Sing 2 review – paint-by-numbers sequel never really finds its groove

I can’t imagine there have been many easier movie pitches in the last 10 years than the sell for the original Sing – a bunch of cute but oddball anthropomorphic animals sing pop tunes in a jukebox musical from the makers of the world-conquering Despicable Me. As a premise for a kids’ movie, it hardly needs to be expanded upon, and so here arrives the sequel, looking pretty much the same as the original. If your kids loved the last one, they’ll love this one too, but the parents might find themselves rather tired out by the too-busy plotting and emotional flatness that pervades most of Sing 2.

After saving his local theatre with a roof-raising talent show at the end of the first film, ambitious koala empresario Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey, whose voice still sounds a bit weird coming out of a koala’s mouth) now has bigger dreams. He wants to take his talented troupe to perform Redshore City (the Sing universe’s Las Vegas equivalent) to break into the big time. The one problem is that no one already in Redshore City believes that this local gang can make it there, so Buster has to lie to get production started on his musical – a lie that ends up getting out of hand.

The lie involves Clay Calloway (voiced by Bono), a legendary but reclusive lion rocker who hasn’t performed in years but Buster claims to know, earning the backing of shady wolf producer Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale in a role he could do in his sleep). Crystal is clearly a dangerous creature, and so the race is on for Buster to actually convince Calloway to join his show. It’s a plot that’s exhausting to even relay, let alone actually spend two hours with, and Sing 2 is never able to find meaningful stakes within it.

These stakes are either too low (the production mishaps of Buster’s musical are easily shrugged off) or too high, with Crystal morphing into a genuinely murderous baddie, leading to a climactic encounter that may prove distressing to younger viewers without ever feeling earned. There are also far too many characters to keep track of, to the point that even the film’s major emotional crescendo doesn’t receive enough build up. You just wish Sing 2 would slow down for a second and decide what, and who, it’s really about.

An incredibly starry cast demands screen time for everyone, from Scarlett Johansson’s punk-rock porcupine Ash to Reese Witherspoon’s nervous leading lady pig Rosita to newcomer Porsha (voiced by Halsey), Crystal’s excitable teenage daughter who snags herself a role in Buster’s show. And then there’s Bono himself, who is an odd bit of stunt casting. Of course, he can sing, but in a film this laser-focused on an under-12 audience, it’s hardly the most culturally relevant cameo an animated musical could muster up.

No one’s arc feels fully drawn, so it’s up to the musical numbers themselves to grip you. Some are a lot of fun, particularly the final show, but others are a little lifeless, the impressively crisp and detailed characters and environments not put to particularly interesting use. The gags also feel a bit thin on the ground, especially considering Illumination’s well-earned reputation as a slapstick machine. There is one inspired joke, but it’s not enough to make up for their infrequency and laziness elsewhere.

Constantly loud, bright, and headache-inducingly frenetic, Sing 2 will certainly divert its target audience for its slightly indulgent two-hour runtime. Yet, up against the best kids’ animation of the past few years – especially Zootopia, to which it is constantly inviting comparison, even more so than the original – there’s just no real verve here. On paper, a city full of singing animals, great and small, should be uncomplicated fun, but Sing 2 is only able to get the best out of its premise in frustrating fits and starts.

Sing 2 is now in UK cinemas.