DCfnaf Movie Reviews: Sing!
DCfnaf đ°"Oh my gawsh! Look at her BUTT!!!" đŹ <--- I'm cringing in the theater, but I'm kind of enjoying it...if you know what I'm saying...What's happening guys, this is DCfnaf! Welcome to another beautiful movie review made by your favorite thetoptens movie reviewer! (Oh wait...BKAllMighty exists sooo...second favorite thetoptens movie reviewer? Unless I am your favorite. Let me know if that's true.). Today I watched the movie "Sing!" at my local theater. Originally I was a little worried that this film was going to be boring or average. Why? Well, for two reasons. First of all, it seemed like such a silly concept. Animals Singing...big whoop de do. Second of all, Illumination Entertainment's last movie, "The Secret Life of Pets", was not very memorable or interesting. It wasn't BAD, but it was simply inoffensive. So now that we have a movie with a strange concept that is coming out after the unfulfilling "The Secret Life of Pets", I was expecting this to be worse. Turns out that I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It certainly isn't the greatest movie of 2016, but it is a fun and entertaining movie.
WARNING: Some viewers may disagree with this opinionated review. If you do, PLEASE respect my opinion and let me know why you have yours NICELY. Thank you. (Also: SPOILERS!!!!)
Let's start with a plot synopsis. The plot of "Sing!" involves a group of animals that enter a singing competition, hosted by a koala named Buster Moon hoping to save his theater. Sadly, Buster has never put on a good show in his theater and his theater is going to get closed. So he has a singing competition to prevent closure of the theater. He gets tons of people to join the competition such as a pig, gorilla, porcupine, and elephant. All of them have the goal to give Moon Theater life once again. Unfortunately, all it really did was bring the place down...literally. So Buster eventually gives up and goes to his car wash. Meena the elephant encourages him to try again thanks to her singing and the finale begins. I personally did not care for this story at ALL, but I felt like it was decent enough for a movie that is mainly directed towards kids. In a kids movie, you need to make the plot simple enough for ages 5-8 to follow, and I think that this storyline was good enough for that age group to understand. I'm not necessarily saying that children that age aren't as smart as 9 and up, but I'm not sure if they'd understand the true meaning behind a movie like "Zootopia".
The characters in this movie are way more developed and relatable than the characters in "The Secret Life of Pets". Sure, some characters weren't developed as well as others, but many of them have backstories and dreams.
⢠The main character, Buster Moon, is an optimistic koala who wants Moon Theater to be as popular as it was before his father bought the building.
⢠Rosita (the female pig) has a huge family of children who do not give her any credit for the stuff she does and her husband is so busy at work that he barely pays attention to her. Hmm...that sounds a bit like my family (no wonder Rosita was Mom's favorite character). She also suffers from being so stiff when she sings and dances, which is something she learns to overcome as the movie progresses.
⢠Johnny (the gorilla), who I am guessing is the fan favorite character, is the son of a mobster who has a group of misfits. They rob banks and other things. Johnny doesn't like being a criminal and just wants to be a singer. When his father is arrested because he wasn't able to be the getaway driver, his father gets ashamed at his child for being completely different from him (you know, the typical "father wants son to be like him" clichÊ?).
⢠Ash (the porcupine) is a young female teenager and punk rocker who takes part in an alternative-rock music group with her boyfriend, Lance. She wants to sing freely, but Lance wants acts like he is the main event and doesn't let her. He even TELLS HER that she is the backup singer, even though she doesn't want to be. When they both audition for Mr. Moon's singing competition, Moon says that only Ash gets to be part of the competition and sends Lance home. Lance makes her go back home with her. There is conflict between the two thanks to Lance's jealousy. Then she gets cheated on and dumped. As a teenager with a hard life, she wants to see the world burn, which I can relate to.
⢠Meena (the elephant), who happens to be my personal favorite character in the movie, contains a voice that was probably sent by God himself, but suffers from severe stage fright and is afraid to present her gift to the world. She was the most relatable character in the film because I have a good singing voice but I don't have the guts to get in front of everyone and sing also. A piece of symbolism that I really liked about this character is that when she gets tossed aside, she walks under a tree. All of the leaves fall off of that tree onto the ground. The tree is lifeless and has no sprouting leaves. Later, when Meena says she is going to try and perform, the leaves start growing on the tree again. The tree represents Meena sprouting and revealing her liveliness. Cool, huh?
⢠There are still some annoying and jerky characters such as Mike and Ms. Crawly, who didn't get any development and just annoyed the crap out of me, but there were so many relatable characters there that these two didn't annoy me as much. As for the other parts of the cast, they exist to piss off the main cast.
It also helps this movie's case that it's visually appealing and the animation is pleasant enough to look at. The great thing about Illumination Entertainment's movies such as "Despicable Me", "Minions", "The Secret Life of Pets", and, of course, this movie right here is that they're very cute, colorful, lively, harmless, slight, and (mostly) contain an absurd undertone to the humor. The bright lights of the theater were really cool, especially the squid powered lights that shined beautiful colors to make the theater look vibrant. The animals are also drawn in a way that is a little different and they aren't adorable in obvious ways, but they are still appealing to a kids' demographic.
Now for the best thing about this entire movie: The Music. The delightful soundtrack and stunning performances by the main characters are the stars of the show. (Considering the movie is literally titled "Sing" then that's not a huge surprise.). Each song that was sung at the big finale of the film was perfect for said character's story arc. Rosita (along with Gunter) sang "Shake it Off" which made sense. Mike sang "My Way" which made sense for his type of singing. Johnny sang "I'm Still Standing" which made sense because Johnny had survived through criminal heists and a bad father-son relationship. Ash sang "Set it All Free" which made sense since she was recently dumped by her boyfriend. Finally, Meena sang, "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" which made sense since during her singing, she overcomes her stage fright. Speaking of that performance, can we all agree that her performance was absolutely BREATHTAKING??? Tori Kelly was the one who played Meena in the movie so it isn't really a surprise that the performance was amazing. The performance was a beautiful and catchy tune blended into a mixer. I was actually bouncing to the beat inside the movie theater. Sure, it may have been autotuned and stuff, but it was still amazing. Every other song was great, but none could beat that performance. She brought down part of the theater! No wonder they saved her for last!
While there were many great things about this movie, there were still some massive problems with it. While I did praise the storyline for being fairly simple for a young demographic, I personally didn't care about it. I didn't care about "saving the theater" and all of that junk. It just felt so unoriginal and generic. There were also several filler moments that didn't need to be there as well as several moments where I simply got bored. Despite the fact that it was a 2 hour movie, I thought the pacing could have been much better than it was. Throughout most parts of the movie, I was going "Okay...let's go...let's move along now..." The movie had a serious lack of surprises and sends you the message that it just wants to be marveled for its cuteness. It also got Tori Kelly's version of "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" in my head, but that's beside the point.
Overall, "Sing!" is a mixed bag of flaws and strengths. It's cheery and colorful animation is pleasing, it's characters have decent backstories, and the music is absolutely jawdropping. However, the slow pacing and unoriginal storyline prevent it from being the great blockbuster it could've been. In other words, this movie gets a passing grade, but I wouldn't necessarily tell you that this a "must-see" film. I'd say this is the type of movie that you'd go watch with your family if you have to spend time together but don't necessarily want to talk to each other. I say this because everyone will like it in some way. Personally, if I wanted to choose between this movie and "Finding Dory", I'd choose "Finding Dory" any day of the week over this movie simply because Pixar has more substance in their animated films. Either way, if you want to lose a few bucks and watch this movie, go ahead. It won't hurt you and you'll have a good time. If it leaves theaters, don't panic and just wait for the DVD or watch it on Netflix . You don't need to rush your butt out to see this movie, but you'll have a good time if you do.
7 -- Good (Sing! is a solid movie that definitely has an audience. It might lack rewatch value, could be too short/long, or there are some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.)
How I review Movies/Games : http://www.thetoptens.com/best-movies/48379.asp
Next Review: The Jungle Book (2016)
If you want to watch a fantastic 2016 animated movie with great characters, a great story, amazing animation, and a great message for children/teenagers, go watch "Zootopia" instead. Anyways, I hope you liked this review. Remember, that this is my opinion on the movie. If you disagree or agree, let me know down below. See you all in my next review! Peace out!!!
Comments
Great review. - visitor
Thanks! What did you think of this movie? - DCfnaf
I didn't see it yet, but it doesn't look too bad. Not the greatest thing since sliced bread, but if I ever had the time to watch it, I might. - visitor
It'll probably be out of theaters soon, so if you want to watch it, go see it. If you miss it, it's not that big of a deal. If you still want to see it anyway, find it on Netflix or something. - DCfnaf
Good Review, Even Though I Think It Looks Dumb And I Won't See It Anytime Soon, But I Respect Your Opinion Of Course - VideoGamefan5
You can see it if you want, as it was more interesting than The Secret Life of Pets, but you don't need to rush your butt out to the theater. - DCfnaf
I Really Liked Sing - visitor
Yeah, I thought it was fine. It just could've been more original, but I still liked it. - DCfnaf
Eh, most of the characters were unlikeable, but great movie, and great review! - TristGamer
I still have not seen it yet I'm not planning to, it has nicki minaj anaconda which is horrible (I mean I remember when I was seeing the trailers in November and December 2016, that part, "(I rather not say, you know that first line on this post? )", I was like "What the heck is this? , I remember this line from a song I really hate", and I was right, it has shake it off which is also horrible, and more horrible pop songs!, if silento watch me is in it, I will drink bleach, because that song sucks, anyways like I said I still respect your opinion, anyways, no matter how bad it looks, I'm going to see the lego batman movie this weekend, I don't why, but I'm just going to see It, anyways nice review - VideoGamefan5
So I'm not the only one who has a nice singing voice but doesn't show it to the world? - visitor
No, I have one too. As a matter of fact, I have perfect pitch (I was diagnosed, don't accuse me of being egotistical.) - DCfnaf
TEHY PALYDE ANACONDA IN A KIDS FILM. This film pretty much sucked. 4/10 - AlphaQ
Medicore review - visitor
I Love Sing - JPK
Am I the only one who dislikes this movie - Phillip873
You're not, plenty of people don't like this film. This was also one of my first reviews so it is not as good as my later ones. Knowing what I know now, I'd say that...this is "meh". I'd probably drop this to a 5/10 for being lazy and pandering, but I'm not going to edit this anytime soon. - DCfnaf
It's alright if you liked it, you don't have to drop your score. I just did not like this film, and there were a lot better films to see that year. - Phillip873
Like I said, I've learned more on how to criticize animated movies, so this is honestly weak for me. - DCfnaf
I bought the DVD - visitor
YOU DAMN FOOL! - iliekpiez
Wow I hated this film. 3/10 - AlphaQ
To be fair, this review sucks and I was WAYYY too generous with this. 4/10 - DCfnaf
Yea it's pretty annoying at times and I felt that it was too clichĂŠd. - AlphaQ
Great review! I absolutely hated Mike, he only cared about himself, and while Ms. Crawly was fun to watch, I thought she was a bit annoying. - Sunwhisker
People only dislike this film because it's made by illumination entertainment, this is one of the best movies ever - BoyGenius234
My opinion on this shrunk, 4/10. But I donât hate it cause itâs Illumination, I donât like itâs because itâs a bland, dull, heartless product. - DCfnaf
I liked it more than Pitch Perfect... - visitor
I really liked it but it tries to cram in too many stories and characters that it becomes hard to focus. - egnomac
I despise it - iliekpiez
2/10
Nothing memorable or good. - iliekpiez
The animation was also lazy and they were animals for marketing purposes. - iliekpiez