SING 2 (Cert U, 110 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, Animation/Musical/Comedy/Romance, available now via Premium Video On Demand rental, available from April 15 on Amazon/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from April 25 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £26.99)
Featuring the voices of: Matthew McConaughey, Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon, Nick Kroll, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, Bobby Cannavale, Bono, Chelsea Peretti, Jennifer Saunders.
KOALA impresario Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) invites talent scout Suki (Chelsea Peretti) from Crystal Entertainment to appraise his reworking of Alice In Wonderland.
She walks out during the first half: "You're not good enough. You'd never make it in the big league."
Buster is crestfallen until his mentor, retired sheep diva Nana Noodleman (Jennifer Saunders), inspires the bear to have "guts, stamina, faith" and gatecrash Crystal Entertainment's auditions in Redstone City hosted by arctic wolf chief executive Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale).
Porcupine punk rocker Ash (Scarlett Johansson) reunites with the gang for the try-out, but Crystal is unimpressed until Gunter pitches the idea of a sci-fi extravaganza that would woo lion rock star Clay Calloway (Bono) back to the stage after a 15-year hiatus.
Crystal gives Buster three weeks to realise Gunter's outlandish fantasy.
Sing 2 is a computer-animated sequel, which dances to the same tune as the 2016 original but with greater gusto and more polished animation on the slickly choreographed song and dance numbers.
Director Garth Jennings and co-director Christophe Lourdelet have learnt from some of their previous mistakes to deliver a crowd-pleasing but narratively simplistic follow-up that preaches the same messages of unity and courage to a soundtrack of Prince, Shawn Mendes, Coldplay, The Struts and U2.
It is exceedingly sweet fare with sporadic giggles courtesy of an ageing iguana with an ill-fitting glass eye, who serves as the perfect paintball target in the sequel's most snort-inducing interlude.
Aside from scene-stealing reptilian antics, Jennings' script milks gentle laughs from obvious targets and shamelessly plucks heartstrings by addressing grief at surface level.
RATING: 3/5
ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL (6 episodes, streaming from April 15 exclusively on Netflix, Thriller/Romance)
WRITER and producer David E Kelley kept viewers on the edge of their seats a couple of years ago with The Undoing starring Hugh Grant as a successful oncologist, who is implicated in a murder and faces a trial by media in front of his wife (Nicole Kidman).
There are echoes of that binge-worthy saga in this six-part psychological thriller which walks the blurred line between justice and privilege, adapted from Sarah Vaughan's novel by Kelley and co-writer Melissa James Gibson.
MP James Whitehouse (Rupert Friend) is on an upward trajectory in Westminster, flanked by his beautiful wife Sophie (Sienna Miller) and a loving family.
A scandalous secret threatens to derail his rise to power and his fate rests in the hands of prosecuting barrister Kate Woodcroft (Michelle Dockery).
She has the power to destroy the Whitehouse marriage and expose the grubby reality of the political elite.
Anatomy Of A Scandal is directed by SJ Clarkson, who helmed key episodes of Life On Mars.
