Terrific tuneful tale

“All creatures great and small, don’t let fear stop you from doing the things you love,” says a small koala bear named Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey).

Coming from a tiny animal, this struck me as a larger than life statement so I asked myself: does it diminish the meaning of the message? SING focuses on a world where animals are the ones living their lives as your neighbour, the grocery store manager and the chicken that crossed the street.

Buster is an optimistic koala bear who owns a theatre that holds sentimental value to him because his father bought it for him. However, Buster is on the verge of bankruptcy and in dire need of income or else the bank will repossess his theatre.

With this desperation, Buster goes to his friend Eddie Noodleman (John C Reilly) with the idea to host a singing competition for real talent from real life. Buster only has $1,000 to offer as prize money and an accident involving his rather elderly assistant, Mrs Crawley, causes her to print fliers that say the prize money is $100,000.

When news gets around, everyone is determined to win that prize money and rather than be truthful, Buster keeps the lie going in order to put on a grand show that might save his theatre.

However, with a group of unlikely singers, this proves to be more problematic than he thought. SING features more than 65 popular songs ranging from Katy Perry to Seal to The Beatles and this works well as the movie is very aware of its audience; whether it be children, adolescents or adults.

There is something for every music lover of any age in this movie. SING appealed to me as an everyday real life scenario, from Rosita, the stayat-home mum who is underappreciated by her family, to Johnny, a teenager who dreams of breaking free from his gang and singing.

This accentuates the aforementioned message of not letting “fear stop you from doing the thing you love” as the characters are all shown as hesitant to step outside their comfort zones. SING is charming and unique although perhaps not as much so as Illumination’s predecessors Despicable Me and its spinoff, Minions.

Matthew McConaughey manages once more to successfully incorporate the ever convincing and overconfident character that he portrays in so many movies. There are many scenes in this witty animated musical comedy that are exciting to watch. Rosita’s Aisle Six dance scene was very endearing but remains unmatched in comparison to the heartfelt rendition Johnny (Taron Egerton) sings of Sam Smith’s Stay With Me or Meena’s fearless and powerful take on Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah that left me speechless.

What I appreciated the most about SING is that it stayed true to the anthropomorphism which is not something you’d find often in children’s cartoons. Director Garth Jennings ensured that this anthropomorphic world was realistic.

There were optimists, pessimists and of course, narcissists such as Mike, a tiny mouse I would’ve loved to beat up and of course, Lance, Ash’s porcupine boyfriend whose field of vision didn’t extend any further than the mirror and his self-serving rockstar dream.

In conclusion, SING definitely makes it up there in terms of animated features as one of those movies that manages to successfully use a talented cast without ruining the essence and childish charm that sets it apart.

Now showing: Cineco, Seef II, Wadi Al Sail, Saar, Dana, Novo, Mukta A2