IF you enjoyed the first “Sing” movie and its endearing animal characters who sing, then there’s no doubt you will also appreciate its sequel, “Sing 2”. “Sing 1” was a big worldwide hit when released in 2016 so we’re not surprised it now has a sequel.

“Sing 1” is about a koala, Buster Moon (voice by Matthew McConaughey), who holds a singing contest to help boost attendance in his theater that is facing closure. We are introduced to many singing animals (voiced by top stars) who take the audition and eventually succeeded in saving Buster’s struggling theatre.

We now meet some of them again in “Sing 2”: Reese Witherspoon as Rosita, a pig who is mom to 25 piggies; Scarlett Johansson as Ash, a punk rocker who is a porcupine; Taron Egerton as Johnny, a young gorilla who sings and plays the piano; Tori Kelly as Meena, an elephant with a great voice but has stage fright; Nick Kroll, a dancing pig who is paired with Rosita and Garth Jennings (who is also the movie’s writer and director) as Miss Crawley, Buster’s iguana assistant with one eye.

Missing from “Sing 1” are Seth MacFarlane, a mouse that sings like Frank Sinatra, and John C. Reilly, a sheep who’s Buster’s friend. But new characters are introduced in “Sing 2”, which is about Buster Moon’s dream of his theatre group being able to perform big time in Redshore City, their version of Las Vegas as an entertainment capital.

The film is also a success like “Sing 1”, having grossed $350 million so far, with a budget of only $85 million, making it the highest grossing animated film of 2021. In contrast, “Encanto”, which would win best animated feature in the Oscars, has grossed $250 million with a budget of $120 million.

In Redshore City, Buster and his group audition with Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale), a wolf who’s a big time impresario and hotel owner, but he rejects them. But Gunter somehow manages to get his attention when he pitched his show that is about outer space and features a retired rock star, Clay Calloway (Bono of U2), a lion who has not performed since his wife died 15 years ago.

Crystal turns out be a big fan of Calloway and gives Gunter’s proposed sci-fi musical show his go signal, but Buster and company have to put it all up in three weeks. Buster and his group get to face many obstacles in mounting the show but their biggest problem is how to entice the reclusive Calloway to end his retirement and make a comeback.

Miss Crawley nearly died while trying her best to see him and talk to him. So Buster himself goes and Ash accompanies him. Ash is a big admirer of Calloway’s songs and her rendition of his past hit song eventually makes him change his mind and convinces him to join their show.

Johnny and Mena find their own love interests in the course of the film. Johnny doesn’t know how to dance and their choreographer is so mean to him. He then asks a street dancer, Nooshy (Letitia Wright), to be his personal dance coach and he quickly learns how to dance. Mena finds romance in a cute ice cream man, Alfonso (Pharell Williams.)

This is a feel good movie so Buster and company succeed in overcoming all the trials thrown their way and come up with a truly dazzling show that is well received by the audience. Overall, “Sing 1” is more winning and magical with its 60 great songs. This has a lesser number of songs but it will still win you over as it’s a delightful musical romp with beautifully animated production numbers that are all crowd pleasers. Once again, the film has an uplifting soundtrack and the voice actors succeed in bringing to life the film’s bright roster of colorful animal characters with their exuberant toe-tapping energy that gives so much fun to viewers of all ages.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Mario Bautista