Sing – A Wonderful New Animated Film That is a Feast for Both Eyes and Ears!
Set in a world like ours but entirely inhabited by animals, Buster Moon, a dapper koala who presides over a once-grand theater that has fallen on hard times. Buster is an eternal, some might even say delusional-optimist who loves his theater above all and will do anything to preserve it. Now faced with the crumbling of his life’s ambition, he has one final chance to restore his fading jewel to its former glory by producing the world’s greatest singing competition. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Clayton P. comments, “Sing is a terrific new animated film that is a feast for both eyes and ears! From the creators of Despicable Me, Minions and The Secret Life of Pets, Sing is an instant classic.” Mia A. adds, “Illumination Entertainment has done it again! The creators of Despicable Me, Pets and Minions have brought us more talking animals to love – and, this time they sing!” See their full reviews below.
Sing
By Clayton P., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 17
Sing is a terrific new animated film that is a feast for both eyes and ears! From the creators of Despicable Me, Minions and The Secret Life of Pets, Sing is an instant classic. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlet Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton and Tori Kelly. It is directed and written by Garth Jennings and co-directed by Christophe Lordelet.
The film concerns a theatrical impresario and koala bear, Buster Moon whose classic theater is not thriving. However, he has a big 
idea to bring back the audience. He decides to stage a singing contest! The only trouble is the flyer that is produced to advertise the contest is misprinted. Instead of “winner gets $1000”, the flyer says “$100,000.” Of course, Moon doesn’t have the money, but the show must go on! He holds an audition and decides on the finalists who will compete for the prize. They include Johnny, a gorilla crooner with a Cockney accent (Taron Egerton); Meena, an elephant with stage fright but a beautiful, resonant voice (Tori Kelly); Ash, a punk rockette (Scarlet Johansson); Mike, a boastful mouse who sings jazz standards (Seth MacFarlane); and Gunter and Rosita a couple of pigs who sing and dance (Nick Kroll, Reese Witherspoon). Moon also has an elderly iguana assistant, named Ms. Crawley (Garth Jennings). There are many subplots including the fact that Mike’s dad is a Cockney mobster who expects Mike to be the getaway driver. Each contestant is well fleshed out with a backstory that makes us care about each one.
My favorite part is when Gunter is about to go on stage for dress rehearsal. In his German accent he says, “This place is about to 
explode with some major piggy power.” Another great scene is when Rosita leaves her 25 piglets at home. She is unable to get a babysitter, so she makes robotic contraptions out of everyday materials and puts them all over the house. It wakes the piglets up, feeds them, gets them dressed and out the door with their backpacks and one contraption even says goodbye to the husband and all 25 kids as they exit the house. It reminded me of the toy train scene in Wallace and Gromit’s The Wrong Trousers. This scene is visually very creative.
One of the best things about Sing is the many different styles of music. It’s great for kids as they can learn about different music genres. The film is bookended by The Beatles’ song Golden Slumbers. It also includes some Motown songs, including Stevie Wonder’s Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing, jazz standards like My Way and recent pop songs like Call me, Maybe. Overall, the soundtrack is really terrific. According to some accounts, there are over 80 songs in the film.
Sing is perfect for the whole family. Everyone will enjoy it. I rate this film 4.5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for kids ages 5 to 18 as well as adults.
Sing
By Mia A., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 12
Illumination Entertainment has done it again! The creators of Despicable Me, Pets and Minions have brought us more talking animals to love – and, this time they sing!
Sing is about a Koala named Buster Moon who loves the theater so much that he buys a theater and follows his dreams. His theater is going through some hard times, so he holds a singing competition. Ash, Buster Moon, Rosita, Mike, Meena, Johnny and Gunter are some of the competitors, and they all have important stories to tell.
Each character has its own small subplot, so you get some good background information on each one. Voiced by big names including Matthew McConaughey, Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon and Seth MacFarlane, we get to know and love each character. Ash is a rock singer who lives with a stuck up boyfriend. Rosita is a pig that has many kids and a husband, but she doesn’t feel appreciated by any of them. Mike is a little street mouse or rat with attitude that gets him in some interesting situations. Meena is an elephant that is super shy and Johnny is an ape that is stuck in a family job of robbery. My favorite character is Johnny because he believes in what he loves and never stops trying to pursue his dreams. He almost runs two lives, doing what he wants to do while also participating in the family business of robbery.
My favorite scene is the car wash scene. Buster Moon has to wash cars to make some money, so his friend Eddie helps him. Buster 
Moon washes as Eddie dries. This scene is very funny because they use their bodies to wash and dry.
The moral to this film is to never give up on your dreams. We see how all the characters have an event in their lives that holds them back from what they really want to do and what their true talents are. This movie is called Sing, so I expected some major singing. I like that there are popular songs incorporated into the movie. All the characters have amazing voices and some are very comical. The singing really made me want to get up and start singing.
The animation is super colorful, creative and detailed. You can see small details on the animals like the fur on the apes and the quills on the porcupines. I love how the animal characteristics and human characteristics are combined and balanced out perfectly to make a human animal. The animals may walk and talk like humans, but they also have some animal traits. The porcupine’s quills fly out and the apes run on their feet and hands.
I recommend Sing to ages 6 to 18 because this is a great family movie for all ages. I give this movie 4.5 out of 5 stars. If you are looking for good clean family fun, go enjoy Sing in theaters near you!
