Story
Rio 2 is a sequel to Rio. In Rio 2, the blue macaws Blu (voice of Jesse Eisenberg) and Jewel (Anne Hathaway) have three children – Tiago (Pierce Gagnon), Carla (Rachel Crow) and Bia (Amandla Stenberg) – who are all enjoying growing up in Rio. One night Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) and Linda (Leslie Mann), the humans who rescued Blu, appear on television from the jungles of the Amazon to announce that they believe they’ve found more blue macaws in the wild. Jewel is very excited to hear this and persuades Blu to take his family on holiday to the Amazon.
When they arrive in the jungle, Blu and his family are met by hostile Eduardo (Andy Garcia), who turns out to be Jewel’s long-lost father. They’re immediately taken into the wild bird family, but Blu finds he doesn’t fit in. There is also competition from an old boyfriend of Jewel’s, Roberto (Bruno Mars). In addition Blu is being followed and hunted by a nasty cockatoo called Nigel (Jemaine Clement) and his sidekick, a poisonous frog called Gabi (Kristin Chenoweth), who is an enemy from way back. Apparently Blu accidentally caused the loss of Nigel’s ability to fly, and Nigel now wants revenge.
Tulio and Linda have problems too, because their plans to declare the area a conservation zone are being thwarted by evil loggers who are destroying the forest.
Themes
Violence
Rio 2 has quite a bit of slapstick violence, more serious violence and accidental harm. For example:
- The young birds try to set their babysitter on fire with a firework rocket, but Blu comes home in time. In the process of trying to save the babysitter, Blue sets himself on fire and goes up with the rocket.
- Linda is admiring a beautiful butterfly on the Amazon River when a huge fish jumps out of the water and eats it.
- Nigel is poked by his trainer with a stick to make him perform. Nigel gets angry and starts to hit out at the trainer. The trainer then goes to hit him with the stick but Nigel grabs it and hits him back.
- Nigel sings ‘I Will Survive’ and kicks animals out of his way.
- Eduardo ties Blu up in a trap to see whether he can escape.
- The blue macaws ‘go to war’ with the red macaws. This is actually a ball game in which the birds use Brazil nuts for a ball. There is a lot of crashing and banging into each other.
- Nigel falls down some stairs and a sailor bashes him with a bat.
- The ‘Big Boss’ (Miguel Ferrer) of the logging operation threatens Tulio and Linda with an axe and throws it at a board.
- Linda throws a snake at the loggers.
- The loggers capture Linda and Tulio and tie them to a tree.
- The birds all attack the loggers, pelting them with Brazil nuts.
- The Big Boss is about to blow up the trees with dynamite but Blu takes the dynamite away. Nigel joins him and the dynamite explodes, leaving them both appearing to be dead.
- Gabi aims a poison dart at Blu, but it hits Nigel. She thinks he’s dead so she tries to kill herself with her own poison.
Content that may disturb children
Under 5
In addition to the violent scenes mentioned above, Rio 2 has some scenes that could scare or disturb children under five years. For example:
- Nigel thinks he’s a very good actor and he gives a Shakespearean performance of ‘To be or not to be’ holding the skull of a goat.
- Nigel has a dream in which faces become blurred and distorted.
- Nigel is an evil character with a nasty laugh. He is particularly scary in one scene that shows him standing in front of a full moon looking very evil.
- A bird tells Blu that the Amazon is full of flesh-eating piranhas and snakes that swallow you whole.
- The ‘Big Boss’ of the logging operation is a large, evil-looking man with a nasty character. Most of the loggers also look tough and ugly.
- Tiago dangles a large hairy spider on Blu.
- Some dancing beavers get eaten by something and appear as skeletons.
- A large scary wolf comes out of the jungle and eats a turtle.
From 5-8
In addition to the violent scenes and scary visual images mentioned above, Rio 2 has some scenes that could scare or disturb children in this age group. For example:
- Gabi tells Nigel that ‘there isn’t a bird she wouldn’t kill for him’.
- A snake crawls over Linda while she is hiding in a tree.
- Eduardo gets trapped under two tractors, but Tulio saves him from being crushed just in time.
- In one scene, Blu and Nigel both look as if they’re dead.
- A snake is seen with a swollen belly, looking like it has eaten Big Boss.
From 8-13
Children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in Rio 2.
Over 13
Nothing of concern
Sexual references
None of concern
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Rio 2 shows adults drinking socially.
Nudity and sexual activity
None of concern
Product placement
There is no product placement of concern in Rio 2, but associated merchandise is being marketed to children.
Coarse language
Rio 2 has some coarse language that children might copy.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Rio 2 is an animated adventure movie. It’s colourful and has some funny moments although many of its characters are very stereotypical. It has several subplots, which might make it confusing for younger children. There is also a lot of violence, much of it slapstick, and several scary scenes so parental guidance is recommended for children under eight years.
These are the main messages from this movie:
- The forest should be preserved for wildlife.
- Don’t judge others just because they’re a bit different.
- Family is important.
You could also talk with your children about:
- the portrayal of the loggers in the movie – are all loggers evil or are they just people doing their job?
- the slapstick violence – is it really funny to see people or animals being hurt?