Tropic Sprockets / Sing

By Ian Brockway

If you ever were curious about animals in a singing competition, “Sing” an animated film by director Garth Jennings (Son of Rambow) answers the question.

Say what you will about the film. This is “American Idol” meets “The Secret Life of Pets”, silly and cute. Though it spends a long time with several back stories: a koala bear, Buster (Matthew McConaughey) obsesses about his theater-driven father, a homemaker pig, Rosita (Reese Witherspoon) dreams of stardom, a shy elephant, Meena  (Tori Kelly) wants to perform and a teen ape, Johnny (Taron Egerton) with a criminal father, wishes to be accepted professionally.

Though these micro-tales are initally fun, the sheer detail involved in telling their star-struck aspirations bog the story down by a hair. The variety of the animals here outnumber “The Muppet Show”. Still there are flashes of great fun. And who can argue with a white mouse hitting a jazz sax  Seth MacFarlane) or Ash, a punk rock porcupine (Scarlett Johansson)?

Great credit should be given to the actors who transform these animal characters into actual creatures with human hopes and dreams, befitting a live-action film.

There is poignance too. The Moon Theater is in disrepair and Buster wants to restore it to its former glory in defiance of commercialism. Every lover of old Hollywood playhouses and theaters will be able to empathize and relate.

If one is still on the fence, the last third of the film will thrill in its very eye-poppable energy and good spirit. The music and color is vivacious, exuberant and adult. Ultimately the treat of “Sing” is that it takes shape as nothing short of a wildlife Woodstock, and it may well have the young and old dancing in the aisles as these comical creatures soar with mayhem and maturity.

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