Sing (2016 film)

Sing

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Garth Jennings
Produced by
Written by Garth Jennings
Starring
Music by Joby Talbot
Edited by Gregory Perler[1]
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • September 11, 2016 (2016-09-11) (TIFF)
  • December 21, 2016 (2016-12-21) (United States)
Running time
 110 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $75 million[2]

Sing is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment.[3] It was directed and written by Garth Jennings and co-directed by Christophe Lourdelet.[1] The film stars the voices of Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Tori Kelly, Taron Egerton, and Nick Kroll.

The film has more than 85 classic songs from famous artists and also has an original song by Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande called "Faith".[4] It premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2016[5] and will be released by Universal Pictures on December 21, 2016.

Plot

In a world of anthropomorphic animals, optimistic koala Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) is owner of a music theater, having been interested in show-business ever since his father took him to his first music show when he was a child. His assistant is a slightly senile green iguana named Ms. Karen Crawley (Garth Jennings), who has a glass eye (which is removable from her face). Lately, Buster's theater is in financial trouble, due to showing productions that have bombed and his theater is in danger of closing down. Buster tells his friend Eddie Noodleman the (John C. Reilly), that he will try and save his theater from closing down by hosting a singing competition, with the prize being $1,000 dollars, despite having only random stuff in his briefcase.

Buster isn't the only one in a crisis, as other animals in the city have issues of their own. Rosita (Reese Witherspoon) is a talented singer, but has given up her dreams as a singer to raise 25 unruly children and she is constantly neglected by her workaholic husband, Norman (Nick Offerman). Meena (Tori Kelly) has a great singing voice, but has severe stage fright, causing her pushy grandfather (Jay Pharoah) to pressure her to face her fear. Mike (Seth MacFarlane) is a street musician as he plays the saxaphone but doesn't make easy money, prompting him to threaten people who give him cheap profits. Johnny (Taron Egerton) is the son of gorilla mobster Big Daddy (Peter Serafinowicz) who wants him to follow in his criminal footsteps, but Johnny aspires to be a singer. Ppunk-rocker Ash (Scarlett Johansson) is in a band with her boyfriend Lance (Beck Bennett) who is critical about her rocking style.

While printing fliers for the show, Ms. Crawley's glass eye causes her to accidentally imprint $100,000 on the fliers she makes for the competition. Before the fliers can be put all over town, they are accidentally blown out of Buster's office and they make it to Johnny, Meena, Ash, Rosita, and Mike. After holding auditions, Buster picks Mike, Johnny, Rosita, Ash, and some other animals to be in the contest. During Meena's audition, her stage fright causes her to bomb, Lance is dismissed from the contest when he auditions with Ash, and Rosita is partnered with another pig contestant named Gunther (Nick Kroll) to be in a dancing routine. Soon enough, Buster discovers Ms. Crawley's mistake when Eddie shows him the flier, but instead of telling the contestants of the mistake and of the true prize of $1,000, he tries to get enough money for the promised reward.

Convinced by her grandfather, Meena tries to get Buster to give her another audition, but due to some technical difficulties, she is hired as a stage hand instead. After some of the animals quit, Rosita, Mike, Johnny, Gunther, Ash, and (soon enough) Meena are the only ones left in the show but soon their individual problem (with Rosita failing to do the dance routine with the glory hog Gunther, Ash soon suffering from immense heartbreak when Lance cheats on her, Johnny inadvertently letting his dad be arrested during a heist in the shipping lanes, Meena's stage fright, and Mike owing money to a mob of bears when he cheats in a card game) begin to hinder with rehearsals. Buster visits Eddie to convince him to get his snobbish grandmother Nana Noodleman (Jennifer Saunders) to host the reward money for the show. When they visit Nana, she accepts their offer, but in a snobbish manner. On the day Nana Noodleman comes, the bear mob who Mike earns the ire from come and demand the money from Buster, but his suitcase is full of junk, leading the others to turn on Buster for his deception. Before Buster could meet anybody's wrath, a glass tank full of squids he got breaks and floods the theater, evicting everyone from it. After Nana leaves in a huff, the theater literately come crashing down.

Homeless, Buster takes up residence at Eddie's house. News of what transpired at the theater hits the news and Buster is soon ridiculed by what has happened, diminishing his confidence. When the contestants visit him, they try to cheer him up. Buster becomes to despondent to listen to them, so they leave. When Buster tries to get by by opening a car wash (using the same bucket that his dad used to pay for Buster's theater), Eddie is unwilling to see Buster so miserable and tells Buster what he told him before "Once you hit rock bottom, there's no where else to go but up."

After hearing Meena sing in the remains of the theater, Buster's confidence is re-newed and reinstates the show in the remains of the theater, leading to everyone in (including Rostia and Meena's family) to come. Mike bails out when he learns that the prize money is omitted, but soon returns to show his stuff. Throughout their acts, Johnny, Rosita, Ash, and Meena amaze their families (with Big Baddy breaking out of jail to see Johnny and Lance soon getting a crush on Ash again after seeing her on tv). The show becomes a success and Buster gains the money to rebuild the theater.

Cast

Directors Edgar Wright, Wes Anderson and Chris Renaud appear in voice cameos.[12]

Production

In January 2014, it was announced that Garth Jennings would write and direct an animated comedy film for Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment about "courage, competition and carrying a tune,"[13] which was originally titled Lunch,[14] and then retitled as Sing.[6]

On January 14, 2015, Matthew McConaughey was added to the cast to voice the lead role in the film.[3] Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy would be producers on the film.[3] On June 17, 2015, it was confirmed that McConaughey voiced Buster and John C. Reilly voiced Eddie, a black sheep and Buster's best friend, while Jennings was directing the film based on his own script.[7] In November 2015, it was announced that Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, Tori Kelly, and Taron Egerton joined the cast for the film.[6]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album for the film will be released on December 21, 2016.

Release

Sing premiered as a special presentation on September 11, 2016, at the Toronto International Film Festival.[5] Universal Studios scheduled the film for a December 21, 2016 release.[15]

Critical response

On the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 73%, based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10.[16] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[17]

From the Toronto International Film Festival, Stefan Pape, of the British website HeyUGuys, gave the film a mixed review of 2/5, stating that "Garth Jennings's Sing effectively acknowledges early on that it's following a completely unoriginal formula, and yet carries on regardless".[18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Felperin, Leslie (September 11, 2016). "'Sing': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Sing (2016)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Kit, Borys (January 14, 2015). "Matthew McConaughey to Star in Illumination Animated Film (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  4. ↑ Sadlier, Allison (September 9, 2016). "Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande collaborate on track for Sing movie". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  5. 1 2 Hammond, Pete (August 23, 2016). "Universal & Illumination To Launch 'Sing' With Live Jennifer Hudson And Tori Kelly Performances At Toronto". Deadline. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Truitt, Brian (November 10, 2015). "Sneak peek: A-list animals 'SING' together". USA Today. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Hopewell, John (June 17, 2015). "Annecy: Chris Meledandri on Matthew McConaughey as a Koala Legit Theater Owner, 'The Grinch'". Variety. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  8. ↑ Yuen, Jenny (September 11, 2016). "TIFF 2016: Matthew McConaughey optimistic about 'Sing'". Toronto Sun. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Trumbore, Dave (November 11, 2015). "Meet the Animated Animals of Illumination Entertainment's 2016 Musical Comedy, 'Sing'". Collider. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  10. ↑ Buxton, Adam (April 14, 2016). "EP.16 - Pub Walk With Garth Jennings". soundcloud.com. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Sing - Full Cast and Credits". Hollywood.com. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  12. ↑ Goldberg, Matt (October 26, 2016). "Directors Wes Anderson, Edgar Wright, and Chris Renaud Provided Their Voices for 'Sing'". Collider. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  13. ↑ "'Despicable Me 3′ Set For June 2017 Release; 'Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas' Arrives Five Months Later". Deadline. January 15, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  14. ↑ Hopewell, John (January 8, 2014). "France Fights Bidding War to Lure Hollywood Filmmakers". Variety. Retrieved January 9, 2014. Universal now has “Max” and “Lunch” set up at Illumination MacGuff.
  15. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (January 15, 2014). "Universal Dates 'Despicable Me 3,' New 'Grinch Who Stole Christmas'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Sing (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Sing reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  18. ↑ "TIFF 2016: Sing Review - HeyUGuys". Retrieved September 21, 2016.

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