Sing

Some say he is the worst showman this zoorific California city has ever seen, a failed dreamer, a flop -- but Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey), a koala bear with ambitions for show biz success and debt up the wazoo, plans to save his family business from foreclosure.

He's going to throw a high-profile, singing competition for amateurs at the theater his father sacrificed everything to buy.

With the help of his unfocused friend Eddie Noodleman (John C. Reilly), a sheep with more interest in PlayStation than playmaking, Buster sets out to drum up sponsorship and start auditions. What he puts together is a motley group of finalists with personal problems of their own.

Rosita (Reese Witherspoon) is a full time mom with over two dozen hyperactive piglets to raise, but she also has a set of pipes and hope for the big time. Too bad she has no stage presence. That's why Gunter (Nick Kroll) comes in to save her bacon. He's a flamboyant hog with European tendencies and the ham hocks of a hoofer.

Johnny (Taron Egerton) is learning the family business: Larceny. But if his dad only knew what this gorilla could accomplish behind a keyboard, the gang leader might let his heir go legit. Meantime, Ash (Scarlett Johansson), a punk-rocking porcupine, drops her duo act to go solo, making her own kind of music.

Meena (Tori Egerton) is the teenaged Susan Boyle of the elephant world. She's got an amazing talent but she painfully shy. With the right encouragement, though, she can bring down the house.

Unfortunately, a crooning little mouse with a huge ego, Mike (Seth MacFarlane), suffers from a gambling addiction that could crush the whole enterprise to the ground, and (at least for a while) actually does.

Produced by Illumination Entertainment, the people who brought us "The Secret Lives of Pets," and written and directed by Garth Jennings ("Son of Rambo"), "Sing" is a jukebox musical that fits the songs into the story rather than the other way around.

The soundtrack has a little of everything, from Irving Berlin to the Beatles, Stevie Wonder to Taylor Swift with some Queen sandwiched in the middle. And for the most part, the voice actors are singing their own music. (Who knew that Scarlett Johansson could rock a lead vocal?)

This Blu-ray comes complete with a load of specially designed bonus features, music videos and three brand-new mini-movies.

With popular songs and a feel-good message, "Sing" animates the freewheeling feeling of forgetting your fears and letting the music loose.

"Sing"
Blu-ray Combo Pack
$19.99
www.singmovie.com