Director: Garth Jennings
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Bobby Cannavale, Tori Kelly, Taron Egerton, Nick Kroll, Garth Jennings, Jennifer Saunders, Nick Offerman, Halsey, Bono, Pharrell Williams.
Distributor: Universal Pictures International
Runtime: 112 mins. Reviewed in Dec 2021
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc

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Rating notes: Some scenes may scare young children

In the original Sing, koala Buster Moon had to hold singing auditions. This time, he and all his friends have to put on a spectacular show, persuade a guitar playing lion to come out of retirement, and avoid the pressures of the silver fox entrepreneur.

When on a good thing, stick to it… The original Sing was popular in 2017. We were treated to an assorted collection of animals and creatures, both attractive and grotesque, in the context of a singing competition (with a background of financial obstacles). And a strong voice cast was assembled, with the strange choice of Matthew McConaughey voicing the diminutive Buster Moon, an expatriate koala in the United States.

Sing 2 shows how to assemble most of the cast again, and do a bigger and splashier variation on the plot. Buster Moon is still at it, this time coordinating his odd collection of performers, rehearsals, behind-the-scenes problems, and a great desire to bring a guitar-playing singer back to the limelight after 15 years absence owing to the death of his beloved wife. He is a lion, Clay Calloway (voiced by Bono), with an original U2 song, You Saved My Life – but the recurring melodies and lyrics of his ‘I Still Haven’t Found what I’m Looking For’, supported by Scarlett Johansson as the diminutive porcupine, Ash, and a huge auditorium of fans also joining in.

Buster has ambitions but the talent scout, Suki, tells him he has no talent. But, Buster is supported by his crew, an assorted range of entertaining characters, especially an elephant called Meena. Suggestions are made as to what kind of show would be best, and the idea of a huge extravaganza exploration of galaxies and planets is made, though Buster is unwilling. This is endorsed by a white wolf, a sinister, loud-mouth entrepreneur, Jimmy Crystal (voiced by Bobby Cannavale). Crystal has a self-centred fashionista daughter, Porsha (voiced by Halsey) who covets a star role.

Well, of course, everything that could go wrong does go wrong, including the star, Rosita the pig having to do a huge dive and discovering vertigo (Reese Witherspoon). But, the show must go on, and it does, Porsha having a show-biz conversion, Buster falling and rescued by Rosita, Clay Calloway persuaded to come back, the crowds enthusiastic – and some comeuppance for Jimmy Crystal.

While the narrative is, more or less, what we might expect, it is the range of characters and their idiosyncrasies, their performances and their singing, that keeps us entertained.