Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, John C. Reilly, Nick Kroll, Taron Egerton
Directed by: Garth Jennings
PG
In theaters December 21, 2016
In Sing, writer/director Garth Jennings’ first time directing an animated film, the animal characters who play starring roles have crazily human characteristics. That’s just one thing that makes the movie, from the creators of the Despicable Me films, worth seeing.
The thing about Sing is that it’s both feel-good and plot-twisty. It tells a funny-but-sad story about a struggling theater and the five American Idol-like finalists of animal performers (an elephant, gorilla, mouse, pig and porcupine), who set out to save it.
Moviegoers get to see how rocky a career in the theater business can be as the story is mostly told by Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey), the koala bear owner of the Moon Theater, who manages to balance the havoc of losing what he loves most and learning to be a better friend too.
Moon isn’t the only character who held my interest. A long list of big-name actors, from Scarlett Johansson to Seth MacFarlane, voiced the roles of some of the other animals and there was a lot of drama in the lives of these performers, including extreme stage fright, a break-up and a pig named Rosita (voiced by Reese Witherspoon), who juggles being a crazy-busy mom to 25 piglets with a dream of performing on stage. I think some of Rosita’s scenes are the best and funniest of the whole movie.
And then there’s the music itself: There are 65 songs in the nearly two-hour movie and there are tunes my parents love (like songs by Elton John and The Beatles) and songs by Carly Rae Jepsen and Katy Perry for me or any other tween to sing along to. It was fun watching parents relating to their kids over the soundtrack—lots of people were dancing in their seats!
As holiday flicks go, there’s as much silliness in the film as there is heart and special effects. Any kid who has ever dreamed of performing in front of the big lights will love this movie too. Best of all: I think this film is a ray of sunshine amidst the grimness in the world right now.
Cub reporter Zachary Kaplan is a seventh grader in New York City.
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