RIO : A JOY RIDE
The makers of Rio really backed themselves in the corner with their last-blue-macaws-on-Earth plot, ending the first movie with three brother and sister hatchlings that are somehow supposed to repopulate the species.
Rio 2 deftly quashes future inbreeding discussions - a secret second colony of blue macaws is discovered. The sequel has a new flock of problems. It's a bright and fun movie, but also repetitive and overloaded with plot. A nice enough diversion, but not a necessary one similar to the ones in the first Rio: the setting is still South America; and even some of the villains return, recycling their same lines and motivations. Rio 2 is saved from sub-mediocrity by its positive vibe and some notably sharp and soaring visuals. The musical interludes, in particular, provide a lot of the momentum that the narrative otherwise lacks. It's a movie that features clear-cut logging of the Amazon forest, and there isn't a moment that feels depressing. Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway return as the voices of Blu and Jewel, a pet bird and wild bird that were presented in the last film as the last of their species. They discover a new flock, members of which ostracize Blu because he trusts humans. The seemingly endless roster of bad guys includes the sadistic Cockatoo from the last film, a blue macaw lothario (Bruno Mars) who has his eye on Jewel, a rival flock of parrots and the head of the company about to clear-cut the secret grove. It's hard to care, because the four screenwriters credited choose one-liners and funny moments over a cohesive narrative. (Eisenberg as Blu becomes distractingly nebbish. You'll start hoping the new flock of blue macaws includes a good divorce attorney for Jewel.)
So many new characters join the old ones that everything feels diluted. It's like the last Hobbit movie - so much time passes between side plots that you have to jog the memory when a minor character appears again. Who's that toucan again? Is he a bad guy? The filmmakers make the most of Mars, and holdovers including will.i.am and Jamie Foxx join a variety of new singers including Kristin Chenoweth as a poison dart frog and the underused Rita Moreno as one of Jewel's relatives. None of their songs are especially memorable, but it sounds as if the voice actors were having a good time, which adds to the movie's infectiousness. The sights are also impressive, a huge leap beyond previous Blue Sky Studios animation efforts. The key with 3D animation is moderation; knowing when to pull back and when to let the visuals soar. The flight scenes in this sequel are particularly enjoyable.
To make up for the lack of story line , the film is padded with the plenty of rap, hip-hop and pop tunes. Particularly effective is Hathaway’s rendition of the lullaby Don’t go away. The expressive voices of Jamie Foxx, Andy Garcia and Jermaine Clement are additional benefits.
The makers of Rio really backed themselves in the corner with their last-blue-macaws-on-Earth plot, ending the first movie with three brother and sister hatchlings that are somehow supposed to repopulate the species.
So many new characters join the old ones that everything feels diluted. It's like the last Hobbit movie - so much time passes between side plots that you have to jog the memory when a minor character appears again. Who's that toucan again? Is he a bad guy? The filmmakers make the most of Mars, and holdovers including will.i.am and Jamie Foxx join a variety of new singers including Kristin Chenoweth as a poison dart frog and the underused Rita Moreno as one of Jewel's relatives. None of their songs are especially memorable, but it sounds as if the voice actors were having a good time, which adds to the movie's infectiousness. The sights are also impressive, a huge leap beyond previous Blue Sky Studios animation efforts. The key with 3D animation is moderation; knowing when to pull back and when to let the visuals soar. The flight scenes in this sequel are particularly enjoyable.
To make up for the lack of story line , the film is padded with the plenty of rap, hip-hop and pop tunes. Particularly effective is Hathaway’s rendition of the lullaby Don’t go away. The expressive voices of Jamie Foxx, Andy Garcia and Jermaine Clement are additional benefits.