Such a frustrating disappointment

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Most animation studios can turn out great sequels, though sadly Blue Sky Studios strangely enough isn't one of them. While they do succeed at making very enjoyable original movies, their Ice Age sequels don't have a lot of rewatch value. With "Rio 2" however, I went in very hopeful. I really enjoyed the first movie with it's beautiful colors, fun songs, likable characters and a pretty good story and hoped the sequel could deliver. Sadly though, I walked out of the movie really disappointed. "Rio 2" just falls flat with a story that has way too many plot elements, new characters that are very unlikeable, and song numbers so forgettable and bland that not even Bruno Mars could make them fun. Let me explain why this is. A few years after the first film, Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) and Jewel (Anne Hathaway) have been living happily with their kids in the grand and glorious city of Rio de Janeiro. However, Jewel feels that her kids are acting a little to much like humans (due to Blu having lived most of his life with a human) and wants them to get back to their natural roots. However when Blu's former owner Linda (Leslie Mann) and her husband Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) discover that more sphinx macaws might be out there, Jewel decides to go to the Amazon to find the tribe which Blu reluctantly agrees to. Along with their friends Nico (Jamie Foxx), Pedro (will.i.am.), and Rafael (George Lopez) they go into the jungle and find the tribe where they meet the leader and Jewel's father, Eduardo (Andy García) as well as Jewel's best friend Roberto (Bruno Mars) and try to get Blu to get into natures ways and also hold a talent show, unaware that a logging company is planning to bulldoze the entire forest and that Nigel (Jemaine Clement), the villain from the last movie has survived the encounter in the last movie and is planning his revenge while also bouncing back to Linda and Tulio from time to time as well have a soccer game that serves no point to the story. Yeah, it's a mess. The story in this movie just has so many plot elements in this film that it just got so confusing and full especially compared to the first film's very simple story. I think the reason why this happened is because the writers of this movie thought that the film needed to be bigger and have some more elements added to it though sadly they had no idea how to do it correctly. I also thought some scenes weren't handled right, particularly the reunion between Jewel and Eduardo. It was so rushed and didn't feel very emotional. Speaking of which, let's talk about the characters. The ones from the first film still have their charm and likable personality, particularly Blu. The new characters on the other hand, that's another story. They're all very unlikeable and even treat some of the characters harshly, especially Eduardo. Words cannot describe my hate for him. The way he treated poor Blu throughout the movie really angered me and finally by the time he called him "pet" I lost all faith in him. As for the others, Blu and Jewel's kids were just cliched and I also really wasn't fond of the loggers. I could understand what the writers were trying to go for, but they weren't funny at all compared to the smugglers and also didn't pose a legitimate threat. However, I think one of the biggest mistakes that the movie made was bringing back Nigel. He was a necessary villain for the first film, though bringing him back was pointless. Even his defeat at the end, which I won't spoil, was weak compared to the first film. In fact, he isn't defeated at all. Yeah, what a letdown. The song numbers, though nice, weren't as grand as the first film either. They didn't have anything especially memorable compared to the first film's Oscar nominated song and not even Bruno Mars, whose songs are fantastic, could make it work. The only thing that I could find better than the first movie was the animation. The colors were more grand and eye popping and could look realistic at times, but that was seriously the only thing that I found better. "Rio 2" just disappointed me. This could have been a great sequel, but it's jumbled story, unlikeable new characters and forgettable songs just made it very unlikeable. I feel bad for Blue Sky as yet this is another sequel that they stumbled up on. If there's any proof from this movie, I think that there are two lessons that they should hopefully learn. Bigger isn't always better, and that they should also stick to making original stories and not sequels. We'll just have to wait and see if they follow that advice.

The central message of family over tech is good and all, but if you look at the way its brought together, it makes you question the movie's moral code.Look at the events. first, the movie seems simple, a family trip to visit the mother's relatives, however as the movie goes on it becomes clear that the mother never really intended for this to just be a trip. She clearly wants to stay and raise her children inside her colony and though this isn't an outright bad idea, the sneaky way she goes about it makes be really question her character. As I watched I even started going back to the first movie and realized that given the sequence of events, she could be rethinking her entire marriage.Not only that but throughout the movie Blue himself really is picked on for a lot of things that simply weren't his fault and is subsequently treated as if they were done deliberately. From the berries to the sports game and seeking approval from Jewel's father. Jewel should know what kind of husband she has and while I fully accept trying to help someone better themselves, It very much seems like she is literally trying to make him into something that is much more like her old boyfriend. Which affects Blue's self-esteem.Then there are the poachers who could have been left out to tell the truth. Nigel was already here and the poachers seem very after though. I mean when Blue encounters the poachers and just up and decides that he doesn't need humans anymore than I really don't understand anything. Was his blatant love for his owner and society really so fickle that meeting this one group of bad people could change that. Made even more stupid by the fact that he almost immediately does an 180 and goes back to loving humans again, making the first freak out even more confusing.There are a lot of horrible plot holes and clichés I can also complain about, but I'll just finish with simply stating that the original was great and didn't need a sequel, especially not thi one.

Rio 2(2014) Starring:Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Leslie Mann, Jamie Foxx, Andy Garcia, Bruno Mars, Jemaine Clement, Rodrigo Santoro, Jake T. Austin, Amandla Stenberg, Pierce Gagnon, Rita Moreno, Kristin Chenoweth, Tracy Morgan, Will.i.am, and George Lopez Directed By:Carlos Saldanha Review HE'S VILLAINOUS, SHE'S VENOMOUS. You know I actually liked the first Rio movie a lot actually and I didn't even want to see it but my sister made me anyway and I actually thought it was great. When I heard the sequel and saw the trailer a billion times on comcast to rent or own, I knew this would be some generic family animated sequel I wouldn't enjoy and guess what I was right. The Film revolves around Blu, Jewel and their three kids after they're hurtled from Rio de Janeiro to the wilds of the Amazon. As Blu tries to fit in, he goes beak-to-beak with the vengeful Nigel, and meets the most fearsome adversary of all: his father-in-law. The story isn't that interesting, it's basically a generic animated family feature where the main character doesn't want to leave his home because he's so use to things and when he does leave and gets to the Amazon the father of his wife doesn't like him, and there is a much more attractive character that his wife is spending more time with which makes him jealous. It's been done too death and I don't like it. The movie does not achieve it's goal, thanks to its generic story the movie is bland and boring, even if I do like the performances from the actors it's just not that well interesting for me to care about what's going on in the picture. All the elements of a good film are not present it's just bland, generic,boring, and tiresome. With good performances that help not making a stupid waste time. I give Rio 2 a two out of five.

This animation tells the story of the blue macaws flying into the amazon to find other blue macaws.I was thoroughly bored and irritated by the first Rio, so "Rio 2" is a nice surprise. This film is colorful and fun. The plot is about love and family, and you cannot go wrong with these fundamental ideas. The birds sometimes burst into spontaneous singing and dancing, but it's not as annoying as I usually find it to be. In fact, the use of "I Will Survive" is really fun, and starkly contrasts the character that sings it. That's a joke for adult viewers, children won't get it. The ending is fun as well. I enjoyed watching "Rio 2".