The Christmas horror story is perennially popular, so I would like to share a short but terrifying tale related to the holiday. Imagine an ordinary adult who decides to spend a couple of hours over the holidays taking in a new movie and is checking the listings to find out what is showing at the local multiplex. A rave review of the lovely "Licorice Pizza" might make that one appealing, as does the combination of William Shakespeare, Joel Coen, Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in "The Tragedy of Macbeth." They might be interested in seeing how "The Matrix Resurrections" reboots that franchise, or, if they're more on the wild side, "Red Rocket." There are so many great films out there, but after a few moments of idle speculation, our hapless protagonist is jolted back to reality and ends up saying the terrifying words that I fear will be uttered far too often this season-"Okay kids, let's go see "Sing 2."."
Honestly, I don't remember anything about the original 2016 film, aside from a scene in which Reese Witherspoon sings Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off." Either I never saw the original or, aside from that one bit, everything about it has slipped my mind. If it is the former, there is nothing in this hacky and brutally bland piece of product that makes me feel as if I missed anything. If it is the latter, then I am both relieved and hopeful that it too will quickly fade from my memory as well.
An ambitious theatrical impresario, Buster Moon, has saved his local theater through a singing competition that has brought together a wide variety of characters, each with a dream and an easily recognizable recent Top 40 hit in their heart (OK, I took a quick peek at Wikipedia). McConaughey and his troupe of performers-pigs Rosita (Witherspoon) and Gunter (Nick Kroll), porcupine rocker Ash (Scarlett Johansson), shy gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton) and shyer elephant Meena (Tori Kelly)-have an even bigger dream: to take their show to Red Shore, a Vegas-like city run by hotel tycoon Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale). Despite the reality that the audition is a dud, Buster convinces Jimmy to finance an elaborate sci-fi stage musical entitled "Out of this World" based solely on his promise to drag legendary rock star Clay Calloway (Bono ... yes, Bono) out of 15 years of seclusion to appear.
Buster, who does not know Clay, tries to woo him to sign on with Ash, while the others face their own tribulations as the show moves forward. Rosa is set to star in the show, but when she's too scared to perform a dangerous stunt, she's demoted and replaced by Porsha (Halsey), who cannot act but can perform the stunt and, perhaps more importantly, is Jimmy's daughter. During a "Whiplash"-style battle of wills with a domineering choreographer, Johnny ends up learning street dance from Nooshy (Letitia Wright). As for Meena, her character has to kiss someone at one point, something she has never done before, and she feels no resemblance to the egotistical scene partner (Eric André).
Eventually, opening night arrives for the show (which resembles "Barbarella" without the lucid plot) where everything goes predictably out of control before a climax in which Clay makes a triumphant return to the stage. As a result, the film's audience cheers wildly and the audience in the theater speculates on how Bono managed to sign on to not only appear but also write a new U2 song for the soundtrack.
Billie Eilish's "Sing 2" is like a cross between a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland flick and one of those end-of-year Spotify announcements that people post online to let others know they've listened to her a lot. Despite having many subplots, there is precious little story to drive the movie, and writer/director Garth Jennings is not concerned with such details. The humor is little more than noisy slapstick, the stabs at pathos are almost offensively contrived, and by building a story that equates artistic success with glitzy production, it oddly undermines its own message regarding the singular power of music at every turn.
Rather, Jennings is only concerned with cramming as many songs into the mix as possible, with no other criteria governing the choice of tunes than that they are familiar. It starts off with the orgiastic excitement of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" turned into meaningless cartoon pablum, and that's only the beginning of numerous musical crimes. Halsey's version of "Could Have Been Me" by The Struts is the only one that works. Since Halsey's day job is rocking out, this shouldn't come as a surprise.
Due to the lack of sex, violence, or bad words, as well as the adorable anthropomorphic animals, many parents will take their kids to see "Sing 2" on the theory that it has nothing bad for them. My contention is that this soulless exercise in franchise extension is far more damaging because of the sheer laziness on display. Exceptional family films capture the imaginations of younger viewers and teach them storytelling skills that can impact them for the rest of their lives, possibly inspiring them to tell their own stories as well. "Sing 2" serves no purpose other than to waste a couple of hours. They should learn from "Sing 2" to plan for a future in negotiating music licensing for films-hopefully for better ones than this one. Watch Now