So last weekend, I took my intrepid young film reviewer (day job: my first born) to watch a preview screening of Rio 2. Silly boy thought that the treat came from the goodness of my heart and so on and so forth. “I can’t do a review!” he blurted out. “Why on earth not?” I asked. “Because it is what I’ll think about the film. What if I’m wrong?” Bless. The child knows not the first thing about criticism and punditry, at least not yet. That said, once he’d been reassured that the important thing was to state his opinion clearly and to put it in some sort of context, he was fine. He did demand though that I upgrade his popcorn and soda. He knows his worth. Sensible child.
Me: So, what did you think about the film?
First Born: I LOVED it!
Me: Didn’t it bother you that you haven’t seen the first one?
First Born: There’s a first one? You didn’t you say, why didn’t we watch it before this…
(Long conversation about the appropriateness of film-watching during the school week, the miserly allotted daily screen allowance and my absolute unsuitability for parenthood compared to all his friends’ parents. Eventually, I shut him up by reminding him that he has already been paid in kind for this review, so he should stop whining and get on with things.)
First Born: No, it all made lots of sense and I think anyone can enjoy it.
Brief synopsis: Blu (a rather nebbish Jesse Eisenberg), is a domesticated macaw and the companion (not a pet: this is terribly important) of Linda (Leslie Mann), an ornithologist. Linda and her husband Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) have headed out into the Amazon, searching for the natural habitat of Blu’s species, the rare Blue Macaw. Jewel (Anne Hathaway), Blu’s wife, is getting restless: Rio is not the best place to bring up kids, she thinks. She yearns for the unspoiled nature and tranquility of her forest home: when it seems that Linda and Tulio may have found her long lost tribe, she sweeps up Blu and their three kids on an epic journey to find her long-lost home.
First Born: Brazil is big! So’s the Amazon Jungle. There are people there cutting down trees to make paper…
Me: Is this a problem?
First Born: (Nodding solemnly) It is. The blue birds won’t have anywhere to live if all the trees are chopped down.
It turns out that a whole community of Blue Macaws are tucked away in a corner of the Amazon. But their habitat is under threat, from Big Bad paper-making Loggers. (The trees may be wanted for other things; the First Born decided unilaterally on the paper angle.) But this, as it happens, isn’t Blu’s biggest problem. Turns out that he has a father-in-law, Eduardo, (Andy Garcia), delighted to see his daughter again after so long but less enamoured of a son-in-law with a fanny pack and GPS. And that’s all before Eduardo discovers that Blu lived with humans once. “You’re a pet!” he spits out…
First Born: Then there was the strange white bird and the frog and the anteater that wanted to kill Blu…why?
Me: Not sure. I imagine you’d have to watch the first film to figure out quite why…
First Born: See, I told you, I told you!
(Another long and digressive conversation, which can be summarised thus: I am a neglectful parent. )
Me: The point is that Nigel, the white bird, is a Cockatoo. He can’t fly, and he blames Blu for this. So he has roped up a poisonous frog and an anteater, and now wants revenge…
First Born: Yeah, got that.
Me: So why are you grumbling?
First Born: (Beatific, toothy smile.)
As it happens, familiarity with Rio 1 is not essential. Nigel, the psychotic Cockatoo (Jermaine Clement) and his flightlessness – which he blames on Blu – are explained in flashback. He enlists Gabi (Kristin Chenoweth), a poisonous Tree Frog, to his cause. Gabi dotes on Nigel, which always helps, I suppose: Charlie, a mute Anteater, provides domestic services – fetching and carrying: something all parents are familiar with – for the homicidal cause.
Shenanigans ensue. There’s a rival tribe of Scarlet Macaws competing for resources…
First Born: There’s a football match! That was REALLY cool…
…and moral dilemmas to resolve. Truth is, to these jaded and middle-aged eyes, Rio 2 seems completely serviceable, if somewhat formulaic and predictable. However, my son did enjoy it very much. The cast – including will.i.am, Bruno Mars, Jamie Fox and Tracy Morgan – are up to the task, and the pace never really sags. However, first born did say that it wasn’t just the madcap adventures of Blu et al that caught his fancy; there was too the ecological backbone that shapes the film.
Verdict: Worth watching. Remember to be kind to the planet.
Rio 2 (2014)
Directed by Carlos Saldanha
Starring HEsse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Leslie Mann, Bruno Mars, Jermaine Clement, George Lopez, Jamie Foxx, will.i.am
101 minutes, English w. Hebrew subtitles/dub
