Along with upstart stop-motion outfit Laika, Illumination Entertainment has emerged as a new player in the world of animation, a force to rival the titans of Pixar and DreamWorks. Illumination was most notably responsible for the Despicable Me films and their demon bastard offspring Minions, though let’s not hold that second one against them. The original Despicable Me was plenty of fun, as was Illumination’s rendition of Dr. Seuss’ classic tale The Lorax. So, there’s little reason to assume their upcoming feature Sing will be anything less than a great time. (Well, Minions is actually an okay reason to assume that. Please, God, don’t let this be another Minions.)
From the look of the newly unveiled teaser embedded above, there’s no immediate cause for concern. Not unlike the upcoming Zootopia, this trailer lays the animal-based humor on thick, though this film refracts most of those jokes through the lens of music. The majority of the trailer above takes the form of a talent show audition for a showcase of local singers mounted by the proprietor of a local theater, who is also a koala and has the voice of Matthew McConaughey. As a city’s worth of animals gradually come to understand the enduring populist appeal of American Idol, The X Factor, America’s Got Talent and the like, a wild menagerie takes a shot at superstardom. Some of these jokes work pretty well — it is objectively hilarious that a snail is wearing a bow tie while singing “Ride Like The Wind” by Christopher Cross — others not so much — the ensemble of bunnies performing “Anaconda” feels like low-level DreamWorks zeitgeist-courting. There are little snippets of story here and there, a mother pig worried that her litter of piglets may not leave room for her dreams, a crafty koala making one last push to save his livelihood, but it looks like this film will stand behind its soundtrack for the most part. Mercifully, that soundtrack has “Kiss From A Rose” by Seal, so we’ll probably be okay.
