This year really seems to be the year of Brazil. With the biggest sporting event in the world coming up, the FIFA World Cup, it only makes sense that a sequel to the crowd-pleasing film Rio hits theaters as well, simply titled Rio 2. Side note: The film does work soccer/football into the film as well as the hilarious commentators who yell “goal” which made me very happy.
Directed by Carlos Saldanha, Rio 2 follows Jewel (Anne Hathaway), Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) and their three kids as they take a family vacation to the Amazon where Jewel grew up in order to escape the city before Carnival arrives. Blue, unaccustomed to forest life, plays the typical domesticated father obsessed with his gadgets, leaving nothing to chance while Jewel and the kids remain free spirited. Upon arrival, they discover a colony of blue macaws where Jewel reunites with her father, the leader of the colony, for the first time…and where Blue discovers he now has a father-in-law to deal with. On top of trying to adjust to “country life,” Blue attempts to keep Jewel’s childhood sexy warrior “friend” Roberto (Bruno Mars) at bay while finding a way to keep this trip a visit and avoid having the family take up permanent residence in the Amazon. So how do Blue’s friends, the supporting birds, find an excuse to go with the family on their vacation? They use it as a means to find new talent for their Carnival show.
Thought to be dead, Rio 2 also sees the return of Nigel the cockatoo, hilariously voiced by Jermaine Clement of Flight of the Concords, who, along with his Charlie Chaplin acting anteater and romantic “poison dart” frog side-kick, attempts to get revenge on Blue for leaving him flightless.
There is also a side plot involving Blue and Jewel’s caretakers who try to track down the colony of macaws but in the process discover that there is illegal logging going on. Not only do they have to find a way to stop the loggers, but they have to do so without being caught since they tend to be the dangerous mercenary types.
Like the first film, Rio 2 is a colorful, musical, cute and entertaining film that the masses will eat up. It’s no Lego Movie but it knows what the audience wants and it delivers, though I could do with less musical numbers. It thankfully also limits the amount of dialogue George Lopez has. The way he delivers his lines turns the film from a well voiced-acted feature to one that sounds like a pre-school show, it feels degrading.
There’s a lot to love about the film but the fun characters are what propel this movie forward. By far, the best character in the film is Gabi the frog, voiced by Kristin Chenoweth. Gabi is head-over-heels in love with Nigel but it’s a love that can never be, for she is a poisonous frog unable to touch any living thing. She is also a frog and, let’s face it, a frog and a big bird aren’t going to get it on but that doesn’t stop her from expressing her loving emotions which results in a glorious and expressive song that’s both riveting and very funny. Though Gabi is the best character, there are cameos made by other animals in an American Idol like audition scene and the two turtles that perform just make everything about life seem so much better. While they made me keel over laughing, the entire sequence was actually really fun and made the whole movie worthwhile.
While entertaining, the filmmakers are certainly using this film to spread a strong environmental message regarding deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, an important issue that’s destroying the habitats of many endangered and non-endangered species. SPOILER I personally hate how in your face it is and how the birds can somehow fight off the humans and their massive machines, END SPOILER, but it is an important issue so if any film was going to advocate the protection of the rainforest it may as well be this one, a film based in such a lush and spectacular environment.
Full of fun characters and bundles of laughs, Rio 2 is an adorable and adventurous animated comedy that manages to be as entertaining, but not necessarily as original, as the first film.
Rating: A beautiful, comical and cute sequel that doesn’t disappoint fans of the original (6.9/10)
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