Rio 2

A good animation is made weak by clichéd writing.

Lot of work and thought and detailing goes into an animated film. But if the writing is weak it cannot be pulled off easily. RIO 2 precisely suffers from that. The scenes are too clichéd for my comfort and the plot is very age-old. The bird formations, their beautiful feats have been all been seen in RIO and there is nothing new to offer on that front too in RIO 2. I felt like the basic format of the earlier film RIO was taken and just few modifications were done in writing. So it has that been there, seen that feel that does not add up any value.

The voice over is good and it seems like Jesse Eisenberg did make effort to feel like the bird Blu. Although the chemistry between the two birds, Blu and Jewel does not show up adequately, individually voice over of each was good. It's Anne Hathway for the female protagonist, Jewel.

The other aspects were fine, considering this is a commercial animated film. A word about music, which was good in RIO, comes weak and though are many songs, not even one was memorable, as I left the theater. So the music did not make any impression either.

If people like average stuff or have not seen RIO, perhaps will like it as they may find some new things here. For me, I did not like it and felt like a big bore. An average rating of 2/5 for this. It's not bad, it's purely mediocre.

Story: The story here suffers from too many subplots, and a lack of focus. It also doesn't help that all the subplots here are generic. This would would kill a film......if it was made by someone like Pixar or Studio Ghibli. But since this film's plot isn't the main focus, or why audiences watched the 1st Rio, then the bad story doesn't really hurt this film as much as it could've been. But it's still a bad story nonetheless. 4/10

Animation: It's beautiful, gorgeous, colorful, and worth watching on Blu-ray or Blu-ray 3D. 10/10

Characters And Comedy: All characters here follow standard archetypes we all know of, but Nigel and Gabi serve as the most original and most entertaining. Comedy is solid with some funny moments in the film. 6/10

Sound: Good score and amazing soundtrack. Love the songs here more than Frozen, but none really hit the heights of Hot Wings from the 1st. Although some of the songs do come close. 9/10

Acting And Casting: All actors/actresses do a good job voicing their roles, especially with Jesse E. as the voice of Blu. I'm also surprised Bruno Mars didn't suck. 7/10

Verdict: Don't watch this film for the story. Watch it like you would a Madagascar film and just sit back, relax, and enjoy an entertaining family film with some beautiful animation, good comedy, and amazing songs.

Extra: +1 for being a sequel I enjoyed.

Rating: 8/10

For a more in-depth review (stupid 1000 word limit), check out my Metacritic review: http://www.metacritic.com/user/DemonicSoul?myscore- filter=Movie

While it wasn't the best movie or even the best animation I have seen this year, this movie is definitely entertaining.

The movie begins with Blu, Jewel and their three kids having fun in their home in Rio, while Blu's former owner, Linda, and her husband, Tulio, are in the amazon. While in the Amazon, they discover a flock of blue macaws. Seeing this on the news, Jewel is desperate to visit and the story begins as Blu, his family and his friends from the last movie accompany him to the Amazon.

The story is decent. There are quite a few songs and plenty of comedic moments as well. While Blu is trying to fit in the tribe, there are a couple of dangerous foes around, Nigel and an illegal tree logger (one of which had plenty of moments which kind of reminded me of Avatar). There are plenty of great moments in the amazon when Blu is trying to fit in, which leads to one of my favourite moments, which was when they revealed the Pit of Doom. Also, it was fun to see Nigel (the white cockatoo) back, along with some new characters. The voice-work and music were quite good as well.

This movie is entertaining, the story and ending are nice as well. Although I have rated it the same as Rio, I think this was a little better. Found it to be quite funny and more action packed as well. A fun family movie.

Rio I was good enough to be entertaining and loved. It was fun. However, there wasn't much of a necessity to a sequel unless it matches its level and authencity. They are already happy, one, satisfied. There isn't a huge plot to look for. There isn't much space for comedy or even the twists and turns. It was so unoriginal I couldn't even connect them back to the ones they already were. The visuals make us awestruck and are very creative. However, only visuals can't make a movie complete. I didnt enjoy it. Heisenberg was good when his csreer stafted, hasn't been as effective in theast few years. However, He's still young and already a big name.

As someone who loved the first film, while the advertising was not the best it didn't put me off seeing Rio 2. And it was very enjoyable, not as good as the original but it is an example of animated sequels that do work. The story and the pacing are uneven here, with the film getting off to a slightly slow start and feeling rushed in other places, though you do have to admire the energy there is. There are plenty of fun parts with the second half far more compelling than the first and the film rarely has a dull moment, but structurally it is on the thin side and content-wise it feels overstuffed. However, if you want lots of colour, catchy music, fun and good characters and voice acting, Rio 2 very like its predecessor doesn't disappoint. The animation is amazing with lots of vibrant detail especially in the backgrounds and nothing looks hurried or static. The colours are even more brighter and colourful than the first film too. The music has that Brazilian flavour and the songs are incredibly catchy. Don't Go Away is a very touching song, but the highlights are the pizazz-personified Poisonous Love and the hilarious rap version of I Will Survive(thought I'd never say this, can't stand rap on the most part). While the film does feel overstuffed, the content is actually really good, dialogue-wise it's smartly written and has a fair amount of heart while the gags provide plenty of laughs with sharp timing, the best being the soccer match, the jungle auditions and any scene(the Romeo and Juliet part in particular) with Gabi and Nigel. The characters are still engaging, Blu and Jewel are likable lead characters though they had more to do in the first one and Nigel has that menacing streak but is a riot. There are some great new characters as well, with Gabi as good a character as and in some cases even better the original ones. The voice acting adds to that, Jemaine Clement and Kristen Chenoweth are both phenomenal helped by that they have the film's best moments, though Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Andy Garcia and everybody else acquit themselves more than fine too. To conclude, a good sequel to a great original, enjoyed it a lot and when it comes to animated sequels there is definitely much worse(ie. Secret of NIMH 2). 7/10 Bethany Cox