Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the writer’s room for Sing 2 when it was decided that the best way to follow-up that 2016 hit film was to have the cast get into a bus and hit the road. Smart move as it shakes things up for characters, we think we know, when in fact when they’re fish out of water—hilarity will surely ensue.
Matthew McConaughey returns as our ringmaster, aka the theater’s artistic director Buster Moon. The marsupial captured our collective hearts in the first film with his unmatched hustle and joie de vivre. Those aspects, combined with his unbridled belief that he was meant for greatness and to lift those around him up as well, made Buster one bodaciously impressive character.
Joining him from the first film is Scarlett Johansson’s rocker Ash, Reese Witherspoon’s singing mama pig Rosita, Taron Egerton is back as the rocking gorilla Johnny and comedian Nick Kroll returns as the flamboyant equine singer/dancer, Gunter. Joining the cast is U2 lead singer Bono, who portrays a legendary singer named Clay Calloway, and Bobby Cannavale’s casino owner Mr. Crystal—who’s kind of a bit gangster.
This time out, Moon has orchestrated a production using his favorite singing animals that he believes are custom-fit for a Las Vegas-type desert town with legalized gambling and shows up and down the strip. Moon, miraculously, gets his troupe in front of Mr. Crystal, and although the planned production is thrown out the window, he did go for Gunther’s idea of an outer space musical where the stakes couldn’t be higher. Moon and his team have mere weeks to get this thing up and running. It’s possible! Well, the part about “already securing” Clay Calloway for the production might take some work, and Moon’s personal secretary Miss Crawly (voiced by the film’s writer-director Garth Jennings).
Sing 2 possesses much of the similar charm that endeared the first film to so many. It honestly exponentially builds on that. Viewers, particularly the youngest ones, will pull wholeheartedly for Moon and his theater troupe to succeed where failure is the only visible result. The aspect of Bono’s character and the motivation behind why he stopped singing and playing his guitar (his wife died) will tug at the ole heartstrings immensely. Who can’t identify with that? Now, overcoming that creative roadblock is a fabulous lesson for kids (and adults too!) and also teaches us about love and loss and how life goes on, even if sometimes we may not want it to…
Jennings has woven a web that never forgets the basis for its strength. The first movie isn’t necessarily required viewing to enjoy Sing 2, but it doesn’t hurt. It’s just that the writer-director has laid such a rich foundation with the first film, that the emotive power is increased if Sing is experienced prior to the sequel. There’s something about how he introduced the characters and what he has them go through in the follow-up that is ingenious. For the adults, the film works as a commentary on popular culture, rock music, and its blinding ability to equally love and loathe its past as it forges a future. There is plenty of jokes and elements that kids older than twenty-one will enjoy more than those under 12. But Sing 2 never forgets its intended audience.
I witnessed it along with my eight-year-old, who adores the first film. She felt that Sing 2 “was better than the first one, but I still love Sing!” This writer agrees.
This is an improvement on the first film, a rarity in animated sequels that don’t contain the title, Toy Story! The song selection elevates the stakes and provides a soundtrack that is as toe-tapping as one can get. The ensemble is sublime with each keenly knowing their spoke in the wheel that is Sing 2. There’s even a new song from Bono and U2 that brings all the feels as the film closes.
Your Song Saved My Life is not only an impeccably crafted tune that encapsulates everything we’ve just gone through with this cast but is reflectively pitch-perfect for a song that is going to call itself the “theme” of Sing 2.
Grade: A