A koala named Buster Moon has one final chance to restore his theater to its former glory by producing the world’s greatest singing competition.

It feels somewhat strange to criticise an animated film for doing what it says on the tin, but that’s the way of the world when there’s been such strong efforts over the past 20 years that have managed to entertain both children and adults alike. I guess that’s a long winded way of saying that ‘Sing’ is a film aimed purely at children, and therefore as an adult it doesn’t really connect. Spurious criticism aside, ‘Sing’ is another well made animation from the studio that made the ‘Despicable Me’ films, and it’s simple story and colourful characters are likely to keep any kids entertained.

The film is centred on Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey), a koala bear who runs a theatre in an anthropomorphic city, who is currently facing the threat of foreclosure from the bank after a series of unsuccessful attempts to revitalise a previously popular entertainment spot. In order to prevent this from happening and to safeguard the future of the theatre, he comes up with a plan to hold ‘X Factor’ style auditions to find stars for his latest variety show. This is where the film starts to have the most fun as a series of creatures great and small attend and we get numerous side stories as we follow these hopefuls looking to make it big. The stories are no different to the usual hard luck and tragic back stories you see in the actual ‘X Factor’, but some solid voicework and comedic developments keep the material on the light and breezy side.

The opening scenes feature a little too much of the squeaky jukebox numbers and it’s so in your face that it’s fairly annoying, but ‘Sing’ does settle into a steady groove once Buster amasses his talent and the story is allowed a little room to breathe. It’s nothing particularly original, and the ‘save the theatre’ storyline is clearly influenced by the likes of ‘The Muppets’ but there’s enough visual flair, cute characters and charm that to make ‘Sing’ a reasonably enjoyable film, although it’s definitely a film more for the kids!

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Christophe Lourdelet and Garth Jennings

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Tori Kelly, Taron Egerton, Nick Kroll, Nick Offerman, Garth Jennings, Peter Serafinowicz, Beck Bennett, Leslie Jones, Jay Pharaoh, Jennifer Saunders, Jennifer Hudson and Rhea Perlman

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3470600/