Sing 2
IlluminationIllumination Entertainment has not made the best animated films in the past decade. Most of them, in fact, are passable at best, with recycled stories, mid-level animation, and the creation of corporate-driven characters to sell as many toys as possible faltering their productions. Their least expressive venture yet, Sing, is a fine 108-minute distraction that will leave young kids entertained by the number of pop culture references and “trendy” songs (for 2016) they can point out, but won’t do much for the larger audience base. The film was a hit, so it was inevitable that a sequel would get made, and after five years, it’s finally here, and it may very well be Illumination’s best film yet. Sure, it’s not as intelligent of an animated movie as, say, Vivo or Encanto – which are the best animated films of 2021 – but it still gets the job done.
Right from its opening scene, a change of style establishes itself for Illumination, whose imperfect-looking animation gets thrown out of the window in favor of textured landscapes, vivid colors, and anthropomorphised animals who feel more grounded in reality, as opposed to the 2016 outing trying to make them as expressive as possible. A rather cringe-worthy cover of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” presents the animation upgrade, and the movie immediately pulls the audience in through its visuals, instead of its song covers. There are very few song covers in Sing 2 that are legitimately worth anyone’s time, but it quickly won’t matter anymore when everything surrounding these songs is miles better than the first film.
And that starts with some of the most stunning 3D animation of any film that came out this year, with colors so bright and rich that writer/director Garth Jennings designs many sequences destined to take anyone’s breath away. The timing of many color switches through one scene – for example, from bright oranges to subdued neon blues – is a thing of beauty and is rarely exploited in animated films nowadays. Now if only all Illumination Entertainment films consistently looked like this, they’d be one of the best animation studios working today, but their emphasis on predictability and the Minions series are the main reasons why they’re not as successful as they should be.
So it’s a thrill to see that Sing 2’s script fixes many problems that prevented the first film from being worthwhile. First, it tells a more personal story than the first film, with Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) assembling a sci-fi musical with the hopes of bringing back Clay Calloway (Bono), a once-popular singer/songwriter living a reclusive life for the past fifteen years after the death of his wife. Of course, the story itself is extremely predictable and every element is seen a mile away, without fail, but the movie succeeds at developing colorful enough characters who each have their own personal challenges, or, in this case, limiting beliefs, to overcome.
Each character represents one limiting belief that children can associate themselves with and understand how to “break through” those beliefs in a way anyone can relate to. Calloway’s grief is stuck in the past and believes that, without his wife by his side, he shouldn’t perform any of his songs, not even listen to them. Ash (Scarlett Johansson) helps him see that being a recluse is not what his wife would’ve wanted, which culminates in the film’s most emotional scene, a great cover of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, which was unfortunately spoiled during its first trailer. Because of this, the emotional apex doesn’t hit as much as it should, but the culminating moment of the sequence allows Calloway to break through and realise the love he feels for his wife as he sings, and the massive admiration the film’s audience has for him.
Bono is surprisingly great as Calloway, a once-great singer now tormented by grief and isolated from society. Granted, he’s only there to write a new U2 song for the film, but he at least gives some form of effort to make the minimal screen time he has compelling enough. And the same can be said for every other character, who each has their time to shine. McConaughey’s Buster Moon tries to prove to the world that his group of actors can pull off the greatest theatrical production of all-time – it certainly looks incredible – and aids his actors to break through their insecurities in the process.
Johnny (Taron Egerton) and Rosita (Reese Witherspoon) both think their performances aren’t good enough. Johnny’s confidence is drained by an overzealous dance teacher (Adam Buxton) who keeps belittling him. He enlists the help of street dancer Nooshy (Letitia Wright) to gain his confidence back. Rosita is afraid to take the, literal and figurative, plunge into stardom, which will not only make her famous and break all of her limiting beliefs, but help Buster Moon become a known name in the theater industry and stop working in the shadow of theater mogul Jake Crystal (Bobby Cannavale). Both of these character arcs are incredibly compelling and performed so brilliantly by Egerton and Witherspoon. The characters are easily relatable, as we’ve all faced bouts of insecurity in our lives and will continue to do so as uncertainty keeps prevailing in society. For children, this film can act as the first stepping stone to teach them how to break through any limiting belief they may find challenging.
Where Sing 2 fails at delivering an unpredictable story with great song covers, it more than exceeds the first film in the “tug in the heartstrings” department, through a script that focuses on the humanity of the not-so-human characters and how their insecurities prevent them from achieving success and being their best. Its surprisingly deep meditation on grief, through Bono’s Clay Calloway, allows for a richer, and more mature, animated film – which wasn’t the case with the first installment. If Illumination Entertainment focuses, in their future movies, on the humanity of their characters and the challenges, whether physical or psychological, they have to overcome whilst pushing the boundaries of 3D animation through vivid colors and magnificently textured worlds, they will succeed.