Plot: What’s it about?
Let me say that as a single man in his 30’s with no kids. There are just some movies I care nothing to see. That doesn’t mean they aren’t quality films or I won’t enjoy them if I sit down to watch them. It simply means they aren’t my cup of tea. In comes Sing, an admittedly fun and lighthearted animated film about a singing competition amongst animals. Being part of the site, you’re sometimes asked to review films that you’d otherwise bypass. It comes with the territory, so I try not to let it get me too down.
With a clear inspiration from TV shows such as American Idol and The Voice, Sing focuses on Buster Moon (Voiced by Matthew McCaughey) who runs a theater operating at a loss. He opens the story for us with a narration getting us up to speed. To try to raise some serious cash, Moon decides to hold a singing competition. The grand prize of the competition is $1000. Unfortunately, a typo by his assistant, adds two extra zeros, wrongfully promising $100,000 as the grand prize. Word eventually gets out and then we follow various characters as they audition. Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson and Seth McFarlane are just a few of the celebrities who lend their voices here. Remember, they’re all voicing animals here. Expect lots and lots of music and singing, but there are also a few low brow cheap gags that I wish was avoided. I never understand the effort to resort to toilet humor when it’s not needed.
Ultimately, Sing was an admirable flick, but still didn’t do much for me. There are far better recent efforts than this one. I do admire a fairly harmless animated outing such as this, but it didn’t leave me with much. I didn’t care to sing along and the characters didn’t really stand out in any particular way. Not all of Disney’s latest efforts have been top notch, but I’ll take most of them over this any day. Credit must be given to the animation and the voice work, but outside of that, I took away little else.
Video: How’s it look?
The 1.85:1 image is quite pleasing to the eyes, to say the least. There’s really not much I can fault with the results here. Colors are bright and bold and really pop. There’s just a general clean look to the whole feature. Fans will enjoy the results here.
Audio: How’s it sound?
We get a Dolby Atmos track, down converted to Dolby True HD, the results were also pleasing. This is what we should expect from a feature involving singing. Vocals really come through with a crisp sound to them and free of distortion. The rear channels kick in constantly, to help create a strong sense of atmosphere as well. All things told, I can’t find much to fault here. Fans should enjoy this track as well.
Supplements: What are the extras?
There are two sections on the main screen: Bonus and Mini-Movies. Below the special features are broken out into this respective sections.
Bonus:
- The Making of Sing – As the title suggests, this is a pretty broad overview of the entire project from the basis of the film, the animals, the vocal actors and the animation process as a whole.
- Finding the Rhythm: Editing Sing – Pretty much the same – how the film was edited to make it more attractive to audiences and the saying “what to add in, rather than what to take out.”
- Character Profiles – We get some profiles on the main characters as well as their human counterparts (vocal actors).
- Matthew McConaughey (Buster Moon)
- Reese Witherspoon (Rosita)
- Tori Kelly (Meena)
- Taron Egerton (Johnny)
- Nick Kroll (Gunter)
- Garth Jennings (Miss Crawly)
- Music Video – “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing.”
- Making a Music Video with Tori Kelly – Basically a behind the scenes with Tori Kelly regarding the above music video.
- Music Video – “Faith.”
- Lyric Video – “Faith.” Same as above, only this time with words!
- Lyric Video – “Set It All Free” More words.
- Sing & Dance! – “Faith” – We get a crash course in how to dance to this song. But if you’re male and white (like me), it won’t compute.
- The Sing Network – A collection of ads seen (sort of) in the film. Also included are five character profiles from the movie:
- Gunter’s Dance Studio
- The Moon Theater
- Rosita’s Babysitting Gizmo
- Miss Crawly’s Matchmaking Service
- In the News – Features some profiles on Buster Moon, Gunter, Rosita, Johnny, Meena, Ash, and Mike.
- The Best of Gunter – A montage featuring Nick Kroll’s character.
Mini-Movies:
- Gunter Babysits – Gunter looks after Rosita’s kids. Things don’t go according to plan.
- Love at First Sight – Match.com Miss Crawley style!
- Eddie’s Life Coach – Eddie is forced to use a product via a television ad.
- The Making of the Mini-Movies – When you’ve got time and money to burn, you make mini-movies. And when you’ve got more, you make “making” of mini-movies.
The Bottom Line
With its heart in the right place and delivering on the basic premise, Sing should please its intended audience. I admit it did little for me, but I didn’t expect it to. It’s strictly for the youngsters, and they should eat it up. So for the intended audience, Sing comes recommended.
