I went to see this film at the Leeds/Bradford Odeon with my Mum.
IMDB says: In a city of humanoid animals, a hustling theatre impresario's attempt to save his theatre with a singing competition becomes grander than he anticipates even as its finalists' find that their lives will never be the same.
In this Christophe Lourdelet (Arthur Christmas, Balto) and Garth Jennings (Son of Rambow, Fantastic Mr. Fox) directed film, also written by Jennings, Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club, The Wolf of Wall Street) voices Buster Moon, a koala, who is the owner of a once grand theatre who decides to restore it to its former glory by running a singing competition. Thanks to a mix-up by his assistant Ms. Crawley (director and writer Garth Jennings) about the prize money, there are hundreds of potentials. Animals that come to audition for a part in his production/singing competition include Rosita (Reese Witherspoon: Walk the Line, Legally Blonde), a very busy mum to 25 piglets and wife to Norman (Nick Offerman: Fargo, Parks and Recreation), Johnny the gorilla (Taron Egerton: Kingsmen The Secret Service, Eddie the Eagle) who is reluctant to go into the family business of stealing (much to his father Big Daddy's - voiced by Peter Serafinawicz: Guardians of the Galaxy, Sean of the Dead - chagrin), punk rock duo porcupines Ash (Scarlett Johansson: Lost in Translation, Chef) and boyfriend Lance (Beck Bennet: The Late Bloomer, Saturday Night Live), Meena (Tori Kelly: VIP for a Day, The Voice) the shy elephant whose grandfather (Jay Pharaoh: Ride Along, Saturday Night Live) encourages her to enter the competition, Mike the mouse (Seth MacFarlane: A Million Ways to Die in the West, Ted) a greedy and selfish sax player and several others including a giraffe and a group of five Japanese red pandas. After choosing which singers he thinks will perform the best for his show, he convinces his best friend Eddie the sheep (John C. Reilly: Step Brothers, The Dictator), grandson of famous theatre singer Nana Noodleman (voiced by Jennifer Saunders: Absolutely Fabulous, Coraline, young Nana Jennifer Hudson: American Idol, Dreamgirls), who he hopes may help fund the future of his theatre by helping him with the prize money.
Paired up with another pig Gunter (Nick Kroll: Sausage Party, I Love You Man) a Lady GaGa wannabe, Rosita realises that her dance moves are not up to scratch, and worse than that, that no babysitting service wants to look after her 25 piglets whilst she chases her dream. Johnny has to negotiate a 'job' with his father's gang, Ash has to overcome her broken heart and Meena has to conquer her nerves. Is it all going to end in tears?
This is such a joyous little film, from the first song we knew that the singers were going to nail it and once you get your head around the premise of Glee for animals, all ages can settle down to enjoy a talented cast deliver the goods.
Due to a mix up, we had expected to see Passengers but as the only options for a replacement movie were 50 Shades (with my Mum, I think not) or XXX (not seen any of the previous films), we came to the film not sure what to expect. Because we were early, as we entered the theatre the credits were rolling and the previous audience leaving and a Mum with a young family came over to tell me that we were going to love the movie. She was not wrong.
It was a happy movie and just what I think people may need in these uncertain times. All of the songs are a great mix of modern and classic and the moral of the film, if there is such a thing, seems to be to always follow your dream. Again, a sentiment we can all use. All in all a modern feel-good fairy tale.
Tagline: Auditions begin 2016. 8.5/10
Trivia: The film features over 85 hit songs from the 1940s to 2016. This is Taron Egerton's first time working on an animated feature. Singing is something he loves and is highly skilled at. This is the first time that two Illumination films have released the same year. The Secret Life of Pets (2016) which released five months before Sing.
#Sing #MatthewMcConaughey #ScarlettJohansson #TaronEgerton #ReeseWitherspoon #Odeon
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