"Sing" has a great soundtrack, but a fairly generic story that's disjointed at times. Moana and Kubo and the Two Strings are better animated movies. Even Zootopia has a more creative story. Thematically, the movie relies on the standard, 'follow your dreams.' And while it's hard to criticize an animated movie that embraces such a kid-friendly idea, it feels shallow and left me wanting more. Most of "Sing's" creative energy is invested in the musical numbers and this is where it shines. Nearly all of the purported 80+ sings featured in "Sing" are pop hits of the past and present. There's only one new song: the Stevie Wonder/Ariana Grande duet, 'Faith' and Tori Kelly does a moving rendition of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah.' Other notable songs re-sung by members of the cast include Seth McFarlane's Sinatra trio ('My Way,' 'Come Fly with Me,' 'Fly Me to the Moon'); Reese Witherspoon doing Taylor Swift ('Shake it Off'), Katy Perry ('Firework') and Survivor ('Eye of the Tiger'); Matthew McConaughey's unusual rendition of 'Call Me Maybe'; Nick Kroll doing Gaga ('Bad Romance'); Taron Egerton crooning Sam Smith's 'Stay with Me' and Scarlett Johansson breaking loose with 'Set It All Free.'
The plot is fairly simple: koala Buster Moon (McConaughey), a theater owner on the brink of bankruptcy, comes up with a singing competition to bring in some funds. The finalists for the show include Mike (MacFarlane,) a sleazy mouse; Rosita (Witherspoon), a stay-at-home mom with two dozen piglets; Ash (Johansson), a punk rock porcupine; Johnny (Egerton), a gorilla with a bank robbing father; Meena (Kelly), a teenage elephant with acute stage fright and Gunter (Nick Kroll), a flamboyant pig. "Sing" is undeniably a crowd pleaser, but only for its soundtrack.
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