Hi everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!
Better late than never (I know the screening was a few weeks ago, but between being on vacation, and taking a very demanding new job, this is the first time I've had enough time to get it submitted), this is the concluding entry in my blog's annual partnership with St. John's United Methodist Church for this year's Summer at the Movies series, and we'll be finishing on a very strong note by looking at last year's 'Sing 2'!
For those unfamiliar with the 'Sing' series, it is a "Jukebox musical" series set in a world of anthropomorphic animals similar to the Disney film 'Zootopia' (In fact, I actually think it handles that particular concept better than 'Zootopia,' as it includes animal groups not featured in that movie, such as primates, birds and reptiles). The first one centers around Buster Moon, a koala who holds a singing competition in the hopes of saving an old theater he was deeply attached to, and in the process gains a quite diverse group of gifted aspiring singers: Porcupine rocker Ash, British gorilla Johnny (My favorite of them), pig homemaker Rosita and her flamboyant dance partner Gunter, and the shy but incredibly talented elephant Meena.
In this one, having saved and restored the theater in the first film, Buster has now turned it into a nice enough performance venue using some of the performers from the first movie. However, a play they put on fails to impress a major talent scout who tells him they'd never make it in the major metropolis of Redshore City.
Determined to prove her wrong on this, Buster gets the singers back together and they travel to the city to pitch their latest show idea to big- time entertainment mogul Jimmy Crystal, a wolf who has a lot of influence on the city's entertainment scene and the money to make their show a success.
To further appeal to him, they lead him to believe they can get legendary rocker Clay Calloway (Voice of musical legend Bono) to perform for the show. However, when they attempt to recruit Calloway, they learn the aging lion is embittered with fame and music in general after his wife's passing and has no interest in performing again.
Buster and Ash (A lifelong fan of Calloway's) set out to try and convince him to appear in the performance, especially as Jimmy has openly said he'll straight- up KILL Buster if the production is not a success, but that's far from the only problem the production faces. Rosita's fear of heights hinders her from performing a key stunt in the play, Jimmy insists that his daughter Porsha be given a part in the musical, Meena is cast in a romantic role but can't get into character because she's never been in love before, and Johnny struggles to learn choreography for his number even though he's never been good at dancing.
It all comes down to the night of the big performance, and seeing if everything can come together to create a show that will never be forgotten.
'Sing 2' probably could have used a better main antagonist. Jimmy was a pretty straightforward "Rich jerk who's a proxy for Donald Trump" villain. He could have used a little depth, maybe a reason why he was so opposed to the idea of anything that might potentially embarrass him (i.e. Maybe a childhood memory in which he was traumatically humiliated by someone).
Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed 'Sing 2,' perhaps even more than I liked the first film in the series. It had loads of humor, a bit of heart, and some pretty awesome musical numbers!
It continued the nice trend of having a little subplot for each of the major characters, and brought in a few new ones that were mostly handled pretty well.
As I said earlier, my favorite character in the 'Sing' series is Johnny the gorilla, both because gorillas are among my favorite animals on Earth and because he is simply a very sympathetic and relatable character in each of the movies. His subplot involves him initially being set up with a professional high- end choreographer, a proboscis monkey called Klaus Kickenklober (Gotta love that name), to learn his dance moves for the show, but the merciless jerk insists Johnny will never get it and never be great. Undaunted, he turns to a charming street- dancing lynx named Nooshy who helps him truly get in touch with his inner dancer. It makes for a very satisfying subplot to the movie, especially when it comes to fruition with a couple final twists in the performance.
One new character who I ended up liking a LOT more than I thought I would was Jimmy Crystal's daughter, Porsha (Voice of pop singer Halsey). In her first couple scenes, she's just a stereotypical spoiled, demanding ditz. However, around the second half of the movie, you start to like Porsha a LOT more, as it's clear that she does have her talents (Though acting is not one of them), and can put them to amazing use in the performance. Seeing her shake off the shackles of her father and become her own person is wonderful to see.
Clay Calloway is a great character, too. You can feel the inner torment he's in of wanting to rejoin the world again, but being trapped by the grief he still feels over his wife Ruby. Bono injects a good deal of emotion into Clay's voice in every scene. A really nice visual occurs with Clay near the film's climax. Clay is still determined to not do the show, but then hears Ash downstairs on his porch playing one of his songs. As he begins walking towards her, we see pictures of his late wife Ruby on the wall, including one presumably near the end of her life, which shows her in a wheelchair. Then, at the bottom of the stairs, he must pass by an open closet with Ruby's wheelchair stored inside it. I felt like that symbolized Clay literally and figuratively moving past his grief and obtaining a new lease on life.
The songs in 'Sing 2' are all amazing. Starting with a fun performance of "Let's Get Crazy" in the beginning of the movie, and continuing especially into the climax with the actual show being performed, with highlights being Johnny's performance of "Sky Full of Stars" during his big combat/ dance number, Porsha's rendition of "It Could Have Been Me," and Clay performing the U2 classic "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." It'll be VERY tough to resist singing along to these stellar musical numbers!
There are a couple good faith- based messages to be taken from 'Sing 2.'
The first, from the devotional that I had passed out at the screening, was on not running from our problems and responsibilities. Near the film's climax, Buster has incurred the wrath of Jimmy, who will be sending hit men after him any minute, and is preparing to quietly flee town. At that moment, Clay (Who by this point has been convinced to join the show) comes along and, seeing what Buster is planning to do, points out to him that "Runnin' and hidin' away ain't all it's cracked up to be." I pointed out that this was similar to what Jonah went through in the first chapter of the book of the Bible named after him. He was told by God to go to Nineveh and convince them to repent and turn to the Lord, but he didn't want to do this, and so he tried fleeing from this responsibility. He tried hitching a boat ride to Tarshish, but God wouldn't let this happen. He first sent a storm to stop the voyage, then sent a great fish to swallow Jonah for three days. This led to Jonah repenting and agreeing to do what God told him to do. Just like Buster eventually did in the movie, Jonah realized he couldn't run from his responsibilities. Similarly, we can't run from our responsibilities and trials in life, even if they seem scary. We need to confront them with the courage of knowing that God is always looking out for us and wants what's best for us.
Another Scriptural lesson to be taken from 'Sing 2' is on confidence through faith, using Johnny's struggle to learn dancing as an example. Nooshy's dance lessons help Johnny a lot, but what really enables Johnny to excel at dancing is her helping him to slowly yet surely regain his inner confidence that Klaus had destroyed during his brutal early lessons. As she puts it, "Just forget what Klaus told you, and go with the flow!" She helps Johnny learn a little bit at a time, restore his faith in himself, and before long, he can flawlessly perform the routine! Even on the big night, when Klaus attempts to disrupt his big routine and shake him emotionally, Johnny is able to stand up to him and give a magnificent performance. This calls to mind Psalm 16:8-9, which says "I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; My flesh also dwells secure." Keeping the Lord before us, as the first thing in our minds and on our hearts, can give us enough confidence that we can endure anything that the world may throw at us, be it naysaying bullies like Klaus in the movie, or our inner feelings of guilt, failure or inadequacy. Sometimes it can be hard (Believe me, considering my new job, that's something I've been experiencing firsthand a lot), but it is always worth it in the end. Trusting in Him can enable us to have the courage to move mountains and do incredible things for His Kingdom.
That's about all there is to say about 'Sing 2,' a nice fun sequel with brilliant songs and even more brilliant messages about how we need to face our responsibilities head- on, and how trusting in Jesus can give us the courage and confidence to do incredible things in life. I'd say those lessons are really something to sing about!
That's it for this year's Summer at the Movies series, and for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. Keep your eyes open for some future entries I have in mind for the coming weeks and months, stay safe and healthy, and may God bless you all!
