Re-Rio

After generally enjoying Rio when I finally saw it earlier this year, I was willing to give this year's sequel a chance. But as is so often the case with sequels, Rio 2 fell short of the original.

In most movies based around a couple in which one half is a "fish out of water," the sequel is inevitably based around reversing the roles. So I suppose some credit is due to the creators of Rio 2 for not taking the obvious path of taking Jewel to the U.S. for new adventures; instead, the story doubles down on Blu's awkwardness by sending him and his new family into the Amazon. And if the movie had stayed centered on that idea, it might have been fairly good.

Instead, Rio 2 is stuffed with so many ideas and so many subplots that it's a bit of a crowded mess. Sidekicks Nico and Pedro are planning to hold a talent competition in the jungle. Evil adversary Nigel happens to run into Blu, and is determined to chase him down for revenge. There's also a turf rivalry between groups of Spix's Macaws and Scarlet Macaws. And an evil band of loggers threatening to destroy them all.

The busy story matches the loud visuals -- though the movie is quite successful on that front. Few animated movies have ever been as bright and colorful as this, and the musical numbers sprinkled throughout revel in fun, over-the-top flash. The wealth of CG animated movies these days has all but killed the age of "how did they do that?", but this movie at the very least conjures a respectful "that was a hell of a lot of work."

The entire voice cast from the first film returns. (Perhaps including them all is a major reason the creators decided to keep their story set in South America.) Joining them are a host of new performers, including Andy Garcia, Bruno Mars, Kristin Chenoweth, Rita Moreno, and Miguel Ferrer. It's frankly too large a cast for any of them to truly shine, though Kristin Chenoweth does come close to stealing the show with a funny love song written for her character, an amorous poison dart frog.

If you don't mind the almost schizophrenic nature of the movie, it is enjoyable enough. Still, it's nothing exceptional, and would probably wear out quickly if you had a kid who wanted to watch it all the time. I give Rio 2 a middle-of-the-road C.