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Bottom line up front: your kids will enjoy it. They won't care about all the stuff that bothered me about it. Jukebox musicals usually suck, but this one doesn't. Even if this wasn't as good as the first Sing it's still probably the best jukebox musical you're likely to watch this year and a good movie in its own right. You can put it on the the background to get your screaming spawn to shut up and leave you alone for 110 minutes. The biggest obstacle for Sing 2 is how tightly plotted the first Sing was. All the characters in the first movie had satisfying, well-executed arcs that mostly left them as self-actualized individuals. The koala restored his theater to its former glory, the porkypine girl got to become an artist independent from her porkypine boyfriend, the elephant learned to be less shy, the gorilla made amends with his father, the mommy pig got to escape the humdrum life of a homemaker and live her dream of being a big star, and the mouse got murdered by the Russian mafia. They all got closure by the end in an epic and emotional finale. In order for Sing 2 to take place, the film is forced to contrive new and unsatisfying problems for the characters. Despite living his lifelong dream of managing a successful theater, the koala is feeling unsatisfied with his life for no particular reason and now yearns to take his shows on the road in "Redcoast City," a Las Vegas analogue that is inexplicably treated as the pinnacle of showbiz instead of as a trashy, sleazy dump where aging careers go to die. The characters with the biggest arcs are the gorilla and elephant because, of the rest of the returning cast, they're the ones with the most left unresolved at the end of the first film. The elephant has gotten over her stage fright, but she's still shy in general so her storyline is finding romance with an elephant boy who sells ice cream. The gorilla is still a hotheaded teen with everything to prove, so even though he's gotten the fatherly approval he always wanted, he's got plenty of growing up to do. His battle with the demanding dance instructor is probably the most well-executed arc in the film. The momma pig also dreams of performing in Vegas, despite the fact that in the first movie she just wanted to periodically escape from the pressure of being a mom to 25 piglets. She feels strongly enough about this that she stands in front of a bus. The movie gives the momma pig given something to do through the sudden arrival of a bratty wolf girl who upstages her. The porkypine is a successful rockstar, but she's not getting paid what she feels she's worth and also decides to go on this excursion to Vegas. She doesn't have much of an arc. Her job in the movie is mostly to convince Bono the lion to play one last show. Bono plays a lion who is a reclusive rockstar convinced to come out of retirement. The movie's weakest point, apart from the initial premise, is its lack of a proper "all is lost" moment. There is also no symbolic homecoming or Dark Night of the Soul necessary for a truly satisfying climax. At the low point of the film, when Wolf Trump cancels the show and puts a hit out on the koala, Bono the lion and punk rock porkypine are already rushing to the rescue and there's never any doubt that things will turn out alright. The characters pretty much coast through to the end, and they manage to put on an extremely elaborate production involving expensive props and special effects despite not being allowed in the building and presumably no longer having the support of the production crew. There's plenty of spectacle and the music covers are mostly good. A solid 8/10 if you can successfully suppress the nagging memory that none of the characters need or would want to perform in Vegas.
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Mar 6, 2022 22:11
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 17:38 |
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