Sing

Sing is an enjoyable family film that keeps interrupting its good singers to check on too many separate stories. Garth Jennings, who writes and directs, approaches the talent-contest formula with warmth and enough musical enthusiasm to make its familiarity tolerable. We recommend it if singing animals sound like a reasonable evening, with some patience required for the crowded middle. The pleasure comes from watching the performers have a go, without needing the script to make their troubles especially surprising.

The auditions are where that approach works most efficiently. Gregory Perler’s editing moves briskly between performers and musical styles, letting the changes supply much of the comedy without pausing to explain each joke. We laughed at the audition montage because the abrupt switches keep upsetting our expectations of what we will hear next. The sequence has the confidence to be a collection of small pleasures. Elsewhere, the same hurry becomes a nuisance when a character needs more than a quick introduction.

Taron Egerton’s Johnny benefits from singing that is worth listening to for its own sake; the attraction does not depend on recognising the voice behind the character. Reese Witherspoon’s Rosita and Scarlett Johansson’s Ash also help distinguish a cast that could easily become a queue of famous names. There is enough personality in the performances to make us willing to follow the separate stories. Jennings does not always repay that willingness with enough attention to each of them.

The problem is how often the film moves on just as somebody starts to become interesting. Jennings gives the contestants reasons to want their moment on stage, but the crowded script allows too little time for those reasons to develop beyond the familiar. The backstage complications interrupt the songs without making us care much more about the contestants. A smaller group might have made its 108 minutes feel less hurried.

Eric Guillon’s production design makes the theatre a welcoming place to spend time, although the animal population is more memorable than their surroundings. There is fun in the simple sight of these creatures performing, and the film has the good sense to enjoy it. We would have liked their being animals to matter more to the stories being told. For an animated comedy, it is surprisingly content to borrow the routines of a conventional backstage musical.

Joby Talbot’s score sits alongside familiar songs that are asked to do much of the emotional work. The score is serviceable, but it is not what stays with us. The song choices welcome different musical styles rather than treating every performer as a version of the same act. Yet some numbers are cut short so quickly that recognition has to stand in for the pleasure of hearing a performance develop. When the singing is this appealing, that impatience is frustrating.

Still, there is kindness here towards people who want a chance to be heard, and it survives some clumsy plotting. The jokes and voices provide enough company to get through the less engaging stretches without making the evening feel like work. Choose it for a family singalong rather than a story that will take anybody by surprise.