'Sing' Exclusive Sneak Peek: Singing Gorilla Would Rather Steal the Show Than Rob a Bank

With all the excitement and hype focused on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, don’t count out Sing, the next animated affair from Illumination Entertainment (the folks behind Despicable Me and Minions) as a stealth holiday season powerhouse. The story of an enterprising koala (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) who aims to save his struggling theater by staging a singing contest, its mixture of karaoke tunes and furry animals feels like a crowd-pleasing recipe — get a sense for yourself from the Yahoo Movies exclusive clip above.

Related: Toronto Review: ‘Sing’ Is a Veritable Farmyard of Fun

The scene gives us a peek at Johnny (voiced by Kingsman and Eddie the Eagle star Taron Egerton), a young gorilla itching to cut loose and sing his effusive heart out. Unfortunately for Johnny, his dad has other ideas: He’s a criminal kingpin, and expects his son to join the family business. And, as we see in this sneak peek, if you’re a crook trying to sneak past unsuspecting cops, the last thing you need is a gang member crooning mid-heist.

Related: Annie Awards: ‘Zootopia,’ ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ Lead Noms

Johnny’s quest to get out from under his father’s shadow and embrace his artistic gifts is only one of the many plot strands in Sing, which will also give us a Frank Sinatra-inspired mouse (Seth MacFarlane), a housewife pig (Reese Witherspoon), a porcupine rocker (Scarlett Johansson), and a dancing German pig (Nick Kroll). Together, they figure to make Sing a holiday box-office contender; we’ll find out who tunes in when it arrives in theaters on Dec. 21.

Watch a holiday message from the characters of ‘Sing’: