3.5 stars. Rated G, and suitable for all ages
By Derrick Bang
Next to co-founder Chris Wedge,
writer/director Carlos Saldanha clearly is one of Blue Sky Studios’ most
treasured assets.
After sharing credit with Wedge
on 2002’s Ice Age and 2005’s Robots, Saldanha soloed on the second Ice Age entry, shared credit once again
on the third installment, and somehow found time for a couple of hilarious
shorts featuring the acorn-challenged Scrat.
All the while, the Brazilian-born
Saldanha must’ve been building up to his own pet project: 2011’s Rio, a thoroughly enchanting,
bird’s-eye-view valentine to the city of Carnival, samba and a culture every
bit as colorful as the film's eye-catching avian stars. In addition to being
clever, witty and suspenseful — not to mention serving as an anchor for a
gloriously celebratory soundtrack — that film’s script also worked in a mildly
subversive, conservation-oriented subtext regarding the heinous black market
trade in exotic birds and animals.
Saldanha kept all those plates
spinning with the élan of a vaudeville pro. I was impressed three years ago,
and equally captivated when I caught up with the film a second time last week,
in anticipation of the subject at hand.
To cut to the chase, then, Rio 2 isn’t quite as fresh as its
predecessor, but it's still quite entertaining. That said, I miss the greater
involvement of Sergio Mendes. Although he returns once again as executive music
producer, it’s to a noticeably lesser degree; nothing in this sequel matches the
first film’s breathtaking paragliding scene, which took place against an
updated rendition of the joyous Brasil ’66 hit, “Mas Que Nada.”
The songs and score in this
sequel function more as they would in a stage musical — as story hooks to
advance the plot — as opposed to augmenting the overall atmosphere with the
rich, seductive sounds of samba and bossa nova. That’s an artistic modification,
and not necessarily a bad one; I lament it only because there’s no shortage of
animated musicals (I’m looking at you, Frozen),
whereas Saldanha and Mendes were more creative and original with their use of
songs in the first Rio.
A minor issue, granted, but it
does affect this sequel’s tone.
Events pick up a bit after the
first film’s conclusion, with our nerdy hero Blu (once again voiced by Jesse
Eisenberg) enjoying domestic bliss with his mate, Jewel (Anne Hathaway) and
their three offspring: Carla (Rachel Crow), Bia (Amandla Stenberg) and Tiago
(Pierce Gagnon). They’re comfortably situated at the Rio de Janeiro animal
sanctuary run by Blu’s BFF Linda (Leslie Mann) and Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro),
newlyweds themselves, and partners in wildlife rescue and preservation.
While releasing one of their
winged patients into the wild, Linda and Tulio spot a familiar cerulean feather:
certain evidence that other blue macaws exist in this part of the Amazon. This
is marvelous, breathtaking news, since Blu and Jewel were thought to be the
last of their kind.
Jewel, in turn, has a much more
personal reaction. Thanks to back-story cleverly supplied by co-scripters
Saldanha, Don Rhymer and Yoni Brenner, we learn a key detail left undisclosed
in the first film: that Jewel was snatched from an extended family — indeed, an
entire flock — under grim circumstances. Faced with the possibility that some
of her loved ones still might be alive, she insists on a trip to the Amazon
wilds.
Blu, raised in the civilized
wilds of suburban Minnesota, is less than thrilled.
It’s a clever plot device, given
that Blu now is able to display a fresh set of insecurities and neuroses. The
first film dealt with his inability to fly, and the courage he mustered — when
circumstances were dire— to overcome fear and claim his winged birthright. But
a city-fied bird, even one with new-found contentment in the sky, isn’t about
to be comfortable in the jungle. Particularly one filled with creepy-crawly
things such as snakes and spiders.
Jive bird-buddies Nico (Jamie
Foxx) and Pedro (will.i.am) aren’t much help; they also have little desire to
leave the safety of civilization. The saliva-spewing bulldog Luiz (Tracy
Morgan) doesn’t really care one way or the other, as long as he doesn’t get
left behind again. Helpful wisdom comes from the sage toucan, Rafael (George
Lopez), who advises Blu to put Jewel’s feelings first: “Happy wife ... happy
life.”
And, so, sufficiently armed with
a fanny-pack and a GPS, Blu reluctantly agrees to the trip, the rest of the
gang gamely tagging along. Alas, they’re clandestinely joined by three
pursuers, one with revenge on his mind: That would be Nigel (Jemaine Clement),
the villainous white cockatoo left somewhat worse for wear, after being
outsmarted in the previous film.
Nigel is accompanied by two
newcomers: the love-struck Gabi (Kristin Chenoweth), a tiny poisonous frog
who’d cheerfully dose Blu with her venom, if it would make Nigel happier; and
Charlie, a mute, tap-dancing anteater with a remarkably dexterous tongue, whose
willing assistance often is distracted by ant dinners.
Given Charlie’s Chaplinesque
behavior and unexpectedly balletic grace, we can assume the filmmakers didn’t
grant him that name accidentally. If Ice
Age fans were disappointed because Rio
lacked a surrogate Scrat, they’ll be delighted by Charlie. As I was, every time
he appeared, impressive tongue employed for yet another amusing sight-gag.
But wait; that’s not all.
Indeed, this script is laden with
villains, complications, setbacks and unexpected peril. Bad enough that Blu
& Co. have Team Nigel at their flanks: Finally encountering Jewel’s tribe
raises fresh crises, starting with her gruff father, Eduardo (Andy Garcia), who
sees nothing to like in the domesticated Blu; and the amorous Roberto (Bruno
Mars), who never got over his fondness for Jewel.
Then, too, Nico and Pedro are
hoping to find their next Carnival star(s) by auditioning some untapped jungle
talent.
On top of which, an illegal
logging operation is getting perilously close to the blue macaws’ jungle
homeland, and the thuggish foreman — Big Boss, voiced with appropriate
malevolence by Miguel Ferrer — couldn’t care less if some birds get in the way.
Or their human friends.
That’s probably enough melodrama
for at least two films, but — to their credit — Saldanha, Rhymer and Brenner
keep a steady hand on all these plot complications, while also granting enough
time for additional character development.
The stand-out co-star, by far, is
Chenoweth’s Gabi. The notion of an itty-bitty frog falling head over webbed
heels for a bird 10 times her size is funny enough; the tragic Shakespearean
tinge is even more amusing, since Gabi dare not touch Nigel, lest her toxic
glands kill him. This leads to the film’s best song, the hilarious “Poisonous
Love,” which derives much of its humor from the disconnect of a tiny frog
graced with Chenoweth’s full-bodied belt of a voice.
Broadway theater fans already
know this about Chenoweth, but it still never fails to startle me; at a
diminutive 4-foot-11, she has an amazingly rich and robust singing voice.
She also dominates her duet with
Clement during a parody-laden version of Gloria Gaynor’s rock anthem “I Will
Survive,” intended here to explain Nigel’s thirst for revenge.
Intent notwithstanding, the
bedraggled cockatoo simply isn’t the gleefully malicious force that he was in
the first film. Now he’s more bark than bite, too easily distracted by his
desire for performance glory and, yes, Shakespearean scene-stealing.
True evil belongs solely to human
characters this time out, with Big Boss filling that bill quite nicely. And,
once again, the environmental message is impossible to ignore. (One wonders how
children raised on these two films and the likes of The Lorax will feel about
such issues, when they mature into voting citizens.)
Eisenberg is once again ideal as
the fussy, prissy, woefully anal-retentive Blu, still preferring never to stray
beyond his carefully established comfort zone. Hathaway puts a lot of subtle
emotion into her line readings, deftly conveying Jewel’s simultaneous yet
mutually exclusive ties to Blu and her homeland.
Clement’s contemptuous disdain
always raises a giggle, and Nigel’s anteater acolyte gets plenty of laughs
without ever saying a word.
Foxx and will.i.am once again
make a great Mutt ’n’ Jeff pair as Nico and Pedro, while Lopez gets a cute
running gag involving Rafael’s musically challenged wife.
I wish the slobbering Luiz had
been granted more screen time, because Morgan’s always a hoot; we really feel
for the poor pooch every time he mutters, “That’s messed up.” The effervescent Rita Moreno similarly gets short-shrifted, as
Jewel’s Aunt Mimi.
I’m also not at all happy with
Garcia’s line-readings: too stiff, too formal, too wooden. The character simply
doesn’t work as intended.
Even so, this film closes with a
show-stopping musical frolic every bit as vibrant as that which concluded the first
Rio. You can’t help leaving with a
smile, wiggling in time to the infectious samba beat. So while Rio 2 may not be quite as innovative as
its predecessor, it’s just as fun.
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