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UNIVERSAL

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Garth Jennings
Cast:
Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson
Writing Credits:
Garth Jennings

Synopsis:
Buster Moon and his friends must persuade reclusive rock star Clay Calloway to join them for the opening of a new show.

MPAA:
Rated PG.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English Dolby Atmos
English DVS
Spanish Dolby 7.1
French Dolby 5.1
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French

Runtime: 110 min.
Price: $34.98
Release Date: 3/29/2022

Bonus:
• 2 Mini-Movies
• Outtakes
• “Meet the Animators” Featurette
• Sing-Alongs
• “How to Dance and More” Featurettes
• “The Voices of Sing 2” Featurette
• “From the Drawing Room” Featurettes
• “How to Draw” Featurettes


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
-LG OLED65C6P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV
-Marantz SR7010 9.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD AV Surround Receiver
-Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player
-Chane A2.4 Speakers
-SVS SB12-NSD 12" 400-watt Sealed Box Subwoofer


RELATED REVIEWS


Sing 2 [Blu-Ray] (2021)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (April 4, 2022)

With a fairly modest $75 million budget, 2016’s Sing turned a more than tidy profit, as it brought in $634 million worldwide. Inevitably, this led to 2021’s Sing 2.

Small-town showbiz impresario Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) hopes to take his cast of local performers to the big time setting of Redshore City. However, when a prominent critic (Chelsea Peretti) declares that the show lacks what it takes to make it in the major leagues, he deals with a crisis of confidence.

This doesn’t last, so the ever-optimistic decides to push ahead with plans to take his crew to Redshore City and audition for mogul Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale). To seal the deal, Buster lies and claims he knows reclusive rock legend Clay Calloway (Bono), a prevarication that adds to a mix of complications.

On the surface, Sing 2 looks like a big financial letdown after the first film’s heights. The sequel brought in $387 million worldwide, a sum that equaled about 61 percent of its predecessor’s gross.

However, Sing 2 reached screens while the COVID-19 pandemic still damaged box office returns – well, for any movie not about Spider-Man, at least. Sing 2 made it to 8th place at the 2021 year-end chart, just a smidgen below the much-more hyped James Bond effort No Time to Die.

I admit I went into Sing 2 without much enthusiasm because the first flick did little for me. While perfectly watchable, the 2016 film felt uninspired and never better than just okay.

Despite – or perhaps because of – this absence of excitement for the sequel, I find Sing 2 to exceed expectations. Nothing here dazzles, but the movie throws enough at the screen that some of it sticks.

Though Sing 2 pursues the overall narrative I mentioned in my synopsis, in reality it spreads the “story” pretty thin. All the threads work toward the execution of Moon’s big show, but the film wanders down a bunch of character paths.

On the surface, these seem like they should send the movie off the rails. Sing 2 frolics from one role to another with alacrity and lacks a particularly clear through-line.

However, the slew of plot points manages to give Sing 2 more energy than I would expect. The filmmakers manage to make the various character beats fun and none of them wear out their welcome.

Sing 2 comes with few pretensions about what it attempts. Oh, it hopes to create some emotional impact with its characters, especially in the way it paints Clay’s attempts to work through grief.

Nonetheless, most of Sing 2 just aspires to provide some comedy and music without a whole lot more. And that doesn’t seem like a bad thing, as not every movie needs to turn into something Really Meaningful.

Can I say I loved Sing 2? No, but it seems breezier and livelier than its predecessor, so it winds up as a fairly engaging animated effort.


The Disc Grades: Picture A-/ Audio B+/ Bonus C+

Sing 2 appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. As I expected, the transfer looked terrific.

Sharpness was fine across the board. Virtually no softness appeared, as the movie delivered satisfying definition.

No signs of jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, and edge haloes were absent. Of course, print flaws never manifested themselves.

Sing 2 came with a palette that mildly emphasized teal, with a general pastel sense as well. The colors showed a good sense of vividness and worked well.

Blacks were dark and deep, while low-light shots offered nice clarity and smoothness. This became an appealing visual presentation.

With Sing 2, we get a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, this mix offered a lively soundscape, especially during the action sequences. Those fleshed out the spectrum in an involving way and gave us nice chances for movement.

This allowed the surrounds to play an active role. The track worked well enough in the early stages but it picked up more as it went, especially as the film neared its climax. The various channels got a good workout in this engrossing soundscape.

Audio quality seemed pleasing. Speech always sounded distinctive and concise, while music was peppy and rich.

Effects offered solid reproduction, with clean highs and deep lows. I liked this mix and thought it gave the movie life.

As we shift to extras, we find two mini-movies: For Gunter’s Eyes Only (3:44) and Animal Attraction (4:12).

In the former, a hypnotist makes Gunter believe he’s a secret agent, while in the latter, Darius acts in a TV commercial. Both offer moderate amusement.

A collection of Outtakes spans two minutes, seven seconds. It shows the actors in the recording studio, as they goof and emote. Though blooper reels don’t work for me, I like this one’s glimpse of the performers at work.

Meet the Animators goes for four minutes, 34 seconds and involves writer/director/actor Garth Jennings, animators Coline Veith, Charlotte Kristof, Basile Heiderscheid, Rudi Lolal, Nastassia Le May, and Annike Pienaar, animation directors Pierre Leduc, Patrick Delage and Pierre-Francois Duhamel, supervising animator Quentin Piq, and actors Nick Kroll and Matthew McConaughey.

As expected, we get some basics about the animation processes. Nothing substantial emerges but we find a few good notes.

Next come six Super Sing-Alongs. These present movie segments accompanied by on-screen lyrics. They do nothing for me, but someone must like these since Blu-rays and DVDs continue to include them.

Six segments appear under How to Dance & More. “How to Dance” lasts four minutes, 48 seconds and features lead choreographer Sherrie Silver as she demonstrates some of the film’s moves. Like the Sing-Alongs, this does nothing for me, but kids might dig it.

The subsequent five featurettes break into these areas “Stage Design 101” (1:37), “Make-Up” (4:53), “Mics” (1:40), “Costumes” (2:20) and “Props” (2:32).

Across these, we get tutorials on how to complete the described activities to put on shows at home. Expect more kid-oriented instructions.

The Voices of Sing 2 splits into subdomains that feature Matthew McConaughey (2:01), Reese Witherspoon (1:43), Taron Egerton (2:09), Tori Kelly (1:42), Nick Kroll (2:05) and Garth Jennings (1:46). They offer some character and performance basics but the clips exist for promotional reasons.

Seven more pieces appear under From the Drawing Room. “Talent Talk With Tori Kelly” lasts eight minutes, 29 seconds and provides a chat between Jennings and Kelly.

They discuss Kelly’s leap from singer to actor. Some insights arise but don’t expect much.

“Choreography” fills six minutes, 55 seconds and includes notes from Jennings and Silver as they discuss the movie’s various dance sequences. They provide a decent view of the topic.

Up next, “Friends and Family” goes for two minutes, eight seconds and features Jennings as he points out those who play some of the small roles. This becomes a fun look at semi-Easter eggs.

“Costumes by Rodarte” occupies three minutes, 24 seconds and delivers statements from Jennings and costume designers Kate Mulleavy and Laura Mulleavy. They provide some useful notes about the movie’s clothing choices.

Two “Anatomy of a Scene” clips follow for “The Bus Sequence” (1:46) and “The Bicycle” (1:40). These involve Jennings and show how various components connect for the end result. These offer brief but enjoyable overviews.

“From Scratch to Voice” goes for 10 minutes, 41 seconds and offers comments from Jennings. He covers how the rough performances lead to final acting. Expect a pretty good look at the subject matter.

Finally, “Singing” runs two minutes, two seconds and brings in remarks from Jennings, Kelly, and Egerton. This offers a short and superficial view of the musical performances.

How to Draw concludes the disc with tutorials for “Buster Moon” (2:29), “Ash” (2:21), “Johnny” (2:40), “Miss Crawly” (2:40) and “Clay Calloway” (3:00).

Co-director Christophe Loudelet leads us through these lessons. They become moderately informative.

A sequel that works better than the original film, Sing 2 manages to deliver a reasonably lively animated tale. Nothing here dazzles, but we get enough comedy and adventure to make the end result likable. The Blu-ray boasts excellent visuals as well as very good audio and a long roster of somewhat superficial bonus materials. While not a classic, Sing 2 largely entertains.

Viewer Film Ratings: 3.75 Stars Number of Votes: 4
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