Your movie review . . .
Sing: Certificate U, 108 mins, Illumination Animation Studios Rating: theatre by hosting a singing competition.
Every kind of animal imaginable takes part: Pig, Rosetta (Reese Witherspoon), is an over-worked housewife with 25 piglets; Ash, (Scarlett Johansson) is a rock-star porcupine; diminutive hustler-mouse Mike (Ted’s Seth McFarlane) has big-band crooner tones and Johnny (Taron Egerton), a conflicted young gorilla, was born into family criminality.
The trailers draw heavily on the central conceit of these critters belting out some of today’s most recognisable pop-hits, such as a trio of OMG bunnies wiggling to Nicki Minaj. I wondered if the somewhat shoo-in selling-point of: ‘talkinganimal jukebox karaoke’ could sustain at featurelength or whether the novelty of seeing McConaughey perform a rendition of Call Me Maybe might wear off – but it works.
Its set-up is so simple, and all the more joyous for it.
It’s enriched further by a universally terrific voice cast. Stand-outs include the brilliant Egerton, my choice for 2016’s BAFTA Rising Star, who had his breakthrough in the Kingsman franchise.
Jennifer Saunders, is very funny as a primadonna operatic sheep, in the reclusive Norma Desmond mould. But it’s completely stolen by Miss Crawley, the elderly reptilian secretary, replete with Badminton visor and a glass-eye that’s always falling out – voiced by the film’s director, Garth Jennings.
Gloriously detailed animation, foregrounds everything: soap suds, porcupine spikes and a sensational flood, in a perfectly rendered metropolis that’s utterly believable.
It’s been an outstanding year for animation, from Pets, to Zootropolis, and Trolls to Kubo – so if Sing isn’t quite as stirring as Moana, it’s still a total delight.