SING

(2016) Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) is a koala bear who has always dreamed big.  Growing up with a love for musical theater, Buster himself has now owned a theater for some time that has never seen a hit show or even turned a profit.  Facing bankruptcy and the loss of the theater his father worked hard to get for him, Buster comes up with the idea to hold a city-wide singing competition to bring in publicity and fill seats, and finally turn his luck around.  Set in a Zootopia-like big city full of every animal breed you can think of, the finalists Buster picks - Johnny (Taron Egerton), a piano-playing gorilla trying to break ties with his wannabe-crime family; Rosita (Reese Witherspoon), a pig determined to find a way to remain a crackerjack wife/mother for her husband and large family while pursing her dream; Mike (Seth MacFarlane), a wise-cracking mouse who croons like Sinatra; Gunter (Nick Kroll), a German pig who fancies himself the king of disco; Ash (Scarlett Johansson), a rock-n-roll porcupine burdened with an angry boyfriend when she makes it into the competition and he doesn't; and Meena (Tori Kelly), a painfully shy elephant who, too paralyzed with fear to sing, ends up as Buster's backstage flunkie - all have their own backstories making them determined to win the top prize ... until a misplaced decimal and a gang of larcenous bears not only put the competition but Buster's very theater in jeopardy.  The top-notch cast, a strong sense of humor, some good musical numbers, and likable characters aid the colorful but standard animation, and while the ending fell a little flat for me overall the film is a fun, funny, mostly family-friendly tale of following your dreams and making them come true. (rated PG)  7/10 stars