Almost sounds like some sort of punchline, right? Rio 2. Because we really wanted to see the continued adventures of one of the most uninteresting couples in animation. Thankfully though Rio 2 is a classic case of Sequelitis and there’s only three ways that lazy sequels spit out sequels.
- The main characters have to compete in some form of contest.
- One of the Main characters gets kidnapped and the rest of the gang must save them.
- Add children.
And Rio 2 takes lucky number 3 and becomes a movie that tries to puff out its feathers to seem big but on closer inspection you can see that the bird is dead and covered in pictures of A- grade actors.
But sadly I was just being needlessly facetious when I said this is just the “Add children” sequel. It’s a whole lot more cliché then that. We kick off during Rio’s carnival as Jewel and Blu (Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg) are arguing over Blu over-familarizing their children; fat one, crazy one, and smart one (Rachel Crow, Pierce Gagnon, and Amandla Stenberg) to nature by having them make pancakes, watch TV, and do other NON-environmental things. But suddenly Linda and Tulio are in plot 2 and have discovered that their are more Blue Macaws in the Amazon, which kind of makes the previous movie’s conflict null and void but whatever. So, the Blu’s plus Lopez and the unfunny funky birds all head to the Amazon where they meet Jewel’s long lost father, discover an illegal deforestation, have a turf war with the neighboring macaws, get attacked by a now flightless Nigel (Jemaine Clement) and his poisonous frog sidekick Gabi (Kristin Chenoweth) and many other side plots that fill this cluttered mess of a movie.
Usually a sequel is supposed to be bigger but adding in a dozen sub-plots is both A) going completely overboard B) missing the point of being big. A sequel is supposed to explore our characters by placing them in new scenarios to build on what they learned last movie. The only characters in this movie who do seem sequel material are Nigel and Gabi, who are under-utilized here but make up for it with loads of charm, and Blu who has too many cliché character developing side plots crammed down his beak, just one of them could’ve been enough to support a sequel. The main thematic message of Blu’s arc is that at first he’s feeling inadequate, due to Jewel falling head over talons for the jungle life and being a city bird he just can’t keep up with the wild around him. The moral for this? Suck it up and just go along with it. I really have no idea, Blu was my favorite character from the last movie, as honestly I could relate to there and I could relate to him here but this movie has no idea how to convey its moral for Blu.
Throughout the movie Blu is trying his hardest to show he can be one of the flock and all that jazz and as formula dictates the jungle beats the crap out of him. But when he’s had enough Jewel is all like “how can you be s selfish? Decide if you want to be with the family or not.” It feels like the movie is following the letter of the moral, rather than the actual message as the relationship between Blu and Jewel, the supposed center of the conflict, is completely one sided. Jewel gets to have the family move to the Amazon, gets her father, basically gets that wild life she always wanted but never had the personality to back up why. However, when Blu even utters his annoyance with the jungle, especially after it beats the crap out of him, Jewel treats it like he’s being 100% selfish. Any other conversation they have about the jungle is nothing but guilt tripping. Not sorry to say but while Blu’s love for tech was unhealthy he was willing to step out of his introvert persona to flesh out, Jewel does not. She is the same bland love interest that the more the movie goes on I feel doesn’t deserve Blu. I find it weird that I cared enough to even write that.
Although, despite all that I think I do know where that relationship development is hiding. Where? It’s smothered under the other side-plots, specifically the one’s about the EVIL loggers destroying the amazon. Almost as sickeningly sappy like Animals United, Rio 2 beats you over the head with its environmental message saying that the city drools and the jungle rules with SMALL examples of the writers trying to make it more grey on either side. It’s not successful. That’s why the moral is treated so badly, Blu’s love of the city goes against the movie’s environment message so it’s not Blu with Jewel as his emotional antagonist like in the first movie. It’s Blu vs. Nature and Blu has to lose.
Moving back to sub-plot #3, Nigel is still as hilariously over the top as usual. Evil cackle and all. But this time he has the comedic aid of an anteater and Gabi, a love struck poisonous frog. Gabi’s main gimmick is that she can not be touched or she’ll kill them and with that one gimmick Gabi and Nigel are able to pull off great comedic slapstick, inventive story set pieces, and bring about the movie’s two only memorable songs. Both villain songs. The first being the love ballad “Poisonous Love” sung by Gabi. This song invokes a lot of calm and almost heavenly visuals, while being mixed with Gabi’s eccentric and upbeat personality, giving us a clear understanding of her personality and role in the narrative. That is a good villain song.
The other song is Nigel’s rendition of “I Will Survive.” The use of colours and quick editing makes the music and animation feel dynamic and fast paced making the song an energy filled ride of awesome. But even with all this awesome, thanks to the movie’s environmental message, Nigel and Gabi disappear for long stretches of time to the point where I would forget they were in the movie. But clearly instead of setting up a showdown between Blu and Nigel we desperately needed a bird soccer scene, with the WORST sport’s movie cliché ever. Will not say it because even uttering such unimaginative writing would make my eyes roll into the back of my brain.
Oh but wait, since it’s pretty looking let’s ignore all that. Or how about we not and instead treat our audience with respect and write a draft with a streamlined story with one main conflict and not seventeen, and actually give all the characters purpose. Other then that the only things that are good are Blu, Nigel and Gabi, and the visuals. I would say that it’s harmless, but it isn’t. It’s boring. If you are at all interested in Rio, just watch the first Rio, leave Rio 2 to stand as another that has suffered from sequelitis and maybe in the inevitable Rio 3 we’ll head to the Antarctic to really jump the shark.
Written By: Taylor “Whyboy” Wyatt
Taylor Wyatt DC Blog 
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