- “Listen, you're not the only one who lost something. We all did. I mean, I lost any chance of ever speaking to my dad again over this show.”
- ―Johnny to Buster Moon
Johnny is one of the main protagonists of Universal•Illumination's 2016 animated feature film Sing and its 2021 sequel. He is a British-accented mountain gorilla who dreams of becoming a famous singer rather than follow his father's criminal footsteps, but would later try to impress him, after befriending Buster Moon and the other selected ones by hosting a show, and make his father proud.
Background[]
Personality[]
In Sing, Johnny is introduced as a soulful gorilla whose singing voice and passion for music are in direct opposition to his role in his father's bank robbing crew. Deep down, Johnny wants to be a singer but knows that his alpha-male father would disown him if he knew the truth.
Though he loves his father, he doesn't want to follow his footsteps in becoming a bank robber, though he's not able to speak his mind in front of him. After receiving a slot in Buster's singing competition, he tries to balance between his piano lessons and driving lessons for the upcoming heist, which leads to the failure of the heist and the subsequent arrest of his father and his crew.
When visiting him in prison, he gains the courage to reveal his true ambition, though it leads to Big Daddy disowning him, though Johnny promises to bail him out, showing that he still loves him. This almost leads Johnny to sink to his father's level by stealing the prize money, though he changes his mind upon finding Buster's positive opinion on him, deciding to win the money fairly.
After the Moon Theater's destruction, during the show in its ruins, he still misses his father as evidenced during Ash's performance. He is relieved when Big Daddy visit him after breaking out of prison, repentant for his actions to his son, while also proud of him, much to Johnny's happiness, allowing him to carry on with his singing career.
Physical appearances[]
Johnny is an anthropomorphic mountain gorilla with brown eyes and black fur. He is taller than most of his fellow contestants and has a muscular build. He wears a black leather jacket, a green undershirt with a yellow lightning bolt and stars, blue jeans, and dark blue shoes.
In Happy Holidays From Sing, Johnny wears brighter blue jeans and a red-and-white striped undershirt beneath his jacket.
In Sing 2 He still wear a black jacket but with a dark green forest undershirt with a orange and black fire flames on the front, with dark blues jeans and still have his dark blue shoes on his feet.
Appearances[]
Sing[]
Johnny in Sing.
The son of a mobster called Big Daddy, Johnny is expected to follow in his father's criminal footsteps. However, his true passion is singing, which he initially doesn't have the confidence to admit to his father due to fear of his father's disapproval.
When he finally decides to take a chance to follow his dream by auditioning for Buster Moon's singing competition, he goes to the audition and sings "Stay With Me". After finishing his audition, he runs past Meena and wishes her good luck. At first, Johnny is passed over in favor of a giraffe Daniel, but when Buster is unable to talk to the giraffe without a megaphone, he changes his mind. During the competition, Johnny takes every measure to keep his involvement with it a secret from Big Daddy. This causes tension for Johnny as he simultaneously commits himself to relearning the piano and practicing his getaway driving for his father's upcoming heist.
Because the day of the heist coincides with a rehearsal, Johnny leaves his post, his speeding to the Moon Theater causing two cars to collide. Buster finds his performance of "All of Me" fairly lackluster and suggests that he play a backup song, which he admits he hasn't practiced for yet. Unfortunately, he becomes stuck in a traffic jam built up from the earlier car accident. With Johnny's absence, Big Daddy and his gang are caught and arrested.
Visiting Big Daddy in prison, Johnny finally confesses that he wants to be a singer, not a criminal. He is devastated when Big Daddy disowns him, even though Johnny swears to bail him out. At night, Johnny breaks into the Moon Theater to steal Buster's prize money for the bail payment, but has a change of heart after glancing at Buster's callback list and seeing that Buster labeled him a "Natural born singer". Instead, he asks Miss Crawly to give him extra piano lessons.
Johnny's goal to free his dad is dashed when he and the other contestants learn Buster lied about the prize money, shortly before a flood destroys the theater. Afterward, he tries to visit his father in prison again without success. However, Johnny (along with the other singers, except Mike) finds it in his heart to forgive Buster, and states his desire to perform even without a prize. To cheer Buster up, Johnny also tells him that everyone has lost something while doing the competition, using his family troubles as an example. He helps the others build a stage for a show in the theater ruins while continuing to practice his piano lessons.
In Buster's concert, Johnny is the second to perform after Rosita. He plays the piano while singing his backup song, Elton John's "I'm Still Standing", and pulls off a great performance. His triumph is bittersweet, however, as Johnny is still sad that his bond with his father is beyond repair. He turns out to be wrong when Big Daddy (after seeing him perform on the prison TV) breaks out of his cell and comes to the theater to reconcile with his son, he tells Johnny how proud he is of him and apologizes to Johnny for selfishly disowning him. With the cops closing in, Big Daddy takes his leave to return to prison, with Johnny promising to visit him often. After Greta's performance of Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me," he goes up to Greta and tells her that he loves her, and she reciprocates his feelings, he holds her closer to his chest, he dips her down slightly and kisses her on the lips. Johnny, having successfully fulfilled his dream of becoming a singer with his father's approval, attends the grand opening of the New Moon Theater.
Love at First Sight[]
Johnny is practicing a song on the piano when Miss Crawly's nostalgic daydream is interrupted by Johnny banging on the keys, spooking her, and causing her to fall. After helping her up, she tells him that that song reminds her of the good old days of romance and dancing, and how she wishes to be young and in love again. Both Johnny and his now girlfriend Greta, assure her that it's never too late for love and introduce her to online dating. He helps create a profile for her and is somewhat shocked at how quick it was for other animals to start sending messages.
Sing 2[]
Johnny was revealed to be participating with his costars in the Alice and Wonderland musical where he played the Mad Hatter and was still playing on the piano like in the first film, and his now girlfriend Greta was the Queen of Hearts while trying to impress a talents scout named Suki Lane who's looking for performers for the Crystal theater at Redshore City.
Later Buster convinces Johnny and his friends they can still live their dream in Redshore City after a road trip where they entertain the tourists on the bus, they make it to Redshore. At first, they wouldn't let them see Jimmy Crystal, then Crystal was selfishly unimpressed until Gunter mentions Clay Calloway, Crystal accepts this. Later Johnny is enrolled for a battle scene which turns out to be a dance battle and his choreographer Klaus Kickenklober turns out to be too cruel and strict. after a week later Johnny met a street dancer named Nooshy who was a a skilled but unlicensed choreographer.
Johnny convinces Nooshy that she can teach him some advanced dance skills while she makes a fair bet on Klaus, when Greta arrives at the ice cream shop and and sees him with Nooshy, she mistakes it for him cheating on her and storms out without letting Johnny explain what was going on. After a while, Nooshy explains what happened that day, she apologizes to Johnny for not letting him explain and they make up. During practice, Nooshy realizes Johnny's confidence has been overwhelmed but reveals the only way to feel pride is to use rhythm. after a few days, Johnny managed to be fully skilled, but Klaus was only jealous because Nooshy did a better job than he ever did. Later Buster gathers Johnny and his crew back to the room after a near death from Crystal but decides to start the show behind Crystal's back. After they escape their room Johnny manages to rescue Miss Crawly who is too slow to run. Johnny then recruited his dad and his gang to help them defend their performance from Crystal and his thugs. During his first act scene on the planet of war, he was singing Sky's Full of Stars while gazing at Nooshy for being his close friend. But Klaus tried to sabotage his act while gloating but Nooshy along with the performers managed to help Johnny regain his confidence while standing up to Klaus for his cruelty, and Johnny was able to defeat him and finally got the respect he deserved. During Rosita's sky fright moment, Johnny and his friends tried to rescue Buster from Crystal but he took the elevator. Johnny alerted his father to stop Crystal, Rosita managed to overcome her fear to save Buster from falling from his near death, while Johnny's father managed to prevent Crystal from threatening the rest of their show. Later after the show Johnny and his friends took a great bow and ran off to humiliate Crystal which led him to prison afterwards. Johnny and Nooshy became close when they got to perform at the majestic theater.
Relationships[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- He is known as "The Rebel", according to Sing Website.
- His introduction scene is the first of five.
- His rehearsal performance of "All of Me" was the fourth of four.
- His final performance of "I'm Still Standing" was the second of five.
- He used to play the piano when he was younger.
- When Big Daddy was training him to corner drift for the heist, the song playing in the getaway truck was "Hold On, We're Going Home" by Drake.
- Johnny and Meena are the only two major characters that stayed at the Moon Theater overnight, to do something important. In Johnny's case, it was to steal the prize money, and then receive extra piano lessons after changing his mind. Whereas for Meena, it was to help Buster Moon clean up the theater before Nana Noodleman's arrival.