Running time: 118 minutes. Rated PG (some rude material and mild peril/violence.) In theaters.
It’s no secret that little kids love talking animals. But is it too much to ask that there be a stated reason why a koala, elephant, porcupine and pig live happily in the same urban city and all have a passion for music?
That’s the crux of the so-so “Sing” movie series — tales of a showbiz zoo in which someone’s status as a turtle is hardly ever mentioned. In the sequel, “Sing 2,” there are more Hollywood inside jokes about Scarlett Johansson’s singer character not getting the same pay as her male co-star than mentions about the fact that she’s a porcupine.
Perhaps this is supposed to preach acceptance. If wolves and iguanas can get along, so can we — using mammals to impart a moral like some soft-hitting “Animal Farm.” More likely, though, it’s meant to be cute and sell merch.
Whereas the first film was smartly about a singing contest, the new one has theater impresario and aforementioned koala Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) wants to take his enthusiastic troupe to the next level. So, he invites an agent to his variety show, “Waiting for Guffman”-style. When she decides they’re not ready for the big leagues, he shops around a sci-fi musical to Jimmy Crystal, an entertainment exec/wolf, and he decides to produce it.
Most of the movie is an oddly savvy glimpse into rehearsals. Is Jimmy’s daughter Porsha (Halsey) the musical’s star/pig Rosita’s (Reese Witherspoon) Eve Harrington? Is choreographer/German monkey Klaus Kickenklober (Adam Buxton) a mean old-school backstage type we shouldn’t tolerate anymore? It’s the TV show “Smash” with sheep and lions.
What makes “Sing 2” enjoyable are the tunes. And writer-director Garth Jennings assembles a characteristically quirky mixtape. An audition montage includes, among many more, such unexpected numbers as “She Bangs,” “Cake by the Ocean” and “Abracadabra.” Taron Egerton croons Coldplay’s “Sky Full of Stars” as a heartthrob gorilla. And why not?
Who knows if 5-year-olds enjoy Burt Bacharach’s “I Say A Little Prayer?” But I do!
