The new animated film Sing, set in a world of animals, features contestants Rosita, an exhausted housewife, and Ash, a punk-rock porcupine, and the competition organizer Buster Moon, a koala.[Photo provided to China Daily]

In the movie, Buster Moon, a koala, is the theater manager, while the singing-competition contestants are Mike, a mouse who croons as smoothly as he cons; Meena, a timid teenage elephant; Rosita, an exhausted housewife taking care of 25 piglets; Johnny, a young gorilla looking to escape from his family; and Ash, a punk-rock porcupine struggling to leave her arrogant boyfriend.

Garth Jennings, a British filmmaker best known for his sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), wrote the script and directed the film. It's his first feature-length production since 2007.

Chris Meledandri, one of the coproducers, says: "Garth and I share a deep love of music and he is a gifted storyteller.

"We both felt that this concept would provide us with the opportunity to tap into the global appeal of music-based storytelling."

The film, featuring more than 65 hit songs from recent years, including Firework, Call Me Maybe and Shake It Off, also features Meledandri's longtime collaborator, Janet Healy, on the production roster. The duo has jointly produced all of Illumination's films so far.

Meanwhile, the ratings for Sing on Douban.com, China's main website for filmgoers, climbed from 7.9 out of 10 on Feb 17, to 8.3.

A comment by Xu Zheng, a famous Chinese actor and director, on his micro blog account, says: "I have not laughed so loudly in a cinema for a long time.