1 of 5 | From left to right, a frog, Miss Crawley, Buster Moon and Gunter work the controls backstage. Photo courtesy of Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- The plot of Sing was fairly thin: celebrities voice animal characters who sing pop songs while putting on a show. It's fair to say Sing 2 is a better movie than Sing as there was much room for improvement. Sing 2 doesn't transcend into Pixar levels of animation, but it's a good time at the movies.
Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) has a sold out show in his small town theater. He wants big city talent agent Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale) to consider them for a Redstone City show. Crystal's assistant, Suki Lane (Chelsea Peretti) doesn't think he's good enough, so Buster and the gang travel to Redstone City to crash the auditions and show him their show is worthy of one of his stages.
Buster succeeds, but the catch is he gives the impression that he knows reclusive singer Clay Calloway (Bono) and that Clay is involved in the show. So, Buster commits that Clay will be there, confident that he can convince Clay to join the show later.
Illumination's animation continues to improve exponentially from film to film. Redstone City is a faithful facsimile of Las Vegas, with any adult elements rendered family friendly. Buster puts on two lavish shows, one at the beginning and the finale at the end, full of elaborate choreography and musical harmony.
The story of Sing 2 is a natural evolution from Sing. If the first film allowed a bunch of underdogs to save their theater, the next step creatively is when they outgrow their theater. Performers want to grow and each character has their own subplot of personal growth. Meena (Tori Kelly) is afraid to perform a major stunt in the show and will have to muster up the courage at some point. Her other subplot about having a love interest on stage is less developed.
Buster has to deal with bigger show business problems, like a hands on producer insisting on creative decisions. He inherits the Crystal's's daughter, Porsha (Halsey) who fortunately is another fantastic singer. In order to get Clay to join the show, they have to convince him to sing again, since he put down his music when his wife died. That's a pretty deep concept for a kids movie, finding your voice after grief.
None of these themes develop especially overtly, but at least hints of meaning are there. The original Sing was content to essentially jangle keys in front of little kids by way of colorful animals and loud music. Sing 2 feels like a party where the joy is contagious. If your kids have fun and learn some positive messages, there are worse ways to entertain them.
Sing 2 is in theaters Wednesday.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001 and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
