Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) is back and ready to take his talented group of performers to the next level in their careers by hitting the road. The destination? Redshore City, a Las Vegas stand-in ready to chew up and spit out his small town crew.
If you truly care about the story, you will need to ignore the fact that the theater Buster worked so hard to save in the first film gets left behind for his big-city dreams in the sequel. But the story does not drive this movie. The music is what matters. At its heart, Sing 2 simply wants to entertain with some familiar musical numbers that will keep the kids engaged.
Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Nick Kroll, and Tori Kelly return to their roles from the original film. This time they are joined by Bobby Cannavale, Letitia Wright, Eric André, Chelsea Peretti, Pharrell Williams, Halsey, and – of all people – Bono.
With such a large cavalcade of characters, the story could get a bit muddy. To keep things simple, Sing 2 gives everyone the same emotional journey: feeling like they weren’t good enough to do whatever task they were assigned. The addition of Clay Calloway, the reclusive rock legend voiced by Bono, does give a bit of unexpected gravitas to the film as he explores themes of grief and isolation.
The deftly rendered animation delivers a colorful palette with plenty of fun character designs. A true sense of joy infuses the film. Approaching Sing 2 as a fantastical concert provides more satisfaction than looking at it for a moving storyline. Sure, the film has a message and a plot. They just do not engage you the way the soundtrack and the visuals do.
Fans of the original film will have fun returning to those same characters in this sequel. If you did not enjoy the first film, Sing 2 is unlikely to change your opinion in a more positive direction. Still, this movie is likely to please the kids in the audience while providing enough entertainment to not numb the minds of the parents who choose to join them.
You can watch Sing 2 in theaters on December 22, 2021.
About Sing 2
Rating: PG (Some Rude Material|Mild Peril/Violence)
Runtime: 1h 50m
This holiday season, the new chapter in Illumination’s smash animated franchise arrives with big dreams and spectacular hit songs as the ever-optimistic koala, Buster Moon, and his all-star cast of performers prepare to launch their most dazzling stage extravaganza yet… all in the glittering entertainment capital of the world. There’s just one hitch: They first have to persuade the world’s most reclusive rock star–played by global music icon Bono, in his animated film debut–to join them.