koala bear impresario (Matthew McConaughey, who does an excellent job of portraying this pint-size showman who is part huckster, part dreamer, and a little bit of the actor’s exuberant strip-club emcee from “Magic Mike”) who decides to give his run-down theater a boost by staging a talent contest is simply a way of cashing in on the continued popularity of reality
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Garth Jennings (live-action cult favorites “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” “Son of Rambow”), building on a concept conceived by Illumination CEO and founder Chris Meledandri (whose animation studio was also responsible for the summer hit “The Secret Life of Pets,” as well as the Minions phenomenon), draws on an even older tradition in his film. The “Hey, let’s put on a show” films from the 1930s and 1940 that starred a young Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney as they saved the day through song and dance. There’s a reason why the underdog formula is a tried and true one, and it mostly works in this case.
After Moon’s elderly assistant Miss Crawly (a crone-like stooped green lizard with a glass eyeball whose comical croak is provided by Jennings) makes the mistake of increasing the prize money on a flyer announcing the competition from $1,000 to $100,000, it turns out that there are plenty of amateur hopefuls looking for a break in “Sing,” whose balmy palm-tree-lined urban setting is never named.
Sing Quiz
The slew of would-be contestants who descended on the theater to audition ranged from a trio of bunnies who twerked their fuzzy behinds to the naughty “Anaconda” to a Teutonic pig who nailed “Bad Romance” in a tight gold-glitter jumpsuit to a trio of bunnies who twerked their fuzzy behinds to the naughty “Anaconda.” Eventually, Buster narrows the field down to five finalists, each of whom has an emotional back story to tell, just as they do on every other singing competition show on television.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Sing quiz.
The film’s main characters are Rosita, a porcine stay-at-home mom to 25 little piggies who has buried her inner diva under her domestic drudgery (Reese Witherspoon, dusting off the vocal skills that helped her win an Oscar for 2005’s “Walk the Line”); Johnny, who must balance his performing ambitions with his hoodlum father’s insistence that he mans the getaway car for a gang of robber
Jennings makes a wise decision by avoiding the overuse of pseudo-hip pop-culture gags, which can be a grating DreamWorks trait, as well as the insistence on giving characters a heroic arc, which is common in most Disney fare. As a substitute, he employs old-school Warner Brothers visual humor, such as the way Miss Crawly’s fake eye tends to pop out at inconvenient moments or Rosita’s ingenious DIY solution to her childcare dilemma. This includes a rooftop escape route that would make King Kong proud. He also knows how to stage the singing acts, complete with dramatic lighting and a variety of other special effects.
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But all of this is just a build-up to the 30-minute finale that serves as the show’s crowning achievement. A heavenly voice can be heard just as Buster’s plans are about to come crashing down in a sequence that rivals “The Poseidon Adventure.” When the contest is over, the focus shifts to simply celebrating and sharing one’s vocal abilities to bring joy to others through a full-blown concert, as these critters let loose to well-curated classics by artists such as Stevie Wonder and Elton John, while the audience cheers.
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Because the last time I heard audiences erupt in applause for an on-screen musical performance was Jennifer Hudson’s dynamic rendition of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” in “Dreamgirls,” it’s appropriate that she lends her glorious melodic tones to a regal grande dame sheep, a role she shares with Jennifer Saunders of TV’s “Absolutely Fabulous.” Don’t be surprised if the people in the seats next to you at “Sing” react in the same way to some of these show-stopping numbers.
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