Movie Thoughts: Sing 2

I enjoyed this dumb little energy drink of a movie.

That was a bit of a surprise to me. Sing 1, I didn’t love. Why are singing competitions still a thing? So dated. So 2007. “You too can be part of the establishment, center of the universe.” Auditioning for the gatekeepers on reality TV is not how people ascend to success these days — now they just do it themselves on YouTube or Tiktok. The message is unhealthy, just like social media.

This movie doesn’t worry about anything serious— the songs are diegetic even when they don’t make sense (Are the artists real in the animal world, like is there an animal Weeknd?) The song-lyrics-not-quite-fitting-the-story only gets laugh out loud funny when Taron Egerton’s gorilla is singing Coldplay while stick fighting/dancing.

The animation is top budget and gorgeous, beautiful fur and everything else. This animal world has some of most beautiful theaters I’ve ever seen. The main city looks like candy-coated Disney Vegas mixed with the Internet from Wreck It Ralph.

The overall story actually works. I understand the soundtrack’s purpose is to up those Universal Music Group streams, but I wish it was more eclectic — it’s all pop and rock.

These movies have such a weird mix of a cast, so many a-listers with no favors seemingly, makes me wonder why they signed on— McConaughey (only one here actually playing a character), Johansson (nice voice, limited range), Witherspoon (also nice voice, seems like she’s enjoying herself but does…