Kelly And PJ At The Movies!: Sing 2
Photo by Marco Grob/Universal Pictures, messed with by Kelly on PhotoMosh.
Sing 2 Review
PJ DeGenaro and Kelly Eddington
Rather than cram ourselves into our local multiplexes with the unvaccinated under-five crowd, Kelly and I each paid extortionate sums to watch Sing 2 on demand. For $25 a pop you might expect a well-timed Amazon delivery of hot buttered popcorn and Junior Mints, but you’d be mistaken.
Anyway, here’s a brief exchange about what we thought of the wee film. — PJ
TL/DR: Cute; needed more Bono.
SPOILER ALERT: there are spoilers.
PJ: I never saw the first Sing, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I certainly didn’t expect a show-stopping opening act based on Alice in Wonderland, set to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.” Kelly, you’re a huge Prince fan. Were you horrified?
Kelly: I knew it was coming, and I was already in the mindset of They’re about to mess with U2, but Bono seems happy about it, so I’ll give it a chance. I wasn’t horrified by “Let’s Go Crazy,” but I know some Prince fans who were. (“Prince would never allow this.” “Yet another money-grab by his family.”) And I will say this right up front: I am a sucker for adorable animals, and “Let’s Go Crazy” had bunnies.
PJ: Bunnies do make everything better; let’s face it. But this style of animation isn’t my favorite. Everything feels sun-baked and made of candy-necklace colors. It’s kind of nauseating after a while.
Kelly: I’ve got to say I’m also a sucker for bright colors, so I found the candy-necklace aesthetic to be a nice break from the hateful orange/blue gloom that can be found everywhere else in movies.
PJ: Oh, I’m with you there. I don’t understand how people can enjoy those Marvel Comics films that look like they were made in a basement. But there must be some middle ground?
Okay, I’m a crank in general, and I’m just not into Hollywood people, but I was able to defocus on them. Buster Moon is very cute and doesn’t have any noticeable Matthew McConaughey quirks. And I ended up really liking Ash, despite being meh about ScarJo. (Maybe everything should just be a cartoon?) I loved Nick Kroll as Günter. A Jewish comedian playing—as he put it—a German singing pig. So great.
Photo by Marco Grob/Universal Pictures.
Kelly: Sing 2 has no opening credits, and back in November I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to that big poster with everybody standing beside their characters, except for The Bono. So I found myself trying to remember who was who, such as the gatekeeper fox who sounded like Jennifer Aniston but was in fact Chelsea Peretti, and I slapped my forehead when I realized this at around 90 minutes.
PJ: I still have no idea who played some of the minor characters. (The picture doesn’t help me much.) But the soundtrack was more adventurous than I expected. Mercury Rev, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Wow. I also enjoyed Billie Eilish, Cardi B and some people I’ve never even heard of. (Sam i, Anitta, BIA and Jarina De Marco are a mouthful, but their song, “Suéltate,” was awesome.) I also very much enjoyed Miss Crawly trying to sing “Chop Suey.” She is me, in one-eyed lizard format.
Kelly: Since I don’t give today’s pop hits more than a passing glance, I enjoyed being thrown a Gen X bone every now and again, such as “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” They went with the original Elton John recording instead of having The Howlin’ Old Owl In The Woods Huntin’ The Horny-Backed Toad sing it, although that wouldn’t have been out of place.
PJ: Yes! Elton’s own horny-backed towwd!
I thought the audition scene was very funny, especially the warthog ballet company. But the wolfish Mr. Crystal was getting increasingly Trumpesque by the end, and frankly, for me, it’s Too Soon™.
Kelly: Yes. Way Too Soon™.
PJ: Kelly, did you notice Steve, the little guy who stayed up all night building the prototype of the set? All exhausted, paint-stained and under-appreciated? It you.
Kelly: Oh yeah. Game recognize game.
PJ: Everybody watch for Steve, okay? He deserves his own backstory.
Anyway, the theater scenes defy the laws of physics—way more than just Wile E. Coyote being able to run a few steps in midair after he’s gone off a cliff. I mean, how high is that ceiling? Also, Rosita conjures up a transparent hologram computer screen? On what budget? But fine. Fine.
Kelly: Suspension of disbelief, Peej. I mean, it was your standard We’re Putting On A Show! plot, and it rolled along predictably and pleasantly for about forty minutes with no BonoLion in sight, although he was mentioned repeatedly and in a way that made his ultimate reveal satisfying, like when The Abominable Snowman appears at last in Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.
PJ: The Abominable Bono!, a.k.a. The Shit U2 Fans Actually Care About. Now, a few of the characters—notably Rosita and Johnny—have Facing Fears And Emerging Triumphant story arcs. But I thought Clay Calloway was really the emotional heart of the movie. His story was much deeper and sadder than the others, and I felt it didn’t get enough time. (I know, I know. It’s a kids’ movie so it can’t be too dark. As if Disney cared about that when they subjected five-year-old me to the Wicked Queen in Snow White!)
Kelly: It left me wanting more, too. I’d like to compliment the hundreds of people who brought these characters to life. They’re able to do astonishing things with fur and other textures now, and the weight of Clay’s grief over the loss of his wife is evident in his posture and the way he moves. I assume the animators studied Bono as a model for Clay at least somewhat, and this can be seen in his crooked grin and other trademark Bono expressions. And take it from me, you really can't go wrong with animals. Sing 2 wouldn’t be anywhere near as charming if we were watching human characters.
PJ: Not to mention those incisive blue eyes! Interestingly, the only interior scene that didn’t look like a Trump hotel in the Ninth Circle of Hell was Clay’s house. He got to have mellow woodwork, comfy furniture, warm-looking rugs. The richest colors were in these scenes too. So Illumination can do that when they want to.
Kelly: Yes. The scenes that took place in Clay’s home and its paradisal setting provided a welcome oasis of visual calm. And if the simple "she wouldn't want you to live this way" resolution of Clay’s story seems a little easy and obvious, it might seem more revelatory to a child. “Stuck In A Moment,” sung sensitively by the aforementioned ScarJo, was the perfect fit.
PJ: You’re right, of course. How about that ultimate show scene? As many times as I saw the trailer, I was not quite prepared for Clay to hit that defiant chord as he walks on to the stage. Okay, he’s not really Bono. (Oh, but my heart.) Also, I was under the impression that “ISHFWILF” was going to be a major tour-de-force scene with everyone joining in. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. Bono and ScarJo did an understated duet, and Bono sounded just really, really good.
Kelly: It’s probably for the best that they removed the "I was burning inside her" verse.
PJ: Yes. Let the kids find it on Youtube. Imagine the reaction videos!
Kelly: No U2 song was used in its entirety, which was the norm for this movie. But cut-off tunes are how earworms start. These people know what they’re doing.
PJ: True. Still, I cannot fully accept that a grizzled old rocker like Clay would acquiesce to hitting the road with what’s essentially a Radio City Music Hall Christmas extravaganza. I hope that didn’t give Bono any ideas.
Kelly: Oof. That’s truly frightening, but he’s already done Broadway, so maybe we can relax.
PJ: Let’s talk about Bono’s voice. “No I can’t. I haven’t even heard one of my own songs in fif-teen-years! Mmmmmph.”
Kelly: Any U2 fan will exhibit at least some kind of Pavlovian response when they hear that voice (heck, his breathing alone will send you). Bono’s Irish-ish accent is buried beneath a deep, rumbly layer that’s sprinkled with a teaspoon of MacPhisto cockiness and contempt. It’s not his normal speaking voice. This is something he crafted, and it’s a believable lion’s voice that wouldn’t have been out of place alongside James Earl Jones or Jeremy Irons in The Lion King. When Clay finally sings, he sounds a lot more like Bono (probably unavoidable, but maybe this more joyful noise is the sound of Clay’s grief lifting). What must have been an enjoyable afternoon's work for Bono is now immortalized, and I wouldn’t be surprised if, in twenty years or so, the movie’s target audience finds itself inexplicably attracted to people with deep, rumbly voices.
Because it’s also kind of sexy.
PJ: “This more joyful noise is the sound of Clay’s grief lifting.” Dammit, Kelly. That’s it. That’s the take.
But one final thought from me: Why do these animals in this alternate universe know all the same songs that we know? Where are the artists who really wrote and performed the songs? Why does the whole cast of characters know “Streets?” Did Clay Calloway write it? Did he write “Stuck in a Moment” and “ISHFWILF?” Where is U2? What has happened to them?
Kelly: PJ, don’t spoil the plot of Sing 3: We’re Getting The Band Back Together! And to the fans who cringed at the thought of U2 Music and Bono Himself appearing in an animated movie for little kids, I say it’s a canny move. Think about it: who are the parents of most of these kids? Millennials, a.k.a. the generation that will never forgive U2 for messing up their iTunes. And now, wtf, here this band is again, appearing uninvited in a movie that will get watched repeatedly by their children. U2 aren’t uploading their songs into phones now. They’re uploading their songs into kids.
This stunt is similar to the one the BeeGees pulled after everyone decided that Disco Sucks. The BeeGees pivoted to writing songs for other people. They disappeared behind those artists’ faces but they were still there. And now it’s old, unforgivable U2’s turn to disappear behind cute, heroic animals and present their music to a new generation that has no preconceived notions about them and is therefore primed to love them. And there’s nothing their whining parents can do about it. So it’s a thumbs up from me.
PJ: And a slightly more reserved thumbs up from me!
Forgot to mention: As discussed in interviews and on social media, “Your Song Saved My Life” is a perfect song on which to end the tale. Remember the cast of Almost Famous singing “Tiny Dancer” on the bus? Same feel.
Overall rating: 👍 👍 ; needs more 🦁