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LION (PG)
SAROO (Sunny Pawar) lives in 1987 Khandwa with his mother Kamla (Priyanka Bose) and siblings. The five-year-old idolises his 12-year-old brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) and the two boys embark on a nighttime excursion to the local railway station. A horrible twist of fate separates the children and Saroo is trapped aboard a train, which heads 1,600km east to the bustling shanty towns of Calcutta.
After being rescued from the street he’s placed with adoptive parents John and Sue Brierley (David Wenham, Nicole Kidman) in Hobart, Tasmania.
Many years later, Saroo (now played by Dev Patel) is enrolled on a course at the Royal Melbourne College of Hotel Management and casually confesses details of his past to other Indian students. They encourage him to use online satellite mapping software to trace the railway line from Calcutta back west.
Fellow student Lucy (Rooney Mara) pledges her support to Saroo, whose studies suffer as he stares at pixels on his laptop screen, looking in vain for a station with a water tower that might be Khandwa. Lion is a majestic, heartfelt drama that delivers an almighty emotional wallop as Saroo gradually pieces together his past.
SING (U)
KOALA bear entrepreneur Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) inherited a theatre from his father, but the business has gone into decline and now creditors are haranguing Buster to settle his debts.
In order to woo audiences and save the business, Buster organises a singing competition with a 1,000 US dollar prize. Unfortunately, Buster’s elderly iguana assistant Ms Crawly (Jennings) accidentally adds two more zeros to the prize on promotional posters.
By the time Buster discovers her costly error, long audition queues have formed around the theatre. He ploughs on regardless, shortlisting pig housewife Rosita (Reese Witherspoon), who is paired awkwardly with Lycra-clad extrovert Gunter (Nick Kroll); crooning mouse Mike (Seth MacFarlane); insecure elephant Meena (Tori Kelly), who suffers from crippling stage fright; teenage gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton); and porcupine Ash (Scarlett Johansson), who has recently broken up with her boyfriend (Beck Bennett).
Sing is achingly predictable, right down to a contrived subplot involving sassy sheep diva Nana Noodleman (Jennifer Saunders) that preaches participation in a competition rather than winning.