Tune Deaf Rio 2 Hits Too Many Sour Notes
The 2011 computer animated hit Rio was agreeable enough for what it was. The movie was a fish out of water story about a long thought extinct tropical bird named Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) brought home to Rio de Janeiro to hopefully mate with the lone female of his species, Jewel (Anne Hathaway). The pair bicker and banter, claiming to hate one another even though it’s obvious to anyone with an eyeball that’s not the case, the twosome putting a gaggle of evil poachers in their place while also opening their hearts to the love hidden within.
As slight as it all might have been it was all told with an agreeable air of comedic fizziness and augmented by Brazilian musical beats that were undeniably infectious. Instantly forgettable, yes, the film was nonetheless a great deal of fun, the whole thing filled with eye-popping animation that was as colorful as it was inspired.
With that in mind, it’s no surprise that Rio 2 exists. As big a smash as the first was, as many Blu-rays and DVDs it sold, it wasn’t so much a question whether or not Blu and Jewel would return as it was when they’d finally make their appearance. One hoped the three years spent making this sequel happen would mean the filmmakers, including returning co-writer and director Carlos Saldanha (Ice Age), had taken care to make sure the screenplay was a solid one, giving their beloved characters a reason to return for a second flight. Those hopes, sadly, are in vain.
Why is that? Well, for one thing, there isn’t actually a good reason for Rio 2 to exit or for Blu and Jewel to return. There’s the thinnest strain of an idea, one involving the potential discovery of a flock of birds just like our two heroes, but nothing of substance is done with it. Sure Blu and Jewel, along with their three kids Bia (Amandla Stenberg), Carla (Rachel Crow) and Tiago (Pierce Gagnon), journey from Rio into the heart of the Amazon to see if this is true or not, but once there not a lot happens that’s interesting. The movie stalls out, presenting a few strands of reasonable places to go and then proceeds to do nothing with them, everything flying in never-ending circles desperately searching for a place to land and a reason to matter.
It’s as if Saldanha and fellow writers Don Rhymer (Deck the Halls) and Yoni Brenner (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs) sat in a room tossing out ideas like spitballs wondering which ones might stick to the whiteboard, the ones that did the themes and story arcs they decided to proceed with. Never mind if none of them connect very well together. Never mind if that made all of the characters, not just the newcomers but returning fan favorites as well, one-dimensionally nondescript and hardly worth caring about. The whole thing is a somewhat shocking waste of time and talent, any affinity for the first film I may have had seriously harmed by the ponderous and meandering disaster Rio 2 proves to be.
Even the music is given short shrift. Where the first film was punctuated with stunning songs and musical moments that gave it vitality and life, this one cannot say the same. Songs begin, look as if they are going to be something special and then, oddly, come to an end before they even have a chance to begin. The toe stops tapping right away, and what should have been a signature moment of mirth, merriment and life is nothing more than a reminder of potential squandered and positives instantaneously transformed into their insidiously unctuous opposite number.
There are a couple of exceptions, one with returning baddie Nigel (still voiced by Jemaine Clement with wickedly despicable glee) singing his own craftily evil version of disco standard “I Will Survive,” the other featuring a new character, a supposedly poisonous pink frog named Gabi, about her tragically lethal love for her wickedly devilish feathered benefactor sung by the great Kristin Chenoweth with uninhibited rhapsodic fury. Both of these moments are divine, the latter in particular, the Broadway and TV veteran belting her heart out in ways both hysterical and heartfelt. These are the only times in the entire movie where everything soars to the heights I kept thinking were possible, bringing a smile to my face the likes of which I hoped would never disappear.
That obviously was not the case, the film’s numerous shortcomings overwhelming the few positives (including the animation, which is once again stunning) that do indeed exist. Plot tangents involving long-lost family members, environmental devastation, human greed and learning that home is indeed where the heart is all fall flat, none of these disparate threads close to weaving together into a cohesive whole. Rio 2 is oddly tone deaf, its musical notes so sour, so out of tune, listening to them all in one sitting is as excruciating as it is pointless.
Film Rating: 1.5 out of 4
Review reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle
