A foot-tapping delight: Sing review by Rashid Irani
This is an apt way for fun-loving families to usher in the New Year.
SING
Direction: Garth Jennings
Voices: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Close on the heels of the markedly superior La La Land comes another song-and-dance extravaganza, albeit animated and in 3D, and featuring a cast made up entirely of cuddly animals.
The American Idol-like plot zeroes in on a down-on-his-luck koala bear (voiced in cheerful tones by Matthew McConaughey), whose theatre has fallen on hard times. In a last-ditch effort to save it, he decides to host a singing competition, accidentally inflating the prize on offer to $100,000.
Not surprisingly, every aspiring vocalist in town turns up for the auditions, including a domesticated sow and mother of 25 (Reese Witherspoon); a mousy crooner (Seth MacFarlane); a punk-rock porcupine (Scarlett Johansson) and a gorilla pianist torn between his showbiz dreams and his family’s criminal activities (Taron Egerton).
Also hoping to achieve fame and fortune are a meek but musically inclined elephant (real-life singer Tori Kelly) and a porcine techno-rave dancer (Nick Kroll).
The film is brimming with familiar chart-toppers. Besides an original pop-rock number, ‘Set it all free’, belted out by Scarlett Johansson, expect renditions of Leonard Cohen’s popular hymn, ‘Hallelujah’ and David Bowie’s ‘Under pressure’, Stevie Wonder’s ‘Don’t you worry about a thing’ to Elton John’s ‘I’m still standing’.
The menagerie is drawn with breathtaking photo-realism and British director Garth Jennings, best known for his quirky live-action comedy Son of Rambow (2007), creates a very human subtext in the animals’ determination and optimism. He also amusingly voices the koala bear’s elderly secretary, a one-eyed chameleon.
Of appeal to viewers of all ages, Sing is an apt way for fun-loving families to usher in the New Year.
Watch the trailer for Sing here
Get more updates from Bollywood, Hollywood, Music and Web Series along with Latest Entertainment News at Hindustan Times.