Rio 2
You might not remember what happened in the first one, or even remember
that there was a first one, but the Rio team is back with a
sequel, whether you want it or not.
Jesse Eisenberg has returned to provide the voice of Blu – one of
the last blue macaws on the planet. Picking up where the last movie
left off, we find Blu living in Rio, married to his beloved Jewel (Anne
Hathaway), and raising 3 kids. However, they might not be the last of
their kind after all.
Blu’s former owner, Linda (Leslie Mann), has joined forces with
the oddly sexy scientist Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), to bring a rare bird
back to The Amazon, when they think they see a blue macaw flying in the
jungle. Jewel sees the ensuing report on TV, and convinces Blu the
family should head to The Amazon and reunite with the rest of the flock
because they aren’t being the birds they should be. They need to
get back to their roots and stop living more like humans than macaws!
Who are these other macaws in The Amazon?
What danger do they face?
Rio 2 is another movie that is good enough. It
is overloaded with many subplots, but very little depth. Director
Carlos Saldanha is left to race from one subplot to the next without
much time to pause for reflection or something more meaningful. Kids
might not notice, but adults might get a bit tired of trying to keep
track of so many characters and twists when they really don’t
matter at all.
Yet, Rio 2 is funny with lots of silliness for the kids, if
they don’t pick up on the darker side of Rio 2. We have
the return of the evil Nigel (Jemaine Clement), who wants to murder
Blu. Snakes and other animals are looking to make some of the
characters into dinner. Evil loggers are putting Tulio and Linda in
grave danger, and one character even attempts to commit suicide.
Believe it or not, it’s all played for laughs, but I felt a bit
uncomfortable. How did this get a G rating?
However, the fun outweighs the dark. Kristin Chenoweth is awesome as
the poisonous frog, Gabi, with a crush on Nigel that is revealed in an
amazing musical sequence that is everything you love about singing,
dancing and overblown Broadway productions, while we get plenty of
giggles as Blu proves to be the bird who doesn’t fit in because
he is too soft after living in the city his entire life, and clearly
not rough enough to survive in the wild. Adults even get a few laughs
as Blu tries to deal with Jewel’s old life in the wild (the life
she had before marrying him), and the romance she once shared with a
macaw wonderfully played by Bruno Mars. No man wants to try to compete
with Bruno Mars for a lady’s affection.
We all need some goofiness, so you might as well check out Rio 2.
Rio 2 is rated G.
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