Sing 2

Did the world really call out for Sing 2 after the conclusion of Sing? Probably not having had other things to deal with in the intervening years but the box office of the first film would suggest that another film wouldn’t be out of place.

The film opens with a solid number as Meena (Tori Kelly) finds herself in an Alice in Wonderland scenario playing to a packed and happy audience in their hometown theatre. But Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) is keeping his eyes on Suki (Chelsea Peretti) in the stalls who is scouting shows for her boss in Redshore City. Leaving early she tells Buster in no uncertain terms that while his show is ok it’s not what they are looking for, effectively too small town.

Not taking no for an answer Buster takes his crack troop to Red Shore city, crash and fail an audition for owner Mr Crystal (Bobby Cannavale) where in a panic he makes a wild idea for a sci-fi based stage show the clincher being that he’s on friendly terms with superstar recluse Clay Calloway (Bono) and he can bring him back to the stage after 15 years. Needless to say, there’s a lot that goes wrong, soul-searching, fights then making up and antics along the way.

This is fairly formulaic stuff from writer and director (and voice of Miss Crawly) Garth Jennings that at ten minutes shy of two hours is stretched. It is punctuated by songs, some good gags and sequences (Mr Crystal auditioning terrible acts and the dance studio are quite good) It does build to a spectacular finale which is excellent but by then part of the audience may already have been lost.

Certainly the presumed target of youngsters around me at the screening I attended became restless quite early on with one heckling a section late in the film that created some laughter among the audience. Heaven knows what the studio modellers come up with when they look at the demographics of the audience but there’s a suggestion that maybe they are not getting the picture quite right.

Fundamentally there isn’t anything wrong with Sing 2, all the right pieces are in the right places: The cast really can’t be faulted; they are all excellent but on the whole, it just feels so tired.