Movie Review: Sing (2016)

The animated movie uses voices from Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, John C. Reilly and Scarlett Johansson.

I decided to order pizza Friday night and, since it came with a free movie rental, looked for a movie to watch with the family. My youngest daughter had seen this film with her class last fall. However, since none of us had seen it and she wanted to see it again, I ended up picking it out.

From the previews, I wasn't really sure what to expect. The movie looked like it had some funny moments. But, I didn't know if a film about a bunch of animals competing in a singing contest would be as great as promised. As it turns out, it was actually pretty decent.

I think the thing I liked most about this movie was, even though the film was mostly about theater owner Buster Moon (McConaughey) and his efforts to save the theater he had loved as a kid, the writers made sure to give each of the singing contestants their own interesting stories. This included a lonely housewife pig (Witherspoon) and a gorilla (Taron Egerton) who was trying to avoid a life of crime. Those stories made the movie much more entertaining than I thought it would be.

I also have to admit, the song and dance numbers were fun to watch, mostly because the performers used familiar songs and performed them as well as the original artists. I almost didn't mind the fact the movie saved those for the very end.

The one thing that surprised me about this film is it wasn't as predictable as I was expecting it to be. Most movies in this genre fall into the predictable category. This movie, however, had just enough twists and turns to keep me guessing about what was going to happen next and how it was going to end. Based on my experience with this genre, that was definitely something I appreciated.

I had my doubts, but this was a cute family movie that turned out to be very entertaining. I would recommend it if you haven't seen it.

My Grade: A