Fart jokes, fat shaming, cliched characters and plots. In an age when animation is featured in some of the most innovative films being made (Kubo and the Two Strings, Inside Out, Zootopia) predictable, pedantic story telling is a disappointment. But this is about the music. This is a film about how music and theatre inspires our dreams. How does it do on that front?
Well... the music is one of the most disappointing aspects of the film. It's not just that I found the excessive use of recent pop songs to be frustrating (it dates the film in a way that will not help it's legacy) it's that they barely let any of the songs play out. The film takes the approach that "more is more." Let's pack as many top 40 hits into this as we can in the hopes that will make the crowds love us!! So we hear a little but of that, a little bit of this. The film never lets us connect to the music. Movies where music is an essential element tend to the story tend to repeat themes, embedding the melodies into our hearts, connecting the music to the story. Sing doesn't bother with this. It just throws as many songs clips as possible at us and when it does feature a couple songs near they end they are forgettably bland. Sing commits the worst crime a musical can, it leaves you not wanting to hum the songs as you leave.
Don't let me spoil it for you but the estranged son and father reconnect (despite the film not giving them any honest feeling reason to), the neglectful husband (and another neglectful boyfriend) finally see the worth in their wife/girlfriend when they sing, and the the shy girl finds her groove when she gets on stage. I know. Shocking right? For folks who like their entertainment blandly safe and predictable Sing is your thing.
It just really, really isn't for me.
Sing
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Matthew McConaughey, Scarlett Johansson, Seth McFarland, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, John C. Reilly
Director: Garth Jennings
Writer: Garth Jennings
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