Bottom Line:
I really enjoyed the first RIO movie – an energetic adventure about
a rare, flightless, Minnesota-housed Blue Macaw. It was well written, witty, colorful and
sincere. This follow up – well…it’s, um,
it’s colorful. This seemingly rushed
rehash never recreated the physical pain I endured while watching Disney’s
PLANES (Plane Pain, as I like to call it), but it sure as heck doesn’t fall too
far from that let’s-not-try-too-hard tree.
The effort here – in terms of story – is a dazed and confused effort. A few shrug-worthy jokes, lots of celebration
of life and a few show tunes awkwardly shoehorned in because the brilliant
success of FROZEN proved that that’s what we want…right?! My family, five strong (and true to form),
was all over the map: While my 6- and 4-year olds showered it with A’s, my wife
and 9-year old – refreshingly – saddled it with a B-. It’s hard to wow families in a post
FROZEN/LEGO MOVIE world. The color is
all there, along with a tad of familial spirit - but the rest is a frantically
chaotic mix of clichéd animated hijinx.
It was a soulless, style-over-substance bore. Lushly animated and lazily executed, RIO 2
is, indeed, for the birds and the cinematic equivalent of parking your newly
washed car under a pigeon-laden telephone wire.
Sure she looks shiny, but you know what happens next…
Starring the voices of: Jesse Eisenberg, Anne
Hathaway, Andy Garcia, Bruno Mars, Jamie Foxx, Tracy Morgan, George Lopez,
Jermaine Clement, Leslie Mann, Kristin Chenoweth and Will.i.am
Directed by: Carlos Saldanha (RIO, ICE AGE and ROBOTS)
Rated: PG
Running time: 101 minutes
Studio description: It's a jungle out there for
Blu, Jewel and their three kids in RIO 2, after they're hurtled from that
magical city 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. All our favorite RIO characters are back, and they're
joined by Oscar (R) nominee Andy Garcia, Grammy (R) winner Bruno Mars, Tony (R)
winner Kristin Chenoweth and Oscar/Emmy (R)/Tony winner Rita Moreno. RIO 2 also
features new Brazilian artists and original music by Janelle Monae and
Wondaland. (c) Fox
Official site:
www.riomovies.com
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