Movies
Don't ever wonder how many animal-based CG animations there are, unless you're dedicated enough to find out the answer. Rio is another franchise that I missed simply because there's so many of them, and they all look, sound and appear so similar. Rio isn't the worst of the bunch at least. The whole selling point of the film is Brazil. That's pretty much it. A Brazilian bird gets poached, is raised in the US and returns to his homeland when it turns out he's the last male species of his race. If that sounds random, it's because these stories are rarely more than a hook for a little comedy, some songs and a bit of adventuring. The jokes are terrible though and many of the secondary characters are absolutely annoying, but at least the film is not quite as loud and obnoxious as most of its peers. It's a minor perk and it doesn't really save the film, but at least it makes it easier to sit through than many of its contemporaries. Read all
Trash. Recycled Pixar plot about a bull who prefers peace over war. The first 15 minutes aren't great, but passable. Then a couple of infuriatingly annoying comic relief characters are added and the entire thing just comes crashing down. Offensively plain and predictable.
Is there any better animal than a macaw to lead a US animation flick? They're loud, they're obnoxious, they live in jungles among many (many) other animals. It's a small miracle the first film didn't exploit that to the fullest, but in this sequel, all bets are off. Let's hope they never bother with a third one. Our little family of macaws has settled into their new lives, until they see a news program that shows there are still survivors of their species. They decide to seek them out, but not everybody is on board with returning to the jungle. Blu wants to get back to his easy life in the city, Jewel on the other hand loves the outdoors. An endless succession of atrocious pop songs, a lifetime of bad jokes, a cliché plot and not a funny character in sight. It's nothing more than the umpteenth formulaic attempt at animated comedy, then again there's clearly a market for it. It's equally clear I'm not their target audience, even then I've seen much better ones. A horrible film.Read all
