Western Animation / Sing 2

"But I still haven't found what I'm looking for..."

Sing 2 is a 2021 computer-animated Jukebox Musical from Universal and Illumination Entertainment. The movie is a sequel to Sing with Garth Jennings returning as the director and writer.

Following the events of the first film, Rosita, Gunter, Johnny, and Meena are performing regularly at Buster's new theater, which has achieved great—but local—fame and success. Buster is positive that they can go even higher, and so rounds up the gang (and Ash, who has started her own rock career) to go to Redshore City to audition for famous mogul Jimmy Crystal. A misunderstanding and a few lies secures the group a show, but one without any set ideas, and an impossible promise to feature the famous but reclusive rockstar Clay Calloway. While Buster tries to get the show in order, each character has their own issue to tackle: Johnny's part requires great dancing skills where he has none, Meena has a love duet but knows nothing about romance, Rosita's fear of heights (and Crystal's pressuring) loses her the leading role to Crystal's daughter Porsha, and Ash sets out to get Clay Calloway out of hiding.

The movie released in theaters on December 22, 2021.

In April 2023, it was officially announced that a third film in the Sing series is now in development.

Previews: Trailer 1, Trailer 2, Final Trailer

---

Sing 2 provides examples of:

#-E

• Accidental Misnaming: Darius calls Meena "Gina" on a few occasions. She corrects him the first time, only for him to tell her not to interrupt him. By the time the opening night for "Out Of This World" comes, she gives up on trying to set him straight entirely and accepts that it's pointless.
• Actor Allusion:
  • As a legendary musician and rock star, Clay Calloway has many similarities and parallels to Bono, to the point where he could be considered his direct counterpart within the Sing universe.
  • Jimmy Crystal is a Psychopathic Manchild who displays an explosive temper and is even willing to resort to murder when he feels disrespected, essentially a slightly more family-friendly counterpart to Gyp Rosetti.
• Adaptation Deviation: In-universe. Moon Theatre's production of "Alice in Wonderland" (from what little we see of it) seems to be a modern take on the classic story, with Alice being a high-school girl, the Cheshire Cat being female, and the White Rabbit being three female rabbits instead of one male rabbit.
• Aesop Amnesia: Downplayed, but it would seem the lesson Buster learned in the last movie, about what can happen when he's dishonest with people, didn't quite stick, since he digs quite a hole for himself when he decides to roll with Jimmy Crystal's assumption that he (Buster) knows Clay Calloway so he can close a business deal with him. Considering how anxious and fretful Buster's behavior is for most of the movie, however, even before he discovers Mr. Crystal is a murderous psychopath, it's pretty clear that he already knows this mistake will probably come back to bite him in the backside sooner or later. As the first thing he does after getting Crystal's approval is to get Ms. Crawly to start looking for Clay's whereabouts so the he can contact him, it's also clear that he fully intends to make good on his promise, no matter how long it'll take — and with Ash's help, he does.
• Alice Allusion: The film opens with the Moon Theater troupe putting their own unique spin on Alice in Wonderland with Meena as Alice, Rosita as the Cheshire Cat, Johnny as the Mad Hatter, Gunter as the Caterpillar, and a trio of white rabbits sharing the role of the traditional White Rabbit. For an added dose of fun and surrealness, Alice's introduction to Wonderland is backed by Prince's "Let's Go Crazy".
• All Part of the Show: During the climactic performance, Klaus hijacks Johnny's dance number and tries to humiliate him, though Nooshy and the other dancers improvise a rallying drum beat that inspires Johnny to fight back. When Johnny bests him, Klaus plays along and theatrically bows before him, and the audience are none the wiser that this incident wasn't planned.
• Artistic License – Biology: Clay Calloway has a white mane to show his age. In real life, a lion's mane actually darkens with age.
• Ascended Fangirl: Ash has been a massive fan of Clay Calloway for years, so naturally she's excited about getting the chance to actually work with her idol when Buster decides to recruit him for their show. Over the course of the film, Ash gets to know Clay as a person instead of a celebrity, helps him start to make peace with his grief, and during the climax, the two do indeed get to sing "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" together.
• "Awkward Silence" Entrance: When Buster and the troupe arrive at the top floor of the Crystal Entertainment building in their janitor disguises, the elevator door opens onto a room full of what turns out to be auditionees for Crystal's venue, all of whom stop what they're doing and turn to look at them. One juggler in the back misses catching a baton, which lands with a clatter, emphasizing the crowd's silence.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Porsha Crystal proves herself to be a talented singer and aerialist. But her acting skills? Not as much, as pretty much everyone notes. So when Porsha finally accepts the alien role and lets Rosita have the astronaut role back, Porsha's performance is much better, as the alien's part in Out Of This World involves more singing than acting.
• Bicolor Cows, Solid Color Bulls: In the first movie, bulls are black or brown, but no cows are shown. In the sequel, however, a black bull auditions with a brown-and-white cow.
• Big Bad: Jimmy Crystal is revealed during the second half of the film to be an unhinged, abusive, and utterly vicious Control Freak who will even resort to murder in response to anything that could put his reputation in jeopardy. Buster finds this out the hard way when Jimmy tries to throw him off the roof of his tower when he thinks the koala has fired his daughter Porsha, and later attempts to kill Buster again in the climax by throwing him off a catwalk. These acts cement him as arguably Illumination's darkest villain to date, especially for such an otherwise bright and light-hearted movie as this.
• Big Damn Heroes: During the climactic performance, Rosita rescues Buster from being dropped to his death by Jimmy Crystal just in the nick of time, conquering her fears of heights at the same time.
• Big "WHAT?!":
  • Everyone has this reaction when Buster tells them that they're going to jump out of a window to avoid getting caught by Jimmy's guards. Buster has a point, they have no other way to escape Jimmy's guards, so this is their best option.
    Buster Moon: But first...we're going to jump out of that window.
    Everyone: What?!
    Clay Calloway: I'm beginning to like this guy.
  • When Jimmy Crystal learns from Jerry that Buster is putting the show in the Crystal Theater behind his back.
    Jerry: It's Moon! He's taken over the theater and he's putting on a show right now!
    Jimmy Crystal: He's WHAAAATTT?!?!?!?! (Jimmy furiously gets out of bed nude, causing Jerry to Scream Like A Little Girl)
• Birds of a Feather: Meena needs to perform a romantic scene in the Out Of This World show, but she can't develop chemistry with the actor Darius who's been chosen to perform alongside her. Then Meena meets an elephant named Alfonso who owns an ice cream truck and they hit it off over their shared awkwardness and love of ice cream; this gives Meena the inspiration to perform the romantic scene with Darius perfectly in the climactic show.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: The Big Bad of the film, Jimmy Crystal, is a cold-hearted psychopath who will stoop to any level he deems necessary to protect his reputation. He's unrepentantly abusive towards everyone around him, and when he decides Buster is more trouble to him than he's worth, he goes so far as to try to murder him in cold blood, twice, to get rid of him (it's also heavily implied that he's already had several other murder victims before Buster). The Moon Theater troupe are much more friendly and kindhearted characters, who don't set out to harm anyone but are shown to have a shady side. They break quite a few laws to accomplish their goals, and after Jimmy tries to have them killed, they decide to retaliate by hijacking his hotel so they can put on an illegal show in the premises. They also have zero problems teaming up with a gang of recently retired bank robbers who just got out of prison a while ago, when Johnny suggests the idea.
• Black Comedy Burst: In the "Let's Go Crazy" intro, Meena sings oh so cheerfully "All excited, don't know why, maybe it's cause, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Then the music cuts out, and everyone's costumes turn into glow-in-the-dark skeletons for a few seconds, before they continue like nothing happened.
• Bookends:
  • Near the beginning of the movie, Buster chases after Suki's car on a bike to try and convince her to give the company another shot. At the end, Suki chases after the company's bus on a scooter as they're leaving Redshore City to tell them that a major hotel wants them to perform there.
  • At the start of the movie, Rosita decides to run out in front of a moving bus, so she can stop it in its tracks and convince her friends to go on the trip to Redshore City. At the end of the film, as the entire cast is on their way home back to Calatonia, Suki Lane decides to repeat the same trick so she can convince them to stick around Redshore City a little while longer and put on another show in the Majestic theater.
  • The previous movie began with a Flashback to a young Buster's first time in the theater, with the excited koala peeking out over the balcony. This movie ends with the adult Buster doing the same thing as he watches the troupe perform at the Majestic theater.
• Bowdlerize: In the "Cake By The Ocean" song sung by the flamingos, they sing "Let's lose our minds and go crazy, crazy!" instead of the original song ‘s "Let’s lose our minds and go f***ing crazy!" so the movie could keep its PG rating.
• Brutal Honesty:
  • At the beginning of the movie, Buster asks Suki the talent scout to give her honest opinion of his group's "Alice in Wonderland"-style performance, and Suki warns him that most people who ask for honest opinions don't really want to hear them. Buster insists that he wants to hear it, so Suki tells him that his act is good for the local theater it's being held at, but it's just not good enough for the big leagues.
  • When Johnny tells Klaus that Nooshy will give him some extra dancing lessons and Klaus insults her by calling her "riff-raff", Nooshy has no problem sharing her true feelings about him in return.
    Klaus: (sarcastically) Yes, I'm just a stupid, fat, old, monkey.
    Johnny: I don't think that at all.
    Nooshy: (grinning) I do.
  • When Jimmy's guards try to break in and capture the gang, Buster is frank about the situation.
    Johnny: (terrified) Are you saying we should fight these thugs?
    Buster: (matter-of-factly) No, no, they'll beat us to a pulp.
• Callback:
  • Before he gained his own living space in the newly rebuilt Moon Theater, Buster used to sleep in his desk drawer every night. When he's feeling depressed about Suki rejecting all of his ideas, he retreats into his desk drawer once again to be alone, much to Nana's annoyance.
  • In the first film, when Buster picked Johnny as the final contestant in his singing competition, the teenage gorilla excitedly exclaimed "yes!" to himself. He says the same thing again here, when Buster gives him a really cool part in the "Out Of This World" show, and he's even more enthusiastic about it this time.
  • Like in the previous film, Rosita's piglets once again pile on top of Buster when they visit their mother in Redshore City, completely smothering the koala, and he once again calls out for help. This time however, he seems to be a lot less distressed by their antics (and even a bit amused by them).
  • Miss Crawly still loves shouting at people through a megaphone. When Buster leaves her in charge of the production for a few days while he's away, she gets really, really into it.
  • In the first film, Marcus called out "There he is!" to his son, when he was excited about roping him into his gold-pillaging scheme. He greets Johnny the same way in this movie, but this time as a way of expressing his pride in him for going out and accomplishing his own dreams.
  • Just before the show is due to start, the Moon Theater troupe and their new friends / co-stars gather together for a group huddle, to psyche themselves up. They all happily decide to recite Buster's catchphrase from the last movie ("There's only one way left to go, and that's up!"), which has a certain sentimental value to them, since it's what brought the whole group together in the first place.
• The Cameo: Some characters from the first movie can be seen here and there in the sequel.
  • The whale in Calatonia's canal saves Buster Moon from the drink when the koala falls in, only to then launch him high into the air with water from its blowhole a few seconds later.
  • The red panda girls are enthusiastically attending Ash's show in Rick's club, cheering her on while she's onstage.
  • The rabbit girls that sung "Anaconda" in Buster's audition are part of the opening number.
  • One of the turtles from the number "I Love My Shoes" in the same audition is seen among the singers awaiting for the audition with Crystal.
• Celebrity Lie: When Gunter pitches his idea for a musical featuring songs by the legendary Clay Calloway, Crystal assumes that the Moon Troupe must know Calloway personally and can get him to perform again, with Buster playing along in order to get the show greenlit. In reality, Buster has never met or is even familiar with Calloway, and his and Ash's subplot mainly revolves around tracking down the reclusive former rock star to convince him to help them.
• Central Theme: Conquering your fears. Many of the characters in the film have to face the thing that scares them the most so they can accomplish their goals and move forward with their lives.
  • Meena has to face her fear of rejection so she can have a shot at asking out Alfonso.
  • Rosita has to face her fear of heights so she can fulfill her leading role in the show, and save Buster's life later on.
  • Johnny has to face his fear of Klaus, and his own self-doubt that he's not good enough to make it in a place like Redshore City.
  • Porsha has to face her fear of falling out of her father's favor, by deciding she no longer wants his approval anymore and siding with the Moon Theater troupe against him.
  • Clay has to face his fear of performing again, after being held back by his grief for so many years.
  • And Buster has to face both his fear of failure (after he gets his spirits dashed by Suki early on), and his fear of Jimmy Crystal (after he discovers how much of an unstable, murderous maniac the man is).
• Character Development:
  • Porsha is initially spoiled, and she overreacts to Buster trying to give her role back to Rosita by thinking she's been fired, crying to her father. But while her father does try to kill Buster in retaliation, he also yells at his daughter for "embarrassing" him, causing Porsha to realize her father doesn't actually care about her. So when Miss Crawly recruits Porsha back into the show, this time she's willing to accept the alien role and let Rosita have the starring astronaut role, and Porsha actually performs very well as an alien in the climax.
  • Suki the talent scout is very rude to Buster at the beginning of the movie, telling him he's just not good enough for the big leagues. But when Jimmy Crystal locks Buster in a room to kill him later, Suki's the one who lets Buster out and tries to give him an opportunity to escape town. She's also the one who calls the police to arrest Jimmy Crystal at the end when she realizes his true nature.
  • The side characters who return from the previous movie are all shown to be a lot more supportive of the Moon Theater troupe these days, as a sign of how they've gained a brand new level of respect for Buster Moon and their respective loved ones. There are some additional changes as well (like Nana being more friendly and sociable, Norman being a lot less stressed out and overworked, and Marcus, Stan and Barry making an effort to go straight) that indicate the events of the last movie had a positive impact on them in the long run.
• Chekhov's Gun: The audience is reminded early on, for a gag, that Rosita has a lot of children and that the piglets can easily swarm people like a great big ball of unbridled chaos. During the climax, Rosita and Norman decide to create a distraction (so the Moon Theater troupe can get down to work unencumbered) by setting their children loose in Mr. Crystal's hotel, letting the kids wreak havoc that the hotel's security team will have to deal with.
• Clothes-Eating Wager: When Klaus and Nooshy meet, Klaus is so convinced that his teaching style is superior to Nooshy's that he wagers that if Nooshy can actually make Johnny a great dancer in two days, Klaus will eat his hat. Nooshy does make Johnny a great dancer in two days, but Klaus doesn't follow through and eat his hat, he just grips his hat and walks away, giving Johnny an "I am watching you" gesture.
• Continuity Nod:
  • When a club owner refuses to pay her the full amount of money that he owes her for her services, Ash doesn't waste any time walking away from his venue, telling him that she has a rule about not letting guys like him tell her what she's worth. She's alluding to her ex-boyfriend Lance from the first movie, who strung her along and held her back from reaching her full potential for a long time, before she finally got fed up with him and broke up with him.
  • During "A Sky Full Of Stars", Marcus seems to be in awe of Johnny's performance onstage for a few moments, before he smiles warmly and says "That's my boy". This is because even though he's known his son for a long time now, the incredible amount of singing talent that Johnny possesses is something that he never knew existed until recently, and he's still getting used to it.
• Contrasting Sequel Setting: The first film took place entirely inside the small town setting of Calatonia, with the bulk of the movie in particular being centered around Buster's beloved Moon Theater. By comparison, Sing 2 leaves Calatonia behind it fifteen minutes in, and the vast majority of the film is set inside Redshore City, this universe's equivalent of Las Vegas, Nevada. The Moon Theater troupe spend most of the movie growing accustomed to just how huge this new location is compared to their hometown, and just how high everyone's expectations of them are now compared to what they're used to back home.
• Cool Car: Ms. Crawly's "rental car" is a bright red Lamborghini Countach.
• Costume Evolution: The Moon Theater Troupe have more slightly updated attires, but mostly in color:
  • Rosita's blouse is now light blue with little flower designs, and she now wears white jeans.
  • Gunter's jacket is more reflective gold with pineapples all around.
  • Johnny wears a dark cyan long-sleeved shirt under his jacket.
  • Meena's hoodie is now pink.
  • Ash now wears a red and white shirt over a long sleeved black shirt and black jeans under a plaid skirt (similar to her original outfit), red combat boots, and retained her red leather jacket from her "Set It All Free" performance.
• Cringe Comedy: Meena and Darius' rehearsal sessions fall under this brand of humor, for being incredibly awkward. Meena is really off her acting game, because of the immense discomfort she feels working with him, while Darius obliviously chews every last inch of scenery and repeatedly gets all up in her personal space. Even in-universe, their scenes together are apparently hard to watch, since Johnny and Rosita look more than a bit uncomfortable in the background.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In the climax, despite having the advantage in numbers, Jimmy's security detail is no match for Big Daddy's gang and are all knocked out without any of the gorillas going down.
• Dance-Off: The opening act of the "Out Of This World" show is supposed to be a heavily-choreographed dance battle between Johnny and his opponent Ryan on the Planet of War. However, it winds up becoming a dance battle between Johnny and Klaus, when Klaus steals Ryan's part in the show so he can try to upstage Johnny.
• Darker and Edgier: Sing 2 has a darker and more threatening tone than the first movie (and most Illumination films in general), largely because of the film's Big Bad, Jimmy Crystal, who tries to straight-up murder the main protagonist twice.
• Defiant to the End: When Jimmy has Buster in his clutches again, with basically no chance of the koala being rescued, he holds firm in his beliefs and refuses to be cowed by the wolf's bullying tactics any longer - even as Jimmy prepares to throw him off the side of a catwalk to his demise.
• Destination Defenestration: Jimmy keeps threatening to throw Moon off the roof of his tower if he disappoints him. And he actually tries to go through with it a couple of times.
• Diegetic Musical: Like the last film, Sing 2 is a movie that's all about the world of show business, so most of the songs are belted out in-universe during auditions, rehearsals, live performances, and impromptu covers that are improvised on the spot.
• Disney Acid Sequence: The opening "Alice In Wonderland" play, with the company players and extras in fruit costumes dancing to "Let's Go Crazy", complete with purple banana. Doubles a bit as Danger Room Cold Open, as it seems like Meena is just running through a forest and it takes a while before the stage elements are revealed.
• Disney Villain Death: Inverted and subverted. Jimmy throws Buster off a catwalk, leaving him to fall to his death. Rosita then overcomes her fear of heights, jumps down, and saves Buster from falling to his doom.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • Jimmy Crystal is so fiercely protective of his public image that he's willing to murder anyone he feels has made him look bad. After Buster lies about knowing Clay Calloway, and later "fires" Jimmy's daughter Porsha from the show, Jimmy is so furious that he attempts to drop Buster off the balcony.
  • Klaus becomes so resentful over Johnny improving through Nooshy's teachings rather than his own that he tries to humiliate Johnny during the big show.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: During the big show, Jimmy orders Porsha to get off the stage, and grows frustrated that she won't pay him mind. Never mind that she's killing it with her performance, never mind that his own flesh and blood is achieving her dream to some degree. He only cares about how it's not making him look good. Even when witnessing how spectacular Porsha's number is, he's too blinded by ego to understand this could make his theater look good in the long run.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Ms. Crawly has shades of this after Buster leaves her in charge. She barks orders through a megaphone and harshly berates the crew for falling behind and Porsha for showing up late.
• Drives Like Crazy: Ms. Crawly drives at high speed in a convertible and blindly follows her GPS directions, cutting across a field instead of following the road. She somehow gets the car back to the dealership after it is heavily damaged, but it looks like it breaks down right in front of the valet.
• Establishing Character Moment: Jimmy Crystal is introduced watching numerous auditions and cutting them short no matter how impressive they seem. Even when he finally seems intrigued, he still hits the buzzer in the end, cementing that he's cold, blunt, and incredibly hard to impress. When he steps on Jerry by mistake, he shows zero remorse about hurting the smaller feline and proceeds to snap at him for getting in his way, which foreshadows his self-centered personality.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Jimmy Crystal's top personnel, Jerry and Suki, are loyal professionals and seem willing to partake in even some of Jimmy's more ruthless business measures. However, they both look very uncomfortable when they see Jimmy snarl abuse at his own daughter, Porsha, for losing her role in the production, and when he finally decides to get rid of Buster in retaliation. When Crystal first tries to kill Buster, Jerry manages to buy the koala some time by reminding Jimmy of a TV appearance he has scheduled, with Suki freeing an imprisoned Buster while they're gone. As Jimmy becomes increasingly more unhinged and psychotic in his vendetta against Buster in the third act, Suki finally draws the line and angrily sics the police on him, though Jerry remains loyal to Jimmy as the latter is being taken away.
  • While Reformed Criminals Marcus, Stan and Barry are still perfectly willing to help the Moon Troupe break the rules and obliterate Jimmy Crystal's goons for them, they don't touch Jerry or Suki, being non-physical personnel of Crystal who are blatantly cowering throughout the scuffle rather than actively participating in it anyway.
• Exact Words: When Crystal comes under the impression that Buster knows Clay Calloway, Buster answers his questions with questions of his own that make it seem like he's giving affirmative answers while never technically lying.
  Crystal: Are you telling me you got Clay Calloway's permission to use his song?
  Buster: Well, what if I told you I did?
  Crystal: Okay, so what, you got some kind of personal connection to this guy?
  Buster: How else would I get it?
• Excuse Plot: In-universe. The plot of "Out of this World" is just an astronaut exploring four different planets in search of a missing space explorer. Said plot is just an excuse for the show to have its elaborate musical numbers.
• Eyepatch of Power: Ms. Crawly wears an eyepatch while taking charge of the production in Moon's absence, having lost her glass eye at Calloway's home. While wearing the eyepatch, she acts like a commanding taskmaster, as opposed to her usual sweet, flighty personality.

F-P

• Face Your Fears: Rosita discovers to her own unpleasant surprise that she's afraid of heights, which at first interferes with the astronaut role she needs to perform in the show. She finally overcomes her fear of heights to catch Buster when Jimmy Crystal tries to kill him by throwing him off a catwalk.
• Failure Montage: Klaus Kickenklober really puts Johnny through the wringer in one montage where the gorilla repeatedly fails at everything he commands him to do, despite the physical and emotional lashings Klaus subjects him to for hours. This grueling session is later contrasted with the considerably more fun and healthy experience he has training with Nooshy, where she encourages him to take a different approach to dancing that actually suits him, and as a result they manage to make a lot of progress in a short amount of time.
• Fake-Out Opening: The movie begins with Meena running through a dark forest, seemingly lost. She suddenly finds a door in a tree, passing through it to another world... and it is quickly revealed that the theater troupe are actually putting on their rendition of Alice in Wonderland.
• Family-Friendly Firearms: When Ms. Crawly accidentally triggers Clay's security system, he chases her off his property using a paintball gun. The paint stains covering Ms. Crawly's body when she warns Buster about him later even evoke bloodstains.
  Ms. Crawly: That lion, you see, he's crazy! Crazy! Oh, he's crazy! Pew! Pew! Pew!
• Foil:
  • Buster Moon and Jimmy Crystal contrast each other in a lot of areas. Buster comes from a very modest background and has always struggled to find success until recently, while Jimmy has been a very wealthy and influential celebrity for years. For all of his faults, Buster generally tries his best to help his performers reach their full potential, because they all share the same passion, while Jimmy is a very cold and detached manager who's only interested in cultivating talent so long as it can benefit himself. Buster has formed a lot of strong bonds with each member of his theater troupe, while Jimmy terrorizes and abuses his employees. Buster's friends will always have his back when he needs them, because he's earned their trust and respect, while Jimmy's jerkass behavior eventually results in Porsha and Suki turning against him when they both get fed up with him.
  • Jimmy and Porsha can be seen as foils to Marcus and Johnny from the first movie. Both parents have a child whom they're raising to eventually take the same role that they have, and both eventually lose their relationship with their children just before the climax of each film. However, in the first film Johnny had no desire to follow in Marcus' footsteps and did everything he could to go straight throughout his journey, even choosing not to go through with stealing the contest's prize money when he remembered Buster treating him kindly. Meanwhile, Marcus (who clearly loves his son, then and now) realized his mistake of failing to treat Johnny as his own person and reconciled with him. In the sequel, he's shown to have changed his ways himself alongside his gang when they're called in as backup, and his bond with Johnny is now stronger than ever. Porsha, by contrast, is a Spoiled Brat who initially relies on her father for everything in her life and throws a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants. But Jimmy only sees Porsha as a means to an end, is only concerned with how her supposedly being fired from Buster's show makes him look bad, verbally abuses her when she comes crying to him about it later, and ultimately causes her to see how little he truly cares about her, which motivates her to rejoin the Moon troupe in time for their climactic performance and cut ties with her father entirely.
  • Speaking of which, Jimmy and Marcus themselves are strictly foils, both being powerful figures that loomed over their children while ignoring their needs. However, while Marcus was completely extraneous to the show business his son wanted to join, Jimmy stands at the top and serves as Porsha's ticket in. While Marcus' obstruction came from sincere obliviousness, Jimmy is cold and uncaring. Marcus, despite his lack of interest in the singing competition, started watching as soon as he saw his son performing and wound up loving it, while Jimmy never bothers to watch Porsha's exhibition. In the climax of the second movie, Jimmy leads the forces trying to stop the Moon crew's performance, while Marcus is the one defending the troupe, reaching the point where Marcus physically restrains Jimmy. But when their children's production ends in a clamoring success, Marcus lets go, putting his son's success first, while Jimmy lunges, entirely absorbed in his rage and quest for vengeance.
• Foreshadowing:
  • A fairly subtle example. The opening number of the film is a rocking rendition of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" by Meena, Johnny, Rosita and Gunther. It's a song that repeatedly stresses that death to comes everyone at some point, so you ought to go wild and make the most of the time you've got while you've got it. In the climax of the film, Buster Moon and his performers decide to push forward with their biggest show yet and live out their dreams, in spite of the very real possibility that they could all get killed by an evil, vengeful businessman and his flunkies.
  • After Buster closes his deal with Jimmy, the latter twice warns the former not to mess things up, the first time by threatening to throw him off his roof if he does. His tone as he says this is not in any way lighthearted, because he's completely serious about that threat. Sure enough, when the production hits a snag that leads to him being publicly humiliated by proxy, he does try to throw Buster off the roof of his tower in retaliation, and later he succeeds at dropping him off a catwalk when he finds out that the koala (out of spite over Jimmy insulting the Moon troupe on TV) has put on an on-the-house performance behind his back.
  • While Gunter is working with Buster to decide what each troupe member's act will be during the "Out Of This World" show, he describes Ash's character as a star guiding Clay Calloway's character back home again. Later on in the film, that's essentially what Ash does for real. She convinces Clay to rejoin society again, after spending years stewing in his grief in solitude. Then she encourages him to face his fears and play his music again during the big show, when his confidence briefly abandons him.
• Fluffy Dry Cat: After Buster falls in a canal, he dries off by blowing a hand dryer at his face, resulting in all his face fur being fluffed up for a while.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • After how much he bonded with them in the previous movie, Buster now has framed pictures of Ash, Meena, Johnny, Rosita and Miss Crawly resting inside of his office in Moon Theater, alongside his cherished bucket that belonged to his late father. He also has one of the now-infamous flyers falsely advertising a $100,000 prize for the singing competition framed on his wall.
  • Jimmy Crystal has giant portraits of himself dressed as Napoleon Bonaparte hanging in his office, and a similar painting of him dressed as Louis XVI can be be briefly seen in his mansion when he's saying goodnight to Porsha, both serving as a testament to his narcissistic ego.
• Funny Background Event:
  • After the "Let's Go Crazy" number, Buster congratulates one of the back-up dancers for the great job they just did onstage. As Buster moves on to talk to the other members of the cast, the excitable young dog trips over his own two feet and face-plants on the floor behind him.
  • When Buster makes the decision to follow Suki's taxi cab on his bicycle, the audience can briefly see him catching up to her in the background with a big grin on his face before he finally manages to get her attention.
  • When Mr. Crystal's helicopter takes off, the gust of wind it creates blows his tiny assistant Jerry over and forces him to have to scramble to gather up all his paperwork before it can blow away. Buster and his friends completely ignore this, as they all gush about the exciting career opportunity they've just been given.
  • While Gunter is sharing some more ideas about the "Out Of This World" show with Buster in their hotel room, the other members of the Moon Theater troupe are chilling and relaxing on the couch behind them. Rosita catches Johnny off guard when she decides to throw a couch cushion into his lap.
  • While Darius is boasting to Meena about his many awards and his many accomplishments, his hair stylist repeatedly tries and fails to brush his hair, because he won't hold still long enough for her to do her job, and she gets increasingly exasperated about it.
  • While Meena is comedically suffering through her duet with Darius (trying her best not to cringe the whole time), Johnny and Rosita are watching the trainwreck happen with wild eyes themselves in the background, growing increasingly alarmed by the yak's overly-clingy behavior.
  • While Miss Crawly is scolding Porsha for once again fumbling her act with Gunter, Darius decides to spray some cologne on himself that apparently smells horrible, since Meena immediately covers her trunk with her hoof in disgust.
  • While a stressed out Jerry is talking to his boss over the phone, Marcus, Stan and Barry continue to easily toss around Jimmy's bodyguards and his security team in the background.
  • After "I Say A Little Prayer", Meena works up the courage to talk to Alfonso and arrange a date with him, while Darius runs and prances around the stage behind her, basking in the applause they're receiving.
• Furry Reminder: Buster is an anthropomorphic koala who usually displays more human traits than animal ones. However, there are several points in the film where he behaves like a real-world koala. While the theater animals are sneaking into Crystal Entertainment, Buster clings onto Johnny's arm to stay hidden out of sight, especially when they all come dangerously close to blowing their cover. Later, when Jimmy Crystal throws him off the side of his balcony to die, Buster manages to stay alive for a few seconds longer (until Jerry can intervene) by grabbing onto Jimmy's arm and holding on for dear life.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: A verbal version of this is done by Nana Noodleman at the beginning. After Suki the talent scout tells Buster that he's not good enough for the big leagues, Buster is morose and depressed, so Nana tells him that he shouldn't give up on what he wants just because of what a single talent scout said, and that Buster must have guts and faith to make it big. The pep talk works, inspiring Buster to try to have his group make it onto Jimmy Crystal's show.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: When Porsha storms off thinking Buster is firing her, she tells Buster him and his "stupid sky-fi show can go to heck".
• Green-Eyed Monster: After looking down on both Johnny and Nooshy for most of the movie, Klaus starts to grow very jealous when his least favorite student shows a lot of improvement using Nooshy's methods towards dancing instead of his own - and during the climax, he goes to some pretty extreme lengths to satisfy his wounded pride.
• Happily Married: Norman and Rosita have grown even closer as a married couple, now that Rosita's family has a greater understanding of her musical ambitions and they're completely supportive of them.
• Heel–Face Turn: Suki and Porsha both turn to Moon's side after seeing the extreme lengths Crystal will go to to preserve his reputation.
• Heroic Canines, Villainous Felines:
  • Suki the dog comes off dismissive and arrogant at first, but ultimately turns against her employer to save Moon. Jerry the cat stays loyal even after Suki has Crystal arrested. (This despite dogs being proverbially loyal and cats independent-minded; note that Jerry is named after the most famous cartoon mouse of all time.)
  • Inverted with Clay, who while initially gruff and unfriendly ends up bonding with Ash, acting as something of a mentor and Hermit Guru to Buster, and fully supporting the Moon Troupe in the end, while Jimmy Crystal is the Big Bad.
• Heroic Second Wind: During Johnny's performance during the show he faces his former instructor Klaus during the battle scene, who tries to humiliate him during the performance by swiping his stick from under him and declaring he will never be great. When it seems like Johnny is beaten, Nooshy begins a triumphant drum beat that is followed by the other performers, with Johnny getting back up and continuing, quickly wiping the floor with Klaus.
  Nooshy: Yeah, that's more like it!
• Hidden Depths: Due to undergoing an ambitious stage show, the whole Moon Theater group are made to double down this time, with many making unexpected contributions to the production:
  • Ash turns out to be a massive Clay Calloway fangirl, and ends up allying with Buster to get him out of reclusion. The originally moody and cynical teen proves to be an insightful source of empathy, finally bringing the heartbroken artist out of his shell over the death of his wife.
  • Gunter turns out to have a massive pool of creative genes, brainstorming a unique idea for the stage show that gets them approved by Crystal, and working directly with Buster on the story and stage conception. This reaches a point that Buster has to ask Gunter to narrow down on ideas.
  • In Buster's temporary absence, Ms. Crawly is left to take over stage direction. She proves jarringly authoritarian in getting things running, bordering on Drill Sergeant Nasty, effectively speeding up the production.
• Hope Spot: After Porsha is "fired", Crystal demands to speak to Buster, and the latter is utterly terrified as he approaches the office. Just before he enters, Buster receives a call from Ash revealing that she finally convinced Clay to join the show. Buster is relieved to have gotten exactly what Crystal wanted, and happily enters the office to let him know. Unfortunately, Crystal is much more focused on the embarrassment that he's suffered from Buster's debacle with Porsha, and getting Calloway in the show isn't enough to save Buster from his wrath now.
  Buster: Oh, this is great news. Seriously, you may have just saved my life here!
• Horrifying the Horror: Jimmy Crystal is a murderous psycopath, and arguably the most evil antagonist we've encountered so far in the "Sing" series. However, even he is afraid of the creepy-voiced, upside-down tarsier singing "Bury A Friend" during his auditions.
• Imagine Spot: This is how Meena is finally able to perform a perfect romantic scene alongside Darius in the climactic Out Of This World show: she imagines Alfonso the ice cream vendor elephant in Darius's place, which allows her to channel her newfound feelings for Alfonso into her scene with Darius, improving her performance.
• Ironic Echo Cut: When Jimmy expresses his doubt about whether or not Rosita can handle her leading role in the show, Buster quickly reassures him that there's nothing Rosita can't do. In the cut to the very next scene, Rosita fearfully proclaims "I can't do this!".
• Irony:
  • Jimmy bullies Buster into giving Porsha the astronaut role to make himself look good by proxy, and later attempts to kill Buster for embarrassing him by "firing" Porsha. Jimmy is not present for any of his daughter's rehearsals and thus fails to realize that, while Porsha is a talented aerialist and singer, she's a terrible actress. If Porsha had ultimately kept the lead role, her poor performance would have made the entire show a laughingstock, humiliating not only her father, but Porsha herself as well. Later, Jimmy is livid when he discovers that Porsha is helping the troupe put the show on behind his back, and angrily tells her to get off the stage. He's paying no mind that, not only does Porsha have a part in the show like he wanted, but she's given a number that actually plays to her strengths and makes a major highlight. One would think he'd be happy that such an amplifier would make him and his daughter look good.
  • 'Loser' seems to be Jimmy's personal favorite insult: he tells Porsha she's a talentless loser in a fit of rage, and calls Buster a 'low-life little loser' twice while he's trying to kill him. But by the end of the film, it's Jimmy who's lost everything (his position, his reputation, his freedom and his daughter) as a result of his own actions, while Buster and his troupe still have each other and have found greater success than they're ever known.
• It's All About Me:
  • Meena's partner, Darius, is a talented singer and dancer - a true professional in the business - but he's also very conceited and self-absorbed. As a result, she has a very hard time working with him, when he rarely ever pays attention to her concerns or her discomfort.
  • The film's Big Bad is a far less comedic example of this trope. As the movie progresses, it becomes more and more apparent that the only person Jimmy Crystal really cares about is Jimmy Crystal.
• Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: After the troupe are turned away by Jimmy Crystal's receptionist, Buster has Meena dress up in a spare janitor outfit so she can help the others sneak past (clinging to a floor cleaner).
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • The lead construction worker, Mason, loudly announces to the rest of the set crew that Buster doesn't have the ending to the show figured out yet, and even points out the fearful look in Buster's eyes when the latter tries to shut him up. While this is quite humiliating for Buster, given the fact that they only have a three week deadline, and are at least a day behind schedule already, the set crew deserve to know if their time and effort is being wasted.
  • Suki isn't entirely wrong that Buster's show wouldn't be good enough for "The Big Leagues". Many shows in Redshore City's real life equivalents may have had their starts in local theatres, but they didn't jump straight from the local theatre to there - they usually went there via America's Got Talent or were an opening act for another show. It is also made more apparent as the film goes on that she is rating in relation to Jimmy Crystal's standards; an extremely ruthless manager who passes over endless equally promising performers, and is sure to give an I Warned You when Buster realizes the risks of pursuing him anyway.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The Big Bad of this movie, Jimmy Crystal, is more or less completely careless towards anything except his own image, going to extreme lengths to protect it, but several things he does in the process ultimately undercut him:
  • He verbally abuses his own daughter Porsha for getting him publicly embarrassed after she storms out on the show after misunderstanding Buster's request that she give the lead role back to Rosita, and later insults the Moon troupe on live TV in a bid to cover his tail. The former costs him his relationship with both Porsha and his assistant Suki, and the latter leads to Buster deciding to put on a live show to spite him, both of which come together to mend Porsha's relationship with the Moon troupe and make the show a massive success — without Jimmy.
  • He also looks down on Rosita (like the rest of Buster's crew) and forces Buster to give her role in the show to Porsha, which hurts the pig a lot and leaves her feeling depressed for days afterwards. During the climax, it's Rosita who swoops in at the last second and saves Buster from being killed by Jimmy - ruining everything for the murderously insane wolf, when he was so close to finally getting what he wanted.
  • Finally, Jimmy attempts to take credit for the show after all is said and done, despite his aforementioned putdown of the troupe, who promptly abandon him (and despite attempting to murder Buster in front of a live audience of thousands of people). This gets him ridiculed once again, and he is promptly arrested at Suki's request while no one (except Jerry) lifts a paw to help him.
• Left the Background Music On: Buster briefly becomes depressed after Suki tells him that she doesn't think his show is good enough for the big leagues, with Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road playing during the sequence. When Nana visits Buster in his office, she turns off a radio in the room, stopping the song.
• Liar Revealed: Buster convinces Jimmy to fund the troupe's production by claiming to know Clay Calloway, and promises to get him to come out of retirement and perform in the show. This initially seems to be setting up a similar conflict to the previous film, with Buster trying to deliver on his promise and cover up his lies before he's eventually exposed in the movie's Darkest Hour. However, that expectation is subverted when Jimmy catches on to Buster's deception halfway through the movie and furiously confronts him about it, with the clear warning there will be grizzly consequences if he angers him a second time. At this point, it becomes apparent that the film's actual main conflict is the threat of Buster being murdered in cold blood if anything else in the production goes wrong (which it inevitably does...).
• Logo Joke: For the first time ever, hundreds of Minions gather around to sing, and the Illumination logo appears floating above them. This is possibly in celebration of their return to the theater after the COVID delays and/or anticipation of Minions: The Rise of Gru, the latter especially since Otto can be seen directly behind Staurt, Kevin and Bob.
• The Lost Lenore: Clay Calloway stopped playing music and became a recluse after his wife Ruby passed away, sinking into a depressed state that lasted for fifteen years.
• Love at First Sight: Meena becomes smitten with Alfonso, an ice-cream vendor who offers her ice-cream after seeing Meena in a distraught manner.
• Love Redeems: After the change of heart they had in the previous movie, Marcus, Stan and Barry are now following Johnny's example and making an effort to go straight, because of how much they care for the youngest member of their clan.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Nearly the entire cast has this reaction when Jimmy Crystal's minions start pounding on their hotel room door, demanding they show themselves. They all quickly start to panic and argue amongst themselves in fear, except for Clay, who doesn't seem to be too concerned in the background.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • Early on, Nana gives Buster a pep talk after his spirits have been dashed by Suki, telling him that he'll need "guts, stamina and faith" if he's going to go to Redshore City and pursue his dreams. When the Moon Theater troupe hit another low point later on and are ready to flee Redshore City in fear of Jimmy, Clay warns them that that isn't the answer to their problems and admits that he regrets not having the "guts" to face his own fears a lot sooner than he did. Buster seems to make the connection between the two pieces of advice Nana and Clay gave him, after he sees Jimmy's putdown towards the troupe on TV and decides he's not going to run from the mad wolf anymore.
  • Just before the climactic performance, the whole troupe rally themselves by reciting in unison Buster's motto from the first movie: "There's only one way left to go, and that's up!"
• Meet Cute: After a rehearsal goes poorly, Meena encounters the ice-cream vendor Alfonso when she steps outside to get some air. He awkwardly compliments her in her costume and offers her an ice-cream cone for free. When she accepts it and tries to leave, she accidentally slams face-first into a glass door.
• Misery Builds Character: Klaus' teaching philosophy, which he practices on poor Johnny.
• Mistaken for Flirting: When Johnny first meets Nooshy and tries to talk to her so she can teach him some of her dancing skills, he asks if he can buy her a coffee or something to eat. Nooshy responds "That's forward, ain't it?" thinking he is asking her out.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • The film begins with Meena running around a dark forest, as if we've just walked in on the middle of a horror movie. Then she falls down a hole and into a colorful and happy Alice in Wonderland musical number.
  • In one scene, Jimmy invites Buster to his office to talk about the show. He seems cheerful and friendly, then partway through the conversation he casually asks why Buster disrespected him. The tone then significantly darkens when Jimmy reveals that he's caught onto Buster's fib about knowing Calloway, and Buster leaves terrified after Jimmy makes a thinly-veiled death threat.
  • This happens twice in a row to set the third act in motion. We're first treated to a slow, sombre scene of Ash singing "Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of" on Clay's porch, while the latter silently reminisces about his late wife and decides to finally come out of hiding. This quiet moment is immediately disrupted by the loud, glitzy opening of an Ellen-esque talk show, with the enthusiastic host reporting on Porsha getting "fired" from Buster's musical. And then, an enraged Jimmy suddenly hurls his remote at the screen broadcasting the show, leading to an intense scene where he scolds a sobbing Porsha, then decides to kill Buster.
• My Way or the Highway: As Jimmy Crystal bluntly puts it right before he attempts to throw Buster off the roof:
  Jimmy Crystal: The right thing to do IS WHAT I TELL YOU TO DO!!
• Naïve Newcomer: Buster Moon and his crew decide to go to Redshore City in pursuit of some new career opportunities, and naturally, they soon discover that things are done very differently there than in their hometown. Not only is everything in Redshore City much bigger than what they're used to, but the challenges they have to face are also much tougher and more daunting to overcome.
• Naked People Are Funny: One of the few times that Jimmy Crystal is Played for Laughs is when Buster and the Moon Troupe hijack his theater to perform their show, and Jerry runs into Jimmy's bedroom to tell him. Jimmy is so enraged at the news that he leaps out of bed, where it's revealed that he Sleeps in the Nude, and Jerry Screams Like a Little Girl at the sight.
• National Stereotypes: Klaus, the Sadistic Teacher, has a German name and accent. Germany (especially Prussia) was famous for its strict education system.
• Never Say "Die": Averted. Not only does Meena directly acknowledge the concept of death while she's singing the lyrics to "Let's Go Crazy", but this exchange happens between Jimmy and Buster, after the former just tried to drop the latter off his balcony.
  Buster: You... you nearly killed me.
  Jimmy: And I'll finish the job later!
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • After Jimmy tries to murder Buster in cold blood, the terrified koala and his friends are all set to admit defeat and head home as quickly as they can, because they've bitten off way more than they can chew. Until they see Jimmy badmouthing them on live television, declaring that they're all a bunch of talentless, amateur losers. After seeing that, Buster convinces his friends to stick around Redshore City so they can push forward with their show anyway: partly so they can prove to themselves, once and for all, that they are good enough to make it in the big leagues, and partly so they can spite Jimmy.
  • Even after she's gotten her leading role back, Rosita still has her fear of heights to contend with when the big night comes around. Despite all her guts and determination, she has another panic attack and freezes up halfway through her song, putting the momentum of the whole show at risk. Meanwhile, Jimmy Crystal grabs Buster, takes him high up into the scaffolding behind the stage, and then throws him off in another attempt to kill him. Rosita sees Buster fall and jumps to save his life, thereby conquering her fear and saving the show at the same time.
• No Communities Were Harmed: Redshore City, "the entertainment capital of the world", is mostly Las Vegas with a bit of Los Angeles mixed in.
• No Escape but Down: Towards the climax, with Crystal's goons knocking at their hotel room door, Moon and the others have no other way out but to jump out the window and into the river ride below.
  Buster Moon: We're gonna put this show on, whether Crystal likes it or not! But first...we're gonna jump out that window.
  Everyone else: WHAT?!
  Clay Calloway: I'm beginning to like this guy.
• Not Afraid of You Anymore:
  • Johnny's lessons with Klaus Klickenklober go very poorly, as Klaus is very strict and freaks Johnny out. He improves his dancing after taking lessons from Nooshy, but Klaus takes another actor's costume and bursts into the show during the "dance battle", and initially he's winning against Johnny because Johnny is still afraid of him. But then Nooshy plays a triumphant drum beat, filling Johnny with courage and enabling him to take a stand against Klaus and win the battle, not afraid of him anymore. He also earns the respect of Klaus, who bows to him, accepting defeat.
  • During the performance, Jimmy demands that Porsha get off the stage, but she dances over and sings the line "I can't hear you, I don't fear you" right in his face.
• Not Hyperbole: When Jimmy Crystal first agrees to help Buster and his theatre troupe put on their Out Of This World show, he casually warns that he'll "throw [Buster] off the roof" if they do anything to make him look bad, and Buster responds with awkward laughter at what is apparently a morbid joke on Crystal's part. After learning the truth about Calloway, Crystal snarls that Buster would be "out the window" if he didn't have Porsha in the show, then later tries to throw Buster off the roof for real when he gives Porsha's starring role back to Rosita. While Buster narrowly avoids this first attempt on his life, due to Crystal having a prior appointment to attend to, during the climactic performance, Crystal goes into a murderous rage and actually does throw Buster off a high catwalk. So Crystal's earlier threat was not hyperbole; he was completely serious.
• Numbered Sequels: This film is a sequel to Sing that is given the simple and straightforward title of Sing 2.
• Outside-Context Problem: During the third act, Marcus, Stan and Barry step in to help the theater animals deal with Jimmy Crystal and his enforcers. Since the gorilla gangsters haven't been a part of the conflict between the two groups until now, and since Jimmy obviously wouldn't know anything about the backgrounds of Buster's performers, he has absolutely no idea who they are or what their connection to Buster's group is. But they nevertheless throw a pretty big wrench into his plans, and force him to have to improvise his next attempt to kill Moon.
• Papa Wolf: When Johnny's dad is told that Jimmy is after the Moon Theatre troupe, he immediately drops everything he's doing and rallies his gang to protect them.
• Parental Neglect: Jimmy Crystal has little actual interest in his daughter, offhandedly telling Buster to let her try Rosita's scripted leap. Hours after angrily calling her an "embarrassment", he half-heartedly tells her "good night" as he goes to bed. When he receives no answer (as Porsha has snuck away to perform in the unsanctioned show), he dismisses her as a "spoiled little brat", not even bothering to open the door to her room to check on her.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: When Norman congratulates Rosita for landing the starring role in Buster's show, he gives her a quick, affectionate peck on the lips, which grosses out one of the kids she's holding.
• Plot Parallel: Between the film and the Show Within a Show—Gunter's idea for the plot of Out of This World (implied to be a case of In-Universe Real Life Writes the Plot) involves a space captain seeking out an explorer who disappeared many years ago, and he thinks Clay Calloway, a known in-world recluse, should play this role as an excuse to come back into the public spotlight and play his songs once again. Once Buster learns of Clay's having dropped out of sight and the reason for it, his attempts (along with Ash) to convince Clay to join the show mirror those of Captain Rosita seeking the lost explorer. Just as Clay is shut away from the world in mourning for his wife, believing he can't go on performing without her, the explorer is trapped on the Planet of Despair. And at the end of the show, Clay's performance anxiety causes him to get cold feet, so that Ash and the audience have to encourage him to take the leap, just as Captain Rosita and the Star have to urge the explorer out of his cave so they can bring him home.
• Poor Communication Kills: When Porsha's acting shows no sign of improvement, Buster talks to her in private and asks that she let Rosita have the lead role back. Though Buster still wants her to have a different part in the show, Porsha assumes that she's being fired, and she makes a scene as she storms off. The film's third act is set in motion when this misunderstanding goes public and embarrasses Jimmy, prompting him to shut down the show and attempt to murder Buster.
• Pose of Supplication: After Johnny manages to best Klaus in their dance battle, Klaus humbly bows before him and shows him his respect.

R-Z

• Real Life Writes the Plot: In-Universe, for a certain portion of the movie it isn't known how Out of This World will end, although Gunter does establish that the space captain is seeking a lost explorer who will be played by Clay Calloway (reflecting the rocker's status as having disappeared from the public eye for fifteen years), and that a star (played by Ash) will be the one to guide them home if Captain Rosita can find him (reflecting her knowledge of Calloway). At the time Buster gives Gunter the directive to make a final decision, he's about to go off with Ash to try and convince Calloway to join the show; when the koala returns alone later and Gunter asks how it went, Buster reveals things are still up in the air but that "if anyone can convince him, it's Ash." So Gunter writes the ending of the show as Ash's Star character succeeding... and she does, both in getting Calloway to agree and in encouraging him in the show's final act. Combining this with the song choice for the climax only makes the whole thing more thematically appropriate, and Clay's continued uncertainty and nervousness at performing again just add to the realism.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed:
  • After leaving his old life as a thief behind him in the previous film, Johnny is now enjoying having an honest career as a singer and pianist, alongside his friends in the Moon Theater troupe. With that much having been said, he does not have much of a problem with helping his friends break several laws while he's participating in Buster's zany schemes, during their adventure in Redshore City.
  • Since the end of the last movie, Marcus, Stan and Barry have apparently decided to give up being robbers and are making an effort to reform so they can continue to mend their relationship with Johnny. However, they do not have a problem with helping the theater animals commit other types of illegal activities in their time of need, like hijacking Mr. Crystal's hotel so they can put on their show there, or throttling Jimmy's security team to protect Johnny and his castmates from them.
• Revenge:
  • Thanks to Jimmy berating Porsha for humiliating him over her falling out with Buster being made public, Porsha realizes that her father doesn't care about her. As soon as Ms. Crawly requests her help in the climactic show, she spites him in kind by rejoining the Moon troupe without a second thought.
  • During his time working for Jimmy Crystal, the wolf businessman bullies Buster, abuses him, and finally tries to straight-up murder him and his friends several times. In retaliation, Buster hijacks his theater, traps him below the stage during his show, silently gloats over his success to him while he's restrained, leaves him to be publicly humiliated in front of thousands of people, and finally does not lift a finger to stop Jimmy from being arrested at the film's end.
• Revenge Before Reason: After Buster gets on his bad side one time too many, Jimmy decides that the koala needs to die. Throughout the latter half of the movie, he tries his very best to kill Buster to satisfy his wounded pride, and he'll let nothing stand in his way of accomplishing his goal - consequences be damned.
• Rule of Three: Buster Moon gets completely drenched three times over the course of the film. First, when his bike careens out of control and plunges into a canal. Then when Clay Calloway gets the drop on him with a hose and blows him into a pond. And finally, when he and his friends are all forced to jump out of a hotel window into a pool, to avoid getting attacked by Jimmy Crystal's security team.
• Sadistic Teacher: Klaus is this towards Johnny, in a manner that might remind one of J. K. Simmons in Whiplash. He justifies it by saying "only through suffering can we be great".
• Scenery Porn: Redshore City, which evidently resembles Las Vegas, is most definitely this. The various locations within it are simply breath-taking, with special mention going to the Crystal Hotel, Crystal Theater and its surroundings. Clay Calloway's home, with its mountains backdrop, also qualifies.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Jerry gives a high-pitched, horrified scream after Jimmy gets out of bed not wearing any clothing.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Ash has this reaction when Rick tries to cheat her out of the money that he owes her for her service, making it quite clear that her confidence and her sense of self-worth have both improved a lot since the first movie.
    Ash: Hey, Rick! How come you're only paying me half of what the other acts get?
    Rick: I pay what I think you're worth, sweetheart.
    Ash: Oh ok, see, I have this rule about not letting guys like you tell me what I'm worth. So, you know, unless I get paid like everyone else, I'm outta here.
  • Nooshy has this reaction (along with an Oh, Crap! one) when a police officer comes in and asks her if she has a license for her performances. She quickly realizes that's her cue to make her escape with Johnny.
    Police officer: (to Nooshy) Hey! You got a license to perform here?
    Nooshy: (puts her hoodie over her head) Actually, I'd love a chat. Let's go.
• Sequel Escalation: According to an interview with Garth Jennings, this was one of the film crew's main objectives when they were creating Sing 2: giving it bigger stakes and a grander sense of scale than the first film. Buster Moon and his performers are faced with more difficult challenges this time around, the small town setting of Calatonia is traded in for the glitz and glamor of Redshore City, and while both movies culminate in the theater animals deciding to put on an illegal show, this one has the added threat of an insane businessman trying his very best to kill them all during their time in Redshore.
• Sequel Non-Entity: Of the main cast from the previous movie, Eddie and Mike don't return, nor are they even mentioned. The former is especially notable, considering Nana makes an appearance early in the movie. Although pictures of Eddie are seen in Nana's bedroom, and in Buster's office, there's a magazine on the table with Eddie on the front cover. Mike's absence makes somewhat more sense, as he was never much of a team player to begin with, and so would likely not stick around even after proving himself - not to mention he ended the first movie driving into the sunset after getting into trouble with organized crime.
• Shadow Archetype: Jimmy Crystal is this to "Big Daddy" Marcus. Like Marcus in the first film, Jimmy tends to view his teenage daughter as more of an extension of himself than her own person, and he eventually breaks his (already distant) relationship with her when he writes her off as a disappointment. However, Marcus later realized the errors of his ways, did everything that he could to make up for his actions (including turning over a new leaf out of love for Johnny), and went on to gain a much stronger and warmer bond with his son after he learned how to properly respect him as an individual. Whereas Jimmy never feels any regret about his actions (because he doesn't care about Porsha at all), doubles down on them at every opportunity, and eventually loses his relationship with Porsha entirely because of his pride and his murderous wrath towards Buster.
• Shoot the Television: Jimmy Crystal furiously throws a remote at his TV, instantly breaking it, after a celebrity news program reveals that his daughter was seemingly fired from Buster Moon's show.
• Shout-Out:
  • The entire opening number is this to Alice in Wonderland, with Meena as the titular character, Rosita as the Cheshire Cat, Johnny as the Mad Hatter, and Gunter as the Caterpillar.
  • Although the song sung by the ducklings (Eminem's "My Name Is") is a rap from the 90's, they're characterized as the chimney sweepers from Mary Poppins, with matching scenery.
  • With her long platinum mane, her sparkling dress and, especially, her dramatic stance, the mare that tries to sing Adele's "Hello" seems a caricature of Céline Dion - who happens to have sung this in a live concert, in 2015.
  • The gates to Calloway's hidden retreat bear a strong resemblance to those of the Beast's castle in Beauty and the Beast, and the scene where Clay is seated in a large, wing-back chair before a fireplace is quite similar to a scene with the Beast and Belle (which also occurred after someone was injured). To complete the parallels, Buster (who is something of a father-figure for the whole troupe) leaves Ash behind (as Maurice was forced to do) to try and break through the walls of the shut-away lion's heart—who, while not exactly beastly, is certainly gruff enough. Even the moment in the hotel room, when it appears the show is off and Crystal's thugs will soon be appearing to eliminate the troupe, partakes of this; the shot of Clay in the background, just silently staring out the window, is rather reflective of the despairing Beast when Gaston and the villagers are trying to break in, and he tells Mrs. Potts to "just let them come."
• The Show Must Go On: Throughout the climax, a number of different things threaten to derail the "Out Of This World" show: like Klaus stealing Ryan's costume so he can attack Johnny in the middle of his act; Big Daddy, Stan and Barry having to fight off Mr. Crystal's security team to stop them from reaching Buster and the cast; Rosita having to step in to save Buster's life in the middle of her performance when Jimmy Crystal tries to kill him; and finally, Clay Calloway's newfound confidence abandoning him, just before he and Ash are due to go onstage. Despite all of these obstacles however, the Moon Theater troupe continues to push on and give their audience a great show, even if they have to go off-script to do it.
• Sleep Cute: Near the end, Ash falls asleep on Clay's shoulder while riding the bus. The smile he gives indicates that he has grown attached to the younger musician.
• Slobs vs. Snobs: Rather than learning dancing through the highly-regarded choreographer Klaus Klickenklober, Johnny instead recruits Nooshy, a street dancer, to teach him. When Klaus and Nooshy meet, neither one likes the other.
• Somewhere, a Mammalogist Is Crying: Alfonso the elephant is shown with his mouth below his tusks, which consequently protrude from the sides of the base of his trunk. In real life, elephant tusks are actually elongated teeth, so they should be coming out of his mouth. Additionally, it's not specified whether he and Meena are Asian or African elephants, but their appearances imply African. If this is the case, Meena should also have tusks, as females lacking tusks is a trait of Asian elephants, not African.
• So Proud of You:
  • When he hears the news that Rosita has landed the starring role in Buster's play, Norman doesn't waste any time congratulating her about it and expressing pride in his spouse the next time he sees her. After Rosita aces her role in the big show, and saves Buster's life in the process, an overjoyed Norman yells out that he loves her at the top of his lungs.
  • Nowadays, Marcus has not only come to respect that singing is Johnny's true calling in life, but is also genuinely happy to see him accomplish great things with his gifts, so he lets his son know how proud of him he is several times during the big show; most notably during Johnny's performance of "A Sky Full Of Stars" and again during the Moon Theater's troupe standing ovation.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: During a cut between scenes, Meena's romantic love song is still playing in the background for comedic effect, as Big Daddy and his gang throttle Jimmy Crystal's security team.
• Spoiled Brat: Jimmy Crystal's daughter Porsha is initially this, as she insists on having the starring role over Rosita just because she had a dream that Buster gave the role to her, and when Buster tries to give the role back to Rosita, Porsha overreacts and thinks she's been fired, and cries to her father about it. But while her father does try to kill Buster in retaliation, he makes it clear it's only because he was "embarrassed", not because he actually cares how Porsha feels. As a result, when Miss Crawly recruits Porsha back into the show, this time Porsha lets Rosita have the starring role and actually performs very well as an alien.
• Stealing the Credit: When the cast take their bows after their impromptu performance, Linda Le Bon comes backstage to congratulate Jimmy for the show's success, having mistakenly assumed he was in on this scheme the whole time. This prompts Jimmy to go out onstage during the curtain call in a last-ditch attempt to save his reputation, but thanks to the Moon troupe walking out on him when he isn't looking, he only ends up being humiliated even more.
• Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: "Suéltate" is the background music during Nooshy and Johnny's dance montage, where the former teaches the latter to dance, and the build-up to the first chorus contains these lyrics. There's a very clear last second word swap that's meant to troll the audience.
  I'm just following my path, I'm just here to make it last! I'm not living in the past, if you don't feel me kiss my- shhh!.
• Sucks at Dancing: Johnny needs to learn a highly choreographed dance-fight for the show, but he can't keep up with his snooty instructor's strict teachings. So he seeks dancing lessons from Nooshy and gets better. In the climactic final show, his snooty instructor shows up during the "dance battle" and is initially winning the fight since Johnny is initially still afraid of him, but after Nooshy plays a triumphant drum beat, it fills Johnny with courage and enables him to turn the tides and defeat his former instructor.
• Sudden Soundtrack Stop: All music and sound cuts out when Jimmy throws Buster off the catwalk in an attempt to kill him. As Rosita makes her run and leap to save him, music starts out soft and gradually gets louder, and the sound only comes back in full force once he's caught.
• Summon Bigger Fish: When Jimmy (a Corrupt Corporate Executive) threatens Moon and his cast, Johnny calls his father (the leader of a hardened criminal gang) for protection.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: When Buster and Ash show up to Clay Calloway's house, they decide to climb the fence after he refuses to come over, and are both given an electric shock. While other Illumination films, and most animated films in general, depict electrocution in an exaggerated and comedic manner with no lasting damage, Ash and Buster are instantly sent flying back and knocked unconscious by the shock, and both wear bandages on their scorched hands afterwards.
• Suspiciously Apropos Music: There are multiple examples throughout the film.
  • The opening number, "Let's Go Crazy", repeatedly stresses the importance of going wild and making the most of the time you've got while you've got it, because death comes for everyone at some point. This foreshadows the climax of the film, where the theater animals decide to push forward with their big show in Redshore City and live out their dreams, in spite of the very real possibility that they could all get killed by a vengeful Jimmy Crystal.
  • When Porsha performs the dive on the set, inadvertently taking the role from Rosita, she sings Alicia Key's "Girl on Fire"; a song about a girl who's burning bright that everyone has their eyes on, but who's also secretly lonely and knows the world she's living in is a disaster. This signifies Porsha as more aware of the issues with her father than she seems, while also trying to shine for the same reason.
  • When Rosita is made an alien after losing her role, a situation no one but Porsha is happy with, in rehearsal she sings "Look What You Made Me Do". The song is about frustration at being made the fool, but in particular she sings the eponymous lyrics, which can be considered an accusation after being ousted by Porsha.
  • Rising to Nooshy's challenge of whether or not he's legit, Johnny sings "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back" very publicly in a diner. This proves to Nooshy how passionate he is about performing, but the song lyrics are also about a boy following a girl's lead without inhibitions.
  • After the Moon Theater troupe decide to stick around Redshore City and put on their show in spite of Jimmy Crystal, "Soy Yo" underscores the chase scene between them and Jimmy's security guards. The song's Spanish lyrics are all about having faith in yourself, believing in yourself, and learning from your failures, even when other people hate you and want to tear you down.
  • During the climactic "Out Of This World" performance, each of the singers has a song that happens to describe their current situation:
    • Johnny sings "A Sky Full Of Stars" as he's fighting his own teacher, Klaus Kickenklober. The song's lyrics include not caring if one is being torn apart, as long as one sees inspiration in a sky full of stars. Klaus is winning the battle at first because Johnny is still afraid of him, but when Johnny looks up and sees Nooshy playing a triumphant drumbeat, she inspires him like a star to stand up to Klaus and win the battle. He ends up winning and earning Klaus' respect.
    • Porsha sings "Could Have Been Me", which is about wanting to feel love and pain, pride and shame. She's singing this as she's accepted the alien role and let Rosita have the astronaut role back, as she now wants to experience both the highs and lows of performing, no longer a puppet of her father.
    • Meena sings "I Say A Little Prayer", which is sung from the perspective of someone saying a prayer for their loved one after waking up and while going about their workday. The lyrics are about how the loved one will always be in the singer's heart, and Meena is thinking about Alfonso in order to convincingly perform her role alongside Darius.
    • Rosita sings "Break Free", which is about wanting to die alive, not of a broken heart, breaking free of something bad because the singer is stronger than she was before. While Rosita isn't technically breaking free of a person, she is breaking free of her own fear of heights, as once Jimmy Crystal throws Buster Moon off a catwalk in an attempt to kill him, Rosita is able to get past her fear in order to catch Buster and save his life.
    • Finally, Ash and later Clay Calloway sings "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", with Ash singing mostly the chorus about not having found what one is looking for, and Clay Calloway making his triumphant return to a musical career by singing the verses, about climbing highest mountains and believing in kingdom come, as he's finally come to terms with Ruby's passing, so while he won't "find" her again in this life, he can now find new joys in the present day.
  • The film's final scene is set to "Your Song Saved My Life", a song about how someone's life was changed for the better by the positive impact a loved one had on them. This reflects how the Moon Theater troupe have not only managed to change their own lives for the better over the last two films, but have also had a positive impact on the lives of several other people around them along the way (like Nooshy, Marcus, Stan, Barry, Porsha, Suki, Clay and Nana). In a more literal sense, it's also a nod to Rosita saving Buster's life during the middle of her performance, earlier in the movie.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: Towards the climax, Porsha rejoins the Moon Troupe and accepts she won't be getting the role of the main character (the astronaut) like she previously wanted. However, Moon adjusts the story so the alien is less the monster who has to die and instead makes it another prominent character. So even if she's not the star of the show, the Joy Alien allows Porsha to show off her strong suits, even more so than if she'd gone with the astronaut.
• Technician Versus Performer:
  • Klaus and Nooshy's teaching styles are contrasted in this manner; Klaus is the Technician, demanding that Johnny get his movements and forms perfect and yelling at him or correcting him with a stick if he doesn't, while Nooshy is the Performer, advising Johnny to "go with the flow" and dance in a way that makes his movements more flexible, quicker, and more energetic. This contrast is put to the test when Klaus takes another actor's place in the "dance battle" during Out Of This World, and initially Klaus is winning the fight because Klaus's earlier harshness has left Johnny afraid of him. But when Nooshy plays a triumphant drum beat that fills Johnny with courage and confidence, Johnny is able to turn the tides and beat Klaus, validating Nooshy's teaching style.
  • On the production front, Buster and Gunter are presented this way. Buster is the Technician, being a very strategic and professional director, though his conservative ideas for shows don't impress anyone outside the troupe's home town. It takes Gunter, a very passionate Performer, to think up a radical stage concept that gets their foot through the door, however since his enthusiasm hinders him keeping to one idea for very long, Buster still works closely with him to nail it all down into one consistent piece.
• Tempting Fate:
  • At the beginning, Ash is performing at a Friday night rock concert, but her manager only pays her half what the other performers get, because he pays performers what he personally thinks they're worth. When she calls her manager out on this, he retorts that she'll have to put up with it, because where else is she going to find another gig? However, that's when Buster shows up offering such a gig by inviting Ash back into his theater troupe with an opportunity to potentially perform in Redshore City.
  • When Buster is called into Crystal's office to discuss Porsha's "firing", he suddenly gets a call from Ash, revealing that she's convinced Clay to join the show after all. Buster is overjoyed, believing that this will earn Jimmy's forgiveness for the misunderstanding with Porsha, and he outright claims that Ash "may have just saved [his] life". No sooner does Buster say this that Suki opens the door and he runs in to deliver the good news, only to realize just how murderously enraged Jimmy actually is.
• Terrible Interviewees Montage: In a sequence similar to the first movie, this time with Jimmy Crystal watching auditions for his show. In this case, it serves to emphasize Jimmy's high standards, as plenty of the acts are actually pretty decent, but he's so unimpressed or creeped out that he blatantly slams the elimination buzzer on each one. The New Moon Company only convinces him after mentioning Clay Calloway.
• That Came Out Wrong: When Johnny first meets Nooshy and offers to chat with her over a coffee, Nooshy mistakes him for asking her out on a date.
  Johnny: Listen, can I buy you a coffee or maybe something to eat?
  Nooshy: Whoa, that's forward, ain't it?
  Johnny: What... no, no, no! I didn't mean...
• This Is Gonna Suck: When a livid Jimmy finds out Buster seemingly fired Porsha from the production, his Co-Dragons, Jerry and Suki, are horrified, both even trying to warn Buster out of Crystal's sight what a suicidal error this was.
• Tired of Running: After Jimmy tries to kill Buster, the Moon Theater troupe are all set to run away from Redshore City and head home as fast as they can. Clay Calloway warns them that running and hiding from your problems is never a good solution - and he's speaking from personal experience, since he was a social recluse for fifteen years. After Buster sees Jimmy cruelly humiliate the theater troupe on live television and deride them as a bunch of talentless losers, he also agrees with the lion rocker that they need to stay in Redshore City and stand up for themselves, even if it's dangerous to do so.
• Trailers Always Spoil:
  • A major plot point is bringing back Clay Calloway from retirement to join the gang in their stage show. The trailers make it no secret that, despite Clay's reluctance due to his grief, he will ultimately perform for the show, to the point the second trailer outright shows the big moment when he does take the stage.
  • The second trailer shows Marcus, Johnny's father, out of prison (and doing community service with his gang), as well as Johnny going up against Klaus in a dance battle and winning.
  • The third trailer shows Rosita overcoming her fear of heights, along with the fact she gets the lead role back while Porsha performs as the alien, and Jimmy Crystal attempting to murder Buster Moon by throwing him off the catwalk.
• Training Montage: Johnny's dance lessons with Nooshy are shown through a montage. They start early in the morning and continue well into the night. Johnny starts out uncertain and often pausing to look over to Nooshy for direction. As the scenes progress, he grows more and more confident, steady, and skilled in his moves, and they are shown moving in sync without pause.
• Travel Montage: When Buster and the gang take a late night bus trip to Redshore City, their journey is shown through a silent montage of them rehearsing in the back of the bus, having fun goofing off the whole time, and entertaining the other passengers as well with their antics. Eventually, they fall asleep and wake up the following morning to find they've reached their destination.
• Villain Ball: Much of the film's second half is heavily driven by Crystal gripping this, with his short temper and massive ego actively preventing him from making any sensible decisions.
  • As soon as Jimmy discovered that Buster had lied to him about knowing Calloway, he could have simply fired Buster and publicly outed him as a con artist. This would have gotten Buster out of his hair, permanently ruined the latter's reputation, and Jimmy would have been completely justified in doing so. Instead, he lets Buster off with a warning and still demands he get Calloway involved - despite already knowing the koala has little means of doing so - and keeps the lie under wraps while the rehearsals and set construction resume. Even when he does eventually shut down production - albeit for a completely unrelated reason - and goes on a talk show to discredit the Moon Troupe, Jimmy never mentions Buster's deception and instead implies that they simply weren't up to his standards, which prompts the gang to put their show on behind his back and prove him wrong.
  • When Buster "fires" Porsha from her lead role in the show, with this embarrassing misunderstanding going public after Porsha makes a scene, Jimmy decides this is the last straw and finally acts on his threat to throw Buster off his roof, not even listening to Buster's news that Clay Calloway has finally agreed to appear in the show. Calloway's return would have likely completely overshadowed the debacle with Porsha and brought some much needed good publicity back, but this never seems to occur to Jimmy, and the actions he resorts to instead only makes the scandal worse.
  • When the Troupe break into and hijack his theater to put on their show, Jimmy seemingly never thinks to contact the police, and he and his thugs instead drive to the theatre and try to put a stop to it themselves. To make matters worse, instead of waiting until the performance is finished and there are no witnesses, Jimmy tries to interfere during the show, culminating in him trying to throw Buster to his death in front of an entire audience.
  • During the final curtain call, when he realizes that the Moon Troupe's impromptu performance was well-received, Jimmy makes one last effort to save face by going out on stage and trying to take credit for it, even attempting to strongarm Buster into agreeing to work for him again. It's baffling how Jimmy thought this would work when he'd not only publicly denounced the troupe as talentless amateurs only hours earlier, but only minutes before this he'd also just tried to murder Buster. Unsurprisingly, the cast abandon Jimmy on stage, humiliating him in front of the entire city.
• Villain Has a Point: Although Jimmy Crystal is a short-tempered and wrathful individual, he is completely justified being angry at Buster when he discovers the latter lied to him about knowing Clay Calloway. Him letting Buster off with only a verbal lashing even seems borderline reasonable, though he loses moral ground when he later snaps and tries to murder Buster over a much more petty misunderstanding, ironically just after Buster had managed to fulfil his previous promise and get Calloway on board.
• Webcomic Time: The movie apparently takes place just a month after the first one ends, hence why Rosita's piglets haven't aged.
• We Need a Distraction: To keep Crystal's guards busy while Moon takes over the theater, Rosita has Norman unleash the piglets to wreak havoc at the buffet.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After the disguised Moon Troupe makes it to the elevator in Crystal Tower, Meena leaves the floor-cleaning machine running, then runs back to grab the mops before leaving it still running (and slowly drifting across the hallway). Considering how often disasters tend to happen in this franchise, one would be forgiven for thinking the machine was going to cause some sort of damage, run someone over, etc. and thus interfere with their upcoming audition. But...nothing happens and it's never mentioned or shown again, so presumably it stopped on its own or just gently bumped against the far wall.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Ash is quite understandably upset when Buster decides to lie to Jimmy Crystal about knowing Clay Calloway, and once Jimmy leaves, she doesn't waste any time pulling him aside to chastise him for it. Because not only was it a risky thing to do in general, since Clay Calloway is a social recluse, but she also got some firsthand experience with what happened when Buster lied about the prize money back in the first movie.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: During Jimmy Crystal's auditions in Redshore City, a tarsier sings "Bury A Friend" by Billie Eilish in a very creepy, childlike voice, while also rotating their head around. Jimmy Crystal and the rest of the audience all stare completely terrified of the performance, with Jimmy pushing the elimination button without removing his gaze.
• Worldbuilding: After the first film was set entirely inside of the main characters' hometown, Sing 2 develops the world outside of Calatonia by moving the action to this universe's equivalent of Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Wrestler in All of Us: During the fight between Marcus' gang and Crystal's security, the camera cuts away just as one of Marcus' guys is in the middle of an elbow drop.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • As Nana Noodleman points out at the start, Buster shouldn't give up his dream just because of one talent scout's opinion that he isn't good enough for the big leagues — he needs to show the world that he has the guts and faith to make himself good enough. Inspired by this, Buster rallies the troupe to head to Redshore City and audition for Jimmy Crystal's show.
  • It's not outright stated, but when the Moon troupe begin having doubts about whether or not they're good enough for Redshore City's talent pool, almost causing the bus Buster booked tickets for to leave without them, Rosita stops the bus and tells them that she's dreamt of performing there since she was young, implying that they are collectively good enough — and then some, as proven in the climactic show.
    Rosita: And besides, I just convinced my husband to babysit for the next twenty-four hours, and I am not going to waste an opportunity like that! So come on, we've got nothing to lose!
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
  • When Klaus Kickenklober insists that Johnny try to dance on his 'tippy-toes', the gorilla's immediate reaction is to say he's being ridiculous. Johnny has the same reaction later when Buster suggests that the Moon Theater troupe try to put on their show behind Jimmy Crystal's back, which gives Buster the idea to commandeer Jimmy's theater for the night.
  • Clay Calloway says this word for word when he and Ash break into Crystal's place and finds Buster hiding in a suitcase, due to the latter having been nearly murdered by Jimmy Crystal and being terrified into hiding from the insane wolf and his goons.

---

"There's only one way left to go, and that's... up!"