Sing

I didn’t bother to see “The Secret Life of Pets” because I could tell from the trailers alone that it was a “Toy Story” rip-off with animals. I didn’t have very high expectations for “Sing” but I decided to see it with my little nephew. He liked it and so that is what counts. From my perspective however, the filmmakers were lazy in making and marketing the film. They also didn’t consider the competing films of 2016. The movie has too many minor problems that ruined the experience as a whole.

Some animation companies today seem to think they can make whatever they want and still make a profit. While that is true, I would wager that producing an immortal animated film like “The Jungle Book” or “Frozen” is more profitable. Illumination Entertainment impressed me with their two “Despicable Me” films but everything else they have released to date hasn’t. With “Sing” they have followed the bad example of other studios by spoiling their biggest jokes in the trailers. The movie wasn’t all that funny as a result. Another spoiler was the entire film story because any smart person could figure out what was going to happen in the movie from what was being advertised. For any original film to be successful, it must be original. There is nothing wrong with borrowing story elements and concepts from other movies. Directors John Musker and Ron Clements for example borrowed certain story elements from their own film, “Aladdin”, in the creation of their new movie “Moana”. What matters a lot when borrowing story aspects and concepts is the timing. “Sing” has a similar premise to “The Muppets”, which was released only five years prior. You lose originality when you borrow from another film released so close to yours. There are obvious comparisons to television’s “American Idol” and the other TV shows it has inspired. That kind of concept works on TV because you get an entire season of drama and it is reality TV. I will go into more detail later about how this idea doesn’t translate very well to an animated film. If these were the only comparisons that could be made with “Sing”, the movie would have been better. Unfortunately, Disney and DreamWorks animation both had the jump on Illumination in 2016. If you wanted to see animated anthropomorphic animals, you could catch the sophisticated “Zootopia” (released nine months prior and earning over a billion dollars). If you wanted to see an animated film where hit songs were the focus, you could watch “Trolls” (released only a month prior). As a side note, “Sing” apparently offers us 85 songs throughout the film but do you really need that many? Not only was “Sing” somewhat unoriginal but it offers nothing we haven’t seen already this year.

Just as this movie had too many songs for its own good, it also features too many protagonists. This is a result of trying to replicate “American Idol” into a two-hour animated film. There is just not enough time to adequately tell the story of over five characters with hopes and dreams. Maybe the filmmakers were trying to offer the audience a variety of characters so everyone would have someone to root for. Supporting characters can easily satisfy this need. Besides, one hero can be sympathized with by most of the members in the audience with proper exposition. However, you don’t have the time to effectively introduce so many protagonists in a two-hour time frame. The film literally “zooms” from one character to the next when introducing them. How do we know which character to focus on? The best storytellers can guide us through the tale and influence our emotions all while being invisible. Those who made “Sing” were far from subtle. All the plot points were there to allow us to sympathize with any of the characters such as Buster’s father and Ash being overshadowed by her boyfriend. Too bad we don’t get enough time to see and explore these important story elements. One character in particular really bothered me because he was an antagonist disguised as a protagonist. Mike was arrogant, snotty and was the source of many setbacks for the other characters. When we first meet him, we can tell right off that he will be the source of trouble and conflict. If that is the case, he should lose and/or learn his lesson while the other characters succeed. I can tell why Mike was left out of much of the trailers because he simply did not work as a character. Assuming he is going to win the contest, he goes out and spends the $100,000 before winning it. This and his bad-guy nature causes Mike to get in trouble with a trio of bears and they demand from Buster the money owed them. This reveals the mix up concerning the prize money and results in the destruction of the theater. Any normal movie would have Mike out for revenge against Buster. Also, you would think that the other finalists would be fuming mad at Buster for lying to them. To have them show up at Eddie’s pool house ready to help and forgive Buster has no basis. It would have helped if there was a scene that made the contestants feel less like individuals competing against one another and more like a team of cast members but we were given no such bonding moment. The best part of the story is the destruction of the theater because you can not tell how the characters are going to overcome that obstacle. It is honorable that the finalists want to continue with the show despite no prize money and no indoor theater but why on earth would they allow mean Mike, who is mostly responsible for their huge setback, to perform in the show. The filmmakers try to redeem him from himself with his change of heart when Meena sings but he can’t escape the bears. Funny enough, he does escape thanks to a very minor character. Mike’s whole subplot is horribly crafted. The motivations of the other characters are quite honorable because they value the ability to perform more than money. From the onset, Mike is after the cash. When that changes, it doesn’t happen naturally at all. Is he supposed to be funny so that we will like him because that failed? There were other story problems that didn’t involve Mike. The way that Meena and Johnny become finalists are accidental and don’t provide any justice to their characters. If Johnny is a “naturally born singer”, why would Buster pass him over at first. The whole plot moves too fast and wasn’t given the attention needed when it was crafted. For example, the hurtles of Johnny’s piano playing and Rosita’s dancing were overcome way too easily because of a lack of screen time available to them. I was quite annoyed at the ending of the film because of a lack of resolution. Sure, the theater is rebuilt but what about the subsequent careers of the finalists? Don’t tell me that Ash got back together with Lance because he doesn’t deserve her. Did Big Daddy serve his time in jail or was he bailed out by Johnny at some point? There were way too many unanswered questions at the end of the film again because there were too many protagonists.

You would think that a Koala would be Australian but at least Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey crafted a unique voice for Buster. Still, he did twice as good voicing Beetle in “Kubo and the Two Strings”. The casting was quite decent for the other characters, even for Mike. It is possible for a horribly-crafted character to be well cast and that is the case for Seth MacFarlane as Mike. MacFarlane continues to amaze me with his vocal talent because just when I think he has come up with every possible unique voice, he shells out another. I could only tell Mike was voiced by MacFarlane when Mike sings. MacFarlane is famous for creating and voicing characters with huge character flaws and so Mike was right up his alley. The problem is that MacFarlane’s characters, from Peter Griffin to Ted, take place in universes where the supporting character have just as many flaws. Mike clashed very much with universe of “Sing” because he was depicted as a protagonist alongside true protagonists. I found some irony in the fact that MacFarlane and McConaughey are in a film together because MacFarlane, on at least two occasions, has defamed McConaughey on TV. Tori Kelly was an “American Idol” contestant at the start of her career so it is fitting she would be in this movie. Even though he is also the voice of Wreck-It Ralph, John C. Reilly’s voice seemed to fit the character of Eddie.

All the cinematic flaws I have mentioned are small in nature but they add up to the point that the whole film suffers. This show will appeal of kids who don’t care too much about the movies they see but in terms of lasting impact, “Sing” falls far short. It had character and plot problems, not to mention its marketing flaws. Other animation studios have cancelled or postponed projects that were similar to competing films but Illumination doesn’t seems to care about that. They had better not screw up "Despicable Me 3".

3 Stars out of 5