Rio 2 Review: A Harmless but Mediocre Sequel

Written By: Dave

Rio, an animated film from 2011 made a lot of money, so a sequel was bound to happen. Now, 3 years later, that sequel has arrived in theaters. Rio 2 has a simple plot: Blu (played by Jesse Eisenberg) and Jewel (voiced by Anne Hathaway) discover they are not the last of their species, so they travel to the Amazon to find the rest of the flock. There, Jewel reunites with her long lost family, and Blu has to prove he can fit into a natural environment as opposed to the big city.

Now, what I just described above is one of what borders on a dozen plots this movie has going at once. There is an insane number of characters in this movie. From Blu, Jewel, and their family, there's the villainous Nigel and his crew, to Roberto the smooth talking Spixs macaw, to Blu's friends from Rio who follow them to the Amazon, to Linda and Tulio going around trying to stop some evil loggers, to the loggers themselves, this movie has far more characters then even Madagascar 3 had. This really feels like multiple scripts for possible Rio sequels were all combined into one. 

I'll give the movie this; the voice actors aren't too bad. I think Jesse Eisenberg and Andy Garcia did very well in their roles. Jemaine Clement and Kristen Chenoweth had good comedic chemistry with each other. Their scenes were probably the highlight of the movie for me. 

The other big issue I have with this film is that it's just not very funny. While I did get a chuckle or two from time to time, there just aren't many memorable jokes. While I'm sure the younger audiences will get a lot of laughs (the one in my theater did), this really isn't something older viewers will find hilarious. The animation is gorgeous though, but by this point, that's something we've come to expect from big studio animated releases. I did like the designs of the birds, and they all did stick out in my mind.

Overall, Rio 2 is a harmless movie. There's nothing really great to recommend, but if you have kids who want to see this, you won't be sitting in the theater miserable for an hour and a half. It goes by quick enough to just avoid getting on one's nerves, but I can't really recommend this if you just want to see an animated film by yourself. I give Rio 2 a 2.5 out of 5.

Full trailer of How To Train Your Dragon 2 Soars!

Dragon fans rejoice for the full trailer to How To Train Your Dragon 2 is here! The movie is still three months away, but that should not stop from being excited for the film. If this trailer is any indication, we might be in for one fun ride. The trailer works a lot like the film's second trailer; with one exception. The new trailer lets you know just how the story is going to play out. Granted, it wasn't like this plot was a difficult riddle to solve; but seeing things unfold should viewer an understanding of the film's magnitude. Needless to say, this is one exciting trailer and hopefully it leads to one exciting movie. Oh and having the song "Kings and Queens" i your trailer never hurts. 

See you in theater when How To Train Your Dragon 2 arrives on June 13th. 

Frozen becomes the Highest Grossing Animated Movie of ALL TIME. What does this mean for Disney?

The past week, one animated film made a milestone. At this point, many can probably guess which film broke the record? You guessed it...The Nut Job. Yes the animated film that hit theaters January that many believed to be a failure in fact grossed well over....oh who am I kidding: you read the title above. Yes Frozen is as it again. Just when you thought this film could not accomplish anything more, it surprises us yet again as Frozen has grossed over 1.072 Billion Dollars in the box office. As it stands, Frozen is not just the most successful animated film of the decade, but it is in fact the highest grossing animated movie of ALL TIME! So with this new milestone, what does this mean for both Frozen and Disney?

Frozen 2?

When a movie is this successful, studio's first thought is to green light a sequel in the hopes of making a profitable franchise. So will Disney go ahead with a Frozen 2? You would think that they would,  however Disney's track record says something else. While movies like The Lion King were a massive success, Disney did not bother to make a sequel (well a sequel for the big screen). Just because Disney has had major hits in theaters doesn't mean they had the intention to franchise it. This could be the same for Frozen. While Frozen will go  in the history books as a classic, there is no guarantee that a sequel will be following it. Then again, we could see a Frozen sequel becoming a straight to DVD release; and that's a frightening thought. 

Merchandising

This is something that has already flourished in the likes of Disney stores, but thanks to this, we are probably not going to see the end of Frozen's merchandise.  If so many classic Disney films are still hot items today, then you can be we will never see the end of Frozen Merchandise. 

Over hyping Backlash

With so much success, Frozen will be remember and regarded as one of Disney's best films. However, could this blow up in the film's face. While everyone has had nothing but praised for Frozen, it may not come as a surprise that some will begin calling the movie overrated. Such claims may not come because of the movie itself but rather then way the movie is being sold. 

Whatever you may think of Frozen, the fact remains that the new Disney classic is a one that people will not forget, whether they want to or not. I any case, fans of the film should be pleased with Frozen's latest accomplishment. All we can do now is wait and see