Since we last saw them in the first Rio movie, Blu and Jewel have settled in Rio de Janeiro and are happily married with three little macaws. Blu and Jewel’s human keepers, Linda and Tulio, now work as a husband-and-wife team running the nature preserve where Blu and Jewel live and perform research in the Amazon.
All is well until Linda and Jewel discover that Blu and his family might not be the only Blue Macaw’s left and that there may in fact be an entire flock deep in the Amazon.
Longing to find others like her, Jewel convinces Blu to take their family and friends to travel to the Amazon. There, she reunites with her father and childhood friends, whom she had thought were lost in a fire years ago. Jewel decides that her family should stay in the jungle permanently while Blu, who is used to city life, isn’t so sure.
In the meantime, an illegal logging operator is after Linda and Tulio since he is planning on cutting down the part of the Amazon where the Blue Macaws live and does not want word of their existence to get out. Linda and Tulio are captured by the logger, but Blu manages to save them and rally the flock to stop the logger and his fleet of bulldozers just before they raze the portion of the Amazon the flock calls home.
There are also many sub-plots in the movie, including: a story of unrequited love between a frog and a cockatoo; the search for the best talent in the jungle; and a rivalry between the parrots and Blue Macaws for control of Brazil nuts.
While these sub-plots are cute individually, they make the movie seem a little longer than it should be. My children (3.5 and 6) also had a difficult time keeping up with all of the various stories and had a lot of questions about them when the movie was over.
Fans of the first Rio will enjoy seeing the main characters living “happily ever after” in this cute follow-up and may enjoy the songs. There are also some big named actors in the movie, including Anne Hathaway, George Lopez, Jamie Foxx, and Tracy Morgan. However, younger children may find the 101 minute movie too long to hold their interest and they may not be able to follow the multiple storylines embedded in the movie.
Both of my kids liked the movie but expressed that there “were too many stories.” But, if you loved the first Rio or your child loves animals, Rio 2 will make for an enjoyable afternoon.
Rio 2 is in theaters April 11, 2014 and is rated G.
