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Sing 2
2021
Action / Adventure / Animation / Comedy
Synopsis
With his theatrical company a local success, Buster Moon is dreaming of bigger things. Unfortunately, when a talent scout dismisses their work as inadequate for the big time, Buster is driven to prove her wrong. With that goal in mind, Buster inspires his players to gamble everything to sneak into a talent audition in Redshore City for the demanding entertainment mogul Jimmy Crystal. Against the odds, they catch his interest with some frantic creative improvisation and even more desperate lies like personally knowing the reclusive rock star, Clay Calloway, who has not been seen in 15 years. Now faced with a tight production window with only a vague story idea and dire consequences for failure, Buster and his friends must all stretch their talents put on a show against all odds. In that struggle, the gang’s challenges seem insurmountable, but each of them finds new inspirations and friends where they least expect them to pursue an artistic dream worthy of them. —Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol1970@gmail.com)
Movie Reviews
Fun for the kids, because it is a happy go lucky animation. But fun for grown ups as well, because of the many great songs…
Broke My Movie Slump
I don’t know why, but I liked “Sing 2” even more than “Sing.” The musical numbers, again, were fantastic and the plot was wonderful. All of the characters are easy to like and the music works with the flow of the movie as well as the feel of the movie. Even though the plot is very similar to part one, enough elements were different to make it fresh and thoroughly enjoyable.
yellow brick road
Most of the rest of the movie involves: Buster dodging threats from evil tycoon Mr. Crystal (Bobby Cannavale). Crystal is a wolf (of course) and is a powerful presence in a Las Vegas-style city built for entertainment. The other key element here is Buster’s promise to Crystal to deliver Clay Callaway (U2’s Bono) to the new production. Callaway, a lion, has been a reclusive rock star ever since a personal tragedy robbed him of his desire to participate in society. The bonding between Ash and Callaway is probably the best part of the story, and this occurs after Ash (Ms. Johansson) makes her point about equal pay (imitating real life) just after jamming to a Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs’ song.
In a move that makes little sense, Mr. Jennings has crafted a more complex story than what we saw in the first movie. This one will be difficult for many kids to follow, and involves the power and ego of Crystal, as well as nepotism with his entitled daughter (voiced beautifully by Halsey). But why complicate something that doesn’t need to be more complicated? Most kids just want to watch the animals on stage, singing and dancing and doing goofy things. The sci-fi stage production “Out of this World” finds Meena teamed with a preening partner voiced by Eric Andre, while she dreams of connecting with the ice cream elephant voiced by Pharell Williams. Ash and Callaway are at the climax of the show with a version of Bono’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. Also included are many familiar tunes by such artists as Taylor Swift, Shawn Mendes, Billie Eilish, and The Weeknd. Many life lessons are served up here, including the importance of following your dream, but at one hour and fifty-two minutes, it’s easily 20 to 25 minutes longer than most kids will likely sit. While we can admire Mr. Jennings’ desire to deliver a sequel with value, we do question the wisdom in revising the template.
Opens in theaters on December 22, 2021.
