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.

For someone who have watched Rio,there is no thing special new. On short,this is adventure film that should be for family.There is nice jokes and good sense for humor,but the story is somehow slow and boring. The characters are not new and they are 2D characterized. The only real emphaty I feel is to main character.Fact is that good animation and music don't make film good.Colors and dance makes visual expression good,but not a whole film. Because of slowness of film,it is boring for young kids. But everything is made for kids and you will probably not watch it alone. In short,film is comedy with some message and that is all.

What can I say about the Rio movies? Well they're very fun, silly, upbeat and cute with a cute romance and dazzling animation. However, Rio 2 is definitely the weaker of the 2 movies. It feels much sillier and over the top than the first movie. At least the first movie had a sweet center and could be taken seriously despite being a bit silly. With Rio 2, every other scene is a joke and most scenes are way over the top and goofy. It doesn't quite get to the point where it's cringe worthy but it does come close. The other major problem with this movie is how many subplots there are, I mean it's just ridiculous. At least the first movie had one main plot with one side-plot but Rio 2 has 10 subplots at least. Let's see, we have, the city boy in the country, the hard to please the father cliché, the jealousy story despite the couple being married and have kids, Linda and Tulio searching for blue macaws, the red macaws and blue macaws playing football, Blu and Jewel's kids, one of the kids putting on a talent show, the environmental message, one of the birds looking for a new hat, Nigel plotting against Blu and Jewel and the poison dart frog with a huge crush on Nigel. Did I miss a few? So as you can probably tell, none of these subplots get enough focus. The movie often sporadically switches between stories until the climax where every single subplot crashes together and resolve the plot. Because of this, the movie is extremely sloppy, scattered and unfocused that it becomes hard to follow. Most of the subplots could've been cut out since they're so meaningless. The only ones that felt necessary were the loggers' subplot, Nigel's subplot and maybe Linda and Tulio's subplot. However, I don't really like the former subplot either because like many others, I am sick and tired of movies shoving this message down our throats. It worked in Wall-E only because it's Pixar and Andrew Stanton. However, to this movie's credit, it doesn't get that much focus and it isn't shoved down your throats as much as some other animated movies. *cough cough* Epic *cough* Ferngully *cough* Avatar *cough cough* Cloudy with a *cough* Chance of *cough* Meatballs. However, this movie isn't all bad. Despite being extremely over the top, Nigel is a fun villain and the poison dart frog that has a crush on him is a fun character and yeah I ship it. I really did love the first 25 minutes of this film where we see Blu and Jewel interact with their kids and it shows their differing ideas on raising the kids and we do get a fun song and a cool montage. However once they started introducing all those subplots like I said, the movie started getting really sloppy. Anyways, I also have to give props to the animation of this movie. It's some of the most fluid, colorful, fast-paced, and smooth animation Blue Sky has ever done along with the first Rio, and The Peanuts Movie. Every little detail of the animation is accounted for including every little feather and leaves on the trees however, it still is it's own style and doesn't look overly realistic. It's still catoony and over the top but also stylistic and colorful. The songs, as few as there are, are the highlights of the movie and why it deserves to exist. The animation really shines in these scenes, the instrumentals and the music itself is really nice and easy on the ears. I'll admit, the humor was also pretty good at parts. Overall, this movie is a fun watch but not as good as the first. I'd say at best it's a mindless time-killer.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this movie. It's simple, bright, colourful fun. It won't challenge you or surprise you but who cares. It's lively and spirited with beautiful hip shaking music. The Blue Macaw dance number is especially fantastic.I also love Blu and Jewel's three little children. They are cute yet sassy and a nice addition to the animated cast of characters. Tiago's my favourite. He's a little dork with his mini goggles.The overall story is nothing exceptional and filled with clichés but kids and adults alike can enjoy it. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's better than the first one but it's comparable.