Illumination Entertainment houses a few likable films in its portfolios, but Sing may be Illumination’s most charming film yet. Let’s be honest here, though, Sing doesn’t reinvent the wheel at all. We’ve seen these “let’s put on a show and chase our dreams” storylines before, and writer/director Garth Jennings wrote a story that follows the same formula as all the other films before it. It’s predictable, conventional, and simple.
Sing is easily one of Illumination’s best-animated efforts to date. It’s not up to the standards set by Disney or Pixar but it’s a solid effort. Sing benefits from the simple animal designs thus showcasing the amazing fur and skin textures done by the animators. The bright and colorful world is also beautifully rendered too. It definitely shows the growth of Illumination over the years.
There are plenty of great and sweet-tempered moments in Sing that’ll keep you entertained throughout the film, though. Despite its narrative shortcomings, Sing gracefully rises above it with a warm-hearted spirit. Much of this has to do with a soundtrack that’s crowd-pleasing as it is clichéd. Ranging from Elton John to Taylor Swift, the toe-tapping, head-bobbing music is sure to make audiences smile and maybe even sing a little.
Much of the film’s likability stems from the incredible job by Sing’s voice cast. Matthew McConaughey, Taron Egerton, Scarlett Johansson, Tori Kelly, Nick Kroll, Seth MacFarlane, and Reese Witherspoon enthusiastically brings their characters to life. Buster’s overly optimistic attitude is perfectly sold by McConaughey’s performance. He gives Buster a soul that radiates due to his love for theater and music. Nick Kroll provides awesome piggy power as Gunther. Kroll’s Germanic accent is so good and so funny that Universal created a “Best of Gunther” featurette for the Blu-ray release.
Scarlett Johansson and Reese Witherspoon also provide charismatic performances as Ash and Rosita, respectively. Taron Egerton is one of the bigger standouts in the film. Both Egerton and McConaughey provide most of Sing’s heartwarming moments. Seth MacFarlane’s brings out his inner Frank Sinatra as a devious and cocky little mouse, Mike. The most surprising performance of them all is director Garth Jenning’s performance as the extremely sweet but stupid, Miss Crawley.
Overall, Sing is predictable and forgettable but you’ll be having too much of a good time to even care. These ragtag bunch of musical misfits singing feel-good pop hits will make you cheer, sing, and dance all the way until the credits roll. It’s a genuinely honest and heartwarming film.
Movie Rating: 3/5 atoms
Video
Sing is presented in a 1080P MPEG-4 AVC encoded video with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. There is no need to worry about any contrast issues or crushed blacks in this bright and colorful film. The colors are reproduced well and saturated perfectly due to the colorful and vibrant color palette. The details are sharp and the transfer clearly defines the fur and skin textures of all the various animals. Overall, the Blu-ray release ignites the screen with this stunning video transfer.
Video Rating: 5/5 atoms
Audio
Sing is presented in the Dolby Atmos format, but it is also presented in the core Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Master Audio track. The review will reflect Sing‘s core Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Master Audio track. It’s not surprising that the musical numbers take center stage, expanding the soundstage across all channels. Every instrument and every voice can be clearly heard even during the loudest of songs. The front and center channels demonstrate the soundtrack’s vocal clarity while the ambient environmental effects are masterfully mixed into the surround channels. Unfortunately, your subwoofer won’t get much work during this presentation. There aren’t any bombastic moments to give your subwoofer a workout, but it’s seemingly non-existent in the musical numbers. Overall, Sing’s audio presentation puts on a really good show.
Audio Rating: 4.5/5 atoms
Special Features
Sing‘ Blu-ray contains the following special features:
- Mini-Movies
- Gunter Babysits
- Love at First Sight
- Eddie’s Life Coach
- The Making of the Mini-Movies
- The Making of Sing
- Finding the Rhythm: Editing Sing
- Character Profiles
- Music Video
- Making a Music Video with Tori Kelly
- Music Video: “Faith.”
- Lyric Video: “Faith.”
- Lyric Video: “Set It All Free”
- Sing & Dance! – “Faith”
- The Sing Network
- The Best of Gunter
Sing’s mini-movies are by far the best thing that the special features have to offer. Gunter Babysits is the funniest mini-movie while Love at First Sight is the most heartwarming. The Eddie’s Life Coach mini-movie is a less-than-stellar but solid entry. Unfortunately, the rest of the special features is pretty lackluster. Besides the myriad of music/lyric videos, there aren’t many featurettes that go more in-depth into the making of the film. Finding the Rhythm: Editing Sing is easily the most interesting featurette out of them all.
Special Features Rating: 3/5 atoms
Overall, Sing is a highly predictable and forgettable film. In spite of that, Sing comes with enough charm and heartwarming moments to keep your family entertained from start to finish. The video presentation is one of the best out there and the audio presentation is engaging. The special features are lacking but the mini-movies make up for the lack of interesting content.
Overall Rating: 4/5 atoms
This Blu-ray was reviewed using a retail/advance copy/unit provided by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
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