Sing
Director: Christophe Lourdelet, Garth Jennings
Talent: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Taron Egerton
Release Date: 27th January
Ten years ago, Garth Jennings wrote and directed Son of Rambow, an utterly charming comedy aimed at children that nonetheless contained a multitude of pleasures for adult viewers. Sadly, the same cannot be said about his new computer-animated musical Sing.
The story, such as it is, concerns a koala named Buster Moon (McConaughey) and his efforts to save his failing theatre business by holding a singing competition. Due to a misunderstanding regarding the prize money, half the city shows up for the auditions, including shy elephant Meena (Kelly) and mobster’s son (and gorilla) Johnny (Egerton). Cue in almost two hours of incoherent storytelling, lacklustre visuals and the sort of aural horrors they might have used to torture inmates in Guantanamo not so long ago, as contemporary chart hits by Katy Perry and Carly Rae Jepsen are butchered alongside a couple of insipid original numbers, culminating in the Abbey Road medley as belted out by a sheep. Profoundly irritating.
Words – Felipe Deakin
