Rio 2 Review

Rio 1 had slapstick aplenty, pop culture references and two spoken toilet gags, but at least it had more charm than the other film that stopped Newt from being made. Unfortunately, Rio 2: The Meltdown is Blue Sky's weakest effort yet.

Critics say that it has too many musical numbers. I disagree - it has too many characters. Nigel, who was the best part of the last film, has been turned more boring than his life without flight, and to go with that is a fangirl frog who wants to have mutant babies with him. There are also guys who want to destroy the environment and end up in a battle sequence that is basically Avatar meets Open Season. The designs are wonderful to look at as well as the scenery, but...

Despite this being the only CG film this year not given an MPAA classification of PG (for action and rude humour), there is a fart joke that has already been done in The LEGO Movie (it's when a guy in the Old West takes a bath if you weren't paying attention), as well as a couple of animated films from 10 years ago. That and the other only attempts at getting kids' attention spans are every bit of Blu's suffering. It further proves that LEGO cannot be beat this year no matter how hard you try.

Perhaps the Peanuts movie next year will live up to Paul Feig's promise, but in the meantime Blue Sky have managed to come up with something more boring than Ice Age 4 and Epic. Don't get me wrong, Blue Sky has talent. They only have to make their scripts as good as their visuals. Rio 2 is even less necessary than Ice Age 5 will probably be - there's not a saber-toothed squirrel in sight to redeem it (not counting the studio logo).

Take a shot if they discover an underground world of lost tribes in the next film.