Review: Rio 2

73. Rio 2
The second consecutive film I saw that is a sequel to a film I haven't seen, "Rio 2" failed to impress. It is the textbook definition of mediocrity, a film made for the sole purpose of cashing in on the original's success, even though the filmmakers did not come up with a story worth telling.

In an attempt to mask this, they try to tell far too many stories concurrently, none of them compelling enough to carry the film. The primary storyline concerns the main characters finding others of their species (thought to be extinct) in the wild, and their attempts to fit into the society. This storyline brings nothing new to the table, with every twist visible from miles away and not a single fish out of water cliché left untouched. The second storyline is the environmentalist morality play about evil loggers who must be stopped from cutting down the forest. Again, nothing that hasn't been done over and over again in the past. The last storyline features (I assume) a villain from the first film seeking revenge for his defeat. This is the best of the storylines, as it provides some humorous moments, but its also the least developed, and disappears for long stretches of the film. While the film works hard to make sure all of these storylines intertwine in the climax, it is too little too late. For much of the film, they are completely separate from one another, making it unclear what story the film is trying to tell.

Ridley Scott's 2003 film "Matchstick Men" also juggled three different storylines. It followed Nicolas Cage's character, a con-man, as he dealt with his near crippling obsessive-compulsive disorder, sought to pull off one last "big con", and got to know the teenage daughter he never knew he had. That movie intertwined all three storylines throughout the film, both directly and indirectly. "Rio 2" mostly treats each of its storylines as separate entities, which calls even more attention to how weak they are. It's almost as if the filmmakers came up with three different possible sequels, but decided that if they threw them all up on the screen at once, they wouldn't need to spend the time developing them. Unfortunately, that's not how it works.