Opening with a psychedelic rendition of a musical version of Alice in Wonderland, Sing 2 makes its first of many attempts at creating a captivating art style to make up for its lackluster writing and uninteresting characters, only to end up coming short in this category as well. Throughout its run as a major animation company, though regularly releasing blockbuster hits such as Despicable Me and The Secret Life of Pets, Illumination has failed at achieving critical acclaim from more mature audiences, instead receiving the majority of their praise from their younger demographic. This trend continues with their newest release, Sing 2, a sequel to 2016’s Sing. Sing 2 picks up where we left off, after the ensemble of singers, dancers, and performers gather for their theater’s grand reopening. 

Starring Buster Moon, a hallowed koala with a penchant for unnecessary problems, played by Matthew McConaughey of Interstellar, and an inept group of animals, the entire sequel revolved around mundane “character development” and sophistry. Unfortunately, including iconic songs like “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' and “I Like It” did not save Garth Jennings's direction. The conflict of the film erupts when Moon is shut down by a mordant scout after his presumed perfect Alice in Wonderland performance. This rejection causes him avoidable, self-inflicted stress, pushing him to frantically chase down the scout and insist on an audition. With the turn in the plot, the film now focuses on the struggles of the capitalist entertainment industry and the hardships faced when friends betray each other’s moral interests. 

Though in the beginning, the plot had value, the number of characters quickly surpassed the quality of their personalities throughout the film. With a total of ten main characters, the film poorly represents the idea of coherency and motive with an abundance of unnecessary montages. The highlight of the film was the bonding relationship between Ash, played by Scarlett Johansson, most famous for her role in Home Alone 3, and Clay Calloway, played by Bono, the lead singer of U2. However, this budding rock and roll friendship was seemingly forgotten in the final number, and lacked the attention that other plotlines received, such as the unnecessary focus on irrelevant characters like Mina. Sing 2 lacked structure and strong characters, with numerous plot holes throughout the two-hour movie. With smug, vexing main characters and terribly organized plot structure, Sing 2 perfectly captured what not to do in an animated film. Recommending this movie would not just be a travesty, but downright disrespectful.