Sing (2016)
Directed by Garth Jennings
A koala named Buster recruits his best friend to help him drum up business for his theater by hosting a singing competition.
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This latest effort from Illumination Entertainment falls in line with its “Despicable Me” and “The Secret Life of Pets” franchises.
Sing is, of course, the big family-friendly holiday movie for this Christmas, hoping to capitalize on audience goodwill built up from the Despicable Me franchise and The Secret Life of Pets.
The producers of the animated family flick "Sing" really, really want you to know it was made by Illumination Entertainment, the same surging animation outfit behind the "Despicable Me" movies.
If it weren’t for the four little Minions who flex their pipes at the opening of “Sing,” you wouldn’t necessarily know that the massively entertaining jukebox musical that follows hails from the same studio that brought you “Despicable Me” and “The Secret Life of Pets.”
El impulso cómico para mantener la atención de los niños proviene de la diferencia de tamaño de los animales y cómo las cualidades físicas de éstos afectan su desempeño en el escenario; por otra parte, el público adulto encontrará sutiles guiños al musical de Broadway, A Chorus Line, y a las películas The Band Wagon (1953) y Sunsent Boulevard (1950), aunque sin la carga sombría y desesperanzadora que Vincente Minnelli y Billy Wilder le impregnaron a sus respectivos filmes.
But the British writer-director shares directing credit with Christophe Lourdelet, who worked on the art for “Minions” and “Despicable Me 2,” and Jennings’ warmth complements Lourdelet’s visual zaniness.
Sing is the latest from Illumination Entertainment, which also brought us the double bummers The Secret Life of Pets and Minions.
It would probably help, though, if you thought of "Sing" as more akin to Illumination's " Minions " -- the 2015 flyweight "Despicable Me" spinoff -- than to that original "Despicable Me."
While Jennings’ presence hasn’t quite led to a Pixar-level bump in quality, this is a clear step up from the likes of The Secret Life Of Pets and the endless Minions-related movies.
The premise is American Idol with talking (and singing) animals, but that's just the starting point for a film that borrows cheerfully from many sources: Baz Luhrmann meets Beatrix Potter, with a healthy dose of The Muppet Show and of classic Warner Brothers backstage musicals such as 42nd Street.
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The funny animal jukebox musical cartoon has a long and honorable history, dating back to, for example, the 1936 animated short “I Love to Singa.”
In fact, this could well be a movie produced in the city of Zootopia, a light comedy to entertain its inhabitants — their Pitch Perfect, perhaps.
Even if we didn’t have La La Land in such close proximity, the movie would still probably look like the least inspired stretches of Zootopia and Pitch Perfect smashed together.
It my seem flippant to compare “Sing” to another Universal property, “Pitch Perfect,” but in many ways its truly an apt and positive comparison.
Miss Crawly is an undeniable descendant of Dody Goodman's scatterbrained principal's assistant Blanche in 1978's "Grease," and Jennings gives himself most of the funniest lines and situations."Sing"…
Some are merely snatches and phrases (hello pan-pipe theme from Once Upon a Time in America ) which might have been free under the terms of fair use, but still, the music alone must have represented a big chunk of the budget, along with the above-the-line talent’s fees and the computing costs that went into rendering the film's many dazzling traveling shots.
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Kevin Smith even put a very risque spin on the concept with Zack And Miri Make A Porno .
No, that's not a spoiler as this isn't Dancer in the Dark.